This is what the new ones look like. Smooth Tundra Tires, new spun rims, special tubes. 21 inches tall and with screws in the rims to prevent the tire from slipping They are what common sense and a little slush fund needs to provide for this country. With four pounds of air in them, the landings should be like setting down on a pillow. Enough clearance and most of the terrain shouldn't be too bad to land. Of course that is a bit rosy, but a fellow can dream, can't he?
https://vimeo.com/214265452
If you highlight the link to the left you can choose a function that will take you to the video.
Well after that, it became obvious that I did need to balance the tires. The weather was crappy anyway, so I proceeded to make a viable balancing system to use for that.
Pretty easy actually. Just take two transformer straps that someone was kind enough to leave here on the place. put them in a vice and bend them 90 degrees so that I can clamp them to the bench. Then use a section of 1/4 inch rubber hose to fit the bearing and a section of 3/8 rod to go between the bars. No resistance, no cost.
I had tried balancing my last pair of tires and found that they sold little 1/4 oz lead weights at a cost of about $12.00 for 8 oz. Most of them also fell off. so I decided that I would use hot glue and cast lead bullets.
At least that would give me an idea of how much weight I would need. The right one was no big deal, about 3.8 oz of weight for it. However the left one was something different. It required 14.7 oz of weight to balance out.
I had problems as you can see of getting enough weights in both sides of the tire to get it balanced.
I got a bit of a clear morning and rolled it out for a test, and the difference was just what it should have been from the first.
I decided that I couldn't leave the tires like that so I decided to make my own weights. I ordered some Hot Glue sticks by Gorilla Glue from Amazon. Naturally I ordered the mini size by mistake. The package was destroyed somewhere near Northern Oregon, so they "next day " delivered a full package of the minis. I retaliated by ordering the proper size. The hot glue that I had could have been anything from 15 to 20 years old, so I thought that I had a better chance of getting something useful from Gorilla glue. I like all their other stuff, so I had an even chance of it actually being some good.
The area where I can put the weights is only about 3/4 of an inch wide, and there is nothing on the market for these kind of tire rims, so I was limited to something home made. I admit that I am not much of an Engineer, but I am hell for making do. The pretty part is generally whats missing. I fondly call it Industrial strength "Mickey Mousing".
I made a mold out of a piece of 2x4 with a plunge router tip in my drill. I made it deep enough that I could get enough lead in there for the application.
Then I drug out my Propane heater and an old left behind frying pan, and my bucket of cast 38 wadcutters.
I weighed the weights that I had hot glued in for my test flight, poured out clean weights until I got the right amount, put them in the pan and on the fire till they melted.
Then I poured it into the mold and had my wheel weight in a much more compact package.
3.7 ounces for the right wheel. I took a hammer and bent it to conform to the rim, then put a little dab of glue of the bottom to test the wheel for balance, and when I was satisfied with the location, slathered the glue on the bottom and stuck it in place. One wheel down.
The left tire was the problem. There was no way that I was going to be able to put 14.7 ounces on one side of the tire where I wanted it. So I had to make two of them.
One of the was 6.7 oz, and the other 8.3. It was easy to get my raw weights, just dribble bullets on the scales until I got what I wanted, then into the frying pan and pour in the mold.
The one above was the smallest, the one in the back side was going to be 8 oz and inside the brake rotor.
When I did my temporary stick on, I found that I had made it too heavy, so I trimmed it with a band saw until I got it down to what I needed. I had to stick it further in the rim to clear the brakes. I glued it as best as I could, I shudder to think what could happen if the one on the inside ever comes off. It would probably make a mess of the brake on that side. The glue however is tough, and it requires a bit of an effort to peel it off.
Five hundred and Forty Five for the two tires and tubes. That doesn't count the new rims. The Tires are $195.00 each. One would think for that price you could expect to get a damn good tire.
I contacted Desser about the problem with the tire, and I thought for a while that they were going to make it right. There is no way that any tire should require 14.8 ounces of weight to balance. It tends to make the argument of a 2 pound weight savings per tire seem to be a bad joke.
I once heard a wise man say "If its got tits or tires, its going to cause you problems".
