Centramatic Tire Balancers

The mercury DS rings makes me wonder if the high speed vibrations from driveshafts could be reduced with torsional dampers such as those seen on front wheel drive CV shafts.
 
I ran airport bb's in a dedicated crawler once and it was pretty funny to come a quick stop and hear what sounded like 4 rain sticks dropping immediately all at once. Shhhhheshhh

I have been lucky with my current Razr's and ravines which have balanced really well without the need for anything like this. I have found in the past running steel wheels it was usually the wheels.

I have thought about putting a set on my trailer though
 
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have wondered about these for the jeep. currently use dyna beads in my harley tires and they balance for the life of the tires. only an ounce in front and ounce and a half in the rear. i assume it would take several ounces per tire with 33” mudders. may look into these for the jeep later on.
 
I see a couple of you running these. Are they on 15" wheels. Maybe asked and answered but I'm not seeing it.
Website says 16-20" Wheels for this P/N:
https://www.centramatic.com/wheel-balancer.rhtml?modelNumber=300-345
These are listed for 14-15" wheels 5x4.5"
https://www.centramatic.com/wheel-balancer.rhtml?modelNumber=200-221
New 15" tire/wheel package is due any day so thought this might be a great addition to my new shoes, but need the right size. And big brakes 15/16 are in the grand plan.
 
Alrighty, jumping on this old thread, at the advice of, and with @AndyG, instruction and help, after almost four years of struggling and chasing vibrations, and restoration of the jeep ,ditched the steel wheels last week, got brand new American racing bajas, discount tires best man discovered a bad tire, so another extra $300 on top of the $750 in rims, their best man spent two hours meticulously road force balancing, rotating tires on rims, chalk marking rim inside, turning, ect.
Felt great ,up until cruising speed 50-65, vibrations through wheel, shifter, shakes your teeth and the dash. Bad. Feels bearable at 70-85, but at 50-65, I Swear it's about as bad or worse as when I first got it, looking sad with the steelies and old mudders. Vibrations so bad it's unpleasant to drive at those speeds.
New tires, new rims, and have only put 9500k miles on it since I started this in 2020.
So, tomorrow will bolt on the centramatics and see what happens. Here's praying, I'm tired ya'll And the wife is tired of the parts blowing the budget. She's almost killed me multiple times over this, and even blaming Andy for its not working any more. 😅 I'll Keep results posted here.

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Balance Masters also makes driveshaft balancers. I have two of these. I have not noticed a significant reduction in driveline vibrations, but I believe my issue is based in torsional mode vibration, not eccentric vibration. I think that they could do a good job in reducing eccentric vibration.

Is yours the typical oscillating vibration after a regear that a few of us have? Being that the Balance Masters driveshaft unit is 1/10th the price of hubs, it's pretty tempting to try.
 
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Is yours the typical oscillating vibration after a regear that a few of us have? Being that the Balance Masters driveshaft unit is 1/10th the price of hubs, it's pretty tempting to try.

Yup, and I believe that is torsional in nature and not due to balance. If the driveshaft is slightly out of balance, the balancer will certainly help. These driveshaft balancers are designed to counteract forces due to an out of balance condition, much like a Centramatic on the wheel.

The problem with double cardan driveshafts is that they are not true CV shafts, and when the DC joint is at an angle, the center piece has to accelerate and decelerate rotationally twice per revolution, even though both ends of the shaft do not. This rotational impulse is transmitted down one or both ends of the shaft, and is converted to a vibration we can feel at the next component. A true CV joint like a Rzeppa joint does not have this issue, hence why they are becoming more common in OEM driveshafts.

The reason it "pulses" in most TJs is because all tires have a certain amount of static slip under load proportional to the amount of load, meaning that the rear tires spin very slightly faster in 2H, hence the rear drveshaft spins faster in 2H. The "pulsing" is actually a "beat" in vibrational terms, meaning the vibrations from the front and rear shafts go through periods of constructive and destructive interference. This is also why you can pause the pulsing by shifting into 4H - since the front and rear shafts are at the exact same speed, you've essentially phase locked them into either constructive interference (maximum vibrations) or destructive interference (minimum vibrations) or somewhere in between.

There are other ways that could possibly be used to reduce the torsional vibrations. A tuned mass-damper like the OEM one found on the back of the 241 cases could work if it had the correct spring rate and mass. (Unfortunately the TJ's factory one is probably not correctly tuned for an aftermarket DC shaft.) Though really the only "correct" fix would be to eliminate the double cardan joints in favor of Rzeppa joints.
 
Alrighty, jumping on this old thread, at the advice of, and with @AndyG, instruction and help, after almost four years of struggling and chasing vibrations, and restoration of the jeep ,ditched the steel wheels last week, got brand new American racing bajas, discount tires best man discovered a bad tire, so another extra $300 on top of the $750 in rims, their best man spent two hours meticulously road force balancing, rotating tires on rims, chalk marking rim inside, turning, ect.
Felt great ,up until cruising speed 50-65, vibrations through wheel, shifter, shakes your teeth and the dash. Bad. Feels bearable at 70-85, but at 50-65, I Swear it's about as bad or worse as when I first got it, looking sad with the steelies and old mudders. Vibrations so bad it's unpleasant to drive at those speeds.
New tires, new rims, and have only put 9500k miles on it since I started this in 2020.
So, tomorrow will bolt on the centramatics and see what happens. Here's praying, I'm tired ya'll And the wife is tired of the parts blowing the budget. She's almost killed me multiple times over this, and even blaming Andy for its not working any more. 😅 I'll Keep results posted here.

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View attachment 488994

Ha ha , leave me out of it ….mine works 😂😂
 
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Nice wheels! Those center caps don't survive sticks well.

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-Mac

I've got some steel for backup, but seeing as I don't like mud. Or water. Scratches, dust... the plastic will probably work for a bit lol! ( don't off road, just ride for freedom and the feel of the wind in my hair. Um, over my bare head...)
 
Ha ha , leave me out of it ….mine works 😂😂
Hey, can't blame a guy for trying, back in our bachelor house days, it was bros before hoes, but, after years and years of marriage, that kinda flip-flops eh?? Out of uh, necessity? And survival?

I was thinking- there have been some things she sure could blame me for, but not Sam the runaway Jeep project.

Man we had some good times bro. Still do. Glad we are still buds. Wish you had made it today. My white one is about to get wrapped up- @Hog s Double Din solves a few things for me -seat heaters are sitting on the bike.
 
I was thinking- there have been some things she sure could blame me for, but not Sam the runaway Jeep project.

Man we had some good times bro. Still do. Glad we are still buds. Wish you had made it today. My white one is about to get wrapped up- @Hog s Double Din solves a few things for me -seat heaters are sitting on the bike.

Yessir, me too, it's rare to have good old friendships that stand the test of time and different lives. I don't take it for granted.
And yessir, you are correct, you are not in any way to blame for this four year long money pit project! If I'd contacted you first it'd be a woobicon I'd have!
 
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-seat heaters are sitting on the bike.
Seat heaters.. took me a long time to sort them out. The first set I installed were Amazon specials that literally died the moment I flipped the switch the first time. Ended up with the Bartact kit (which I should have done from the start. Tried to save a few dollars). They are in the top three favorite comfort mods for me.. Right up there with seat risers and the B&M short shifter.
 
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