Centramatics

[BHiggins]

Well, I finally got around to installing my Centramatics last week. They work as advertised, which is to say they work great. The only problem I had was bolt size. Centramatic assured me they would fit my truck, but the holes that lined up with my bolt pattern were 9/16 and my studs are 5/8. There were 5/8 holes in the Centramatics also, but they didn't line up with my pattern. A quick drill out of all 16 holes to 5/8 i. d. and they went right on.

The only other thing I'm not too happy about is the noise. My truck has 4" pipe with no muffler, it's pretty loud as most of you "straight pipe" guys know, but I can STILL here the balancers up to around 25 MPH. They sound like loud baby rattles bolted to the front wheels. I'm quite happy with their performance, but if I had to do it over I would go with the BalanceMasters which use liquid instead of a solid media for balancing. I'm sure the BalanceMasters are much quieter, if not silent.

 

[tugboatphil]

Brian,



Did you have any wobble or shake from the front end prior to installing? If so, are you saying this made a big difference? I have considered balancers before, but never heard any first hand info on them.

 

[BHiggins]

Phil,

No wobble or shake was present, just the annoying vibration of tires that are hard to keep balanced (BFG All Terrain's). I love the BFG's, but they never seem to stay balanced for more than a few months. The Centramatics smoothed out my ride considerably.



If you're getting the "death wobble", mine went away after replacing the large spring and spacer above the upper ball joint (4X4 only). When I did it I put the old spacer on the bottom of the new spring in addition to the new spacer on top. I was told that slightly more pressure resulting from using the two spacers was a good thing. Easy fix too. PM me if you have any further questions about the "death wobble".

 

[BHiggins]

Phil,

I just looked at your signature and saw the "D350", so the 4X4 wobble fix won't apply. I'll leave it up though, in case anyone else has the same question. B.

P. S. Happy birthday.

 

[OKish]

Phil,

I just looked at your signature and saw the "D350", so the 4X4 wobble fix won't apply. I'll leave it up though, in case anyone else has the same question. B.

P. S. Happy birthday.

i got the wobble once, i found out it was a caliper starting to freeze up and a warped rotor.

 

[BHiggins]

The wobble is not good... It's not like the old days when you could just go to the doctor and get a shot. :-laf

 

[JSpecht]

I had to do it over I would go with the BalanceMasters which use liquid instead of a solid media for balancing. I'm sure the BalanceMasters are much quieter, if not silent.

DO you have a web sight with info on the balance masters?? I was always woundering about the noise those centramatics would have at low speeds.

 

[BHiggins]

http://www.balancemasters.com/