Hello and welcome to my channel! I have a vintage Snap-On Wheel Balancer that I would like to share, "how I use it"! It may not be the most efficient way, but it seems to work for me!
Steven McKinley 67. If you don't mind, I have something to add to the video you were nice enough to take the time to post for us. Very intuitive method. Seeing is believing, which is something I can't get up the street at the local tire shop. Great bunch of guys up there, honest as the day is long, but they don't balance tires very well. And I don't have a Snap On wb2c tire balancer because they're not selling them at Walmart anymore. So, I'll tell you what I did to balance my old vintage tires, because it may be of some use to the next guy that also doesn't have that balancer. Remove the drum/disc from the front spindle. Remove the seal and "thoroughly" clean the grease from the drum/disc bearings "and" races. Lubricate the bearings/races with thin oil. Put the drum/disc and bearings back on the spindle "without" the seal. Balance the drum first, cause it ain't balanced. Then add the wheel and balance it, cause guess what, it ain't balanced either. Then clock the wheel/tire to offset the high and low spots. Then balance the drum/wheel/tire as an assemble per the instructions in the video. This is sensitive to "less" than a 1/4 ounce at 90 degrees. I've been determining the needed weigh for the light spot, splitting it 45 degrees left and right of light spot inside and out, then adding a small amount of weight to the center of those as a final balance.
Hello and thanks for your comment! It sounds to me like a pretty good work around! Do you gauge the amount of weight by how fast the wheel drops from the horizontal position? On the snap on there is the counter balance beam that narrows the guess work! Anyway good luck with all your endeavors! Steve M
@@Letsmakeitgreatagain. I find the "approximate" south heavy spot. Move it to east. Then add magnetic gram test weights to west until it disappears. Then check all the way around the world. I don't like six weights on the wheel at the end, but it's the only way I've been able to overcome the lack of DYNAMIC balance capability. I'm looking for a John Bean 55-J balancer to fix that. On a different problem, toe. I've been using a 70-pound hanging cattle feed weight to set the toe. I run it from tire to tire. Hook it on the "outside" of the wheel of one tire, run it over the tread across the car to the outside of other tire. Read it between the tires in the front at 3 o'clock. Roll the car forward and read it behind the tires at 9 o'clock. Adjust toe for zero difference in reading. Zero reading is zero toe absolute. Consider this, it doesn't matter if the wheels are bent, or the tires have bulges. Because all defects move with the gauge. Ain't vintage analog great!
Tedious but effective. I balanced the wheels for our fifth wheel with the wheels on the drums ( after removing the seals and cleaning out the grease) because the holes in the wheels were too big for the cones on the Snap-On balancer. I marked a stud and the wheel so the wheel could be put on in the same spot if it was removed from the drum, and never moved the wheels to different positions on the trailer.
I worked at a gas station that sold a lot of tires in 1972. The Snap-On dealer demonstrated one of these balancers to the owner but he didn’t buy it. I found a used one in a local classified add paper a few years later and my dad and I used it for years. I think mine is a little older than yours because it has two larger bearings, one on each end of the shaft. The bearings sit in the concave on top of the upright posts and the weight bar is a little different. You have to look through a small hole in the middle of the sliding weight to see how much weight to add. Dad always said it was too sensitive, but I would attach the weights loosely and slide them as you did. I can usually get the wheel to stop at any point and not move. I just used it a few days ago to balance new trailer tires. FYI, I think the instructions say not to hammer the weights on the wheel while on the bearings is because the bearings could be damaged.
WOW I am 63 years old and I used to balance tires in a gas station as kid of 16 with one of these. These units are so precise you can balance a brake drum, the bare wheel and then the mounted tire to perfection. The man that I worked for at that station even used it to balance an engine flywheel! He was an old Navy machinist and could fix and figure out anything. Thanks for the Video. Never stop working on things.
Thanks for your kind words! I balanced my 14”, 4 jaw chuck with it! That happened before I started my RU-vid channel! My lathe will spin up to 980 rpm and no vibration!
I have the first version with the single bearings. Late father in law bought it new and used it in his small 2 bay rural garage business. Became mine in the 90's and has balanced many many tires since for myself and family. On his advise, I never use the arm attachment thing. I just stick a weight on lightly with my fingers to get me in the ballpark. Turn it a quarter turn and repeat until she no longer moves. Just like you'd use a motorcycle balancer. Those small cones are just a little too small for Mazda / Hyundai 67.1 mm rim center holes so I'm about to make a 3" cone. I still have a bunch of the used lead weights he gave me as well. It'll be my sons when I'm gone. Dead simple design that works very well. Thanks for the video.
Thanks Steven. After seeing your video i made my own balance machine, based on yours . it only cost me 20 dollars and it works perfect. after i balaced my first wheel, i had it checked by an auto shop machine costing 6000 dollers = it needed no adjustment at all.. My friend has a 100 dollar bubble type balancer . We checked his wheel at auto shop and it needed adjustment . i was so happy. thanks again Steven. maybe ill do video on my home made balancer. This type of machine is used by pro motor bike racing engineers at top race meetings. Godbless .. may i say down with D Trump Vote K Harris she is perfect
Hi, I have one of these i bought new in the early 80's. After a few years of using it when I'd balance a tire to perfection, I could remove the tire and wheel, spin the cones and shaft to a different position, put it back on the balancer and it would no longer be balanced. The balancer shaft is perfectly straight, the cones are in excellent condition and the bearings are good. Anyone have any ideas what is wrong?
Hello, and thanks for your interesting question! I know when I remove a part that I have just machined in my lathe and reinstall that part, if I put the dial indicator back on, my part will almost always be out of true! I suppose it all has to do with "to what Degree" are we talking about a 1/4 oz. or an 1 & 1/4 oz. out of balance! I would also guess, if you simply lifted the whole tire assembly and flipped it around in the opposite position, I suspect you would get a similar result! Anyway don't forget to VOTE and VOTE often! lol!
I really like that sliding tool you have. It looks like a great way to find a starting weight faster when you don't run that balancer a lot. On thing that jumped out at me, was you left it on there while trying to get it 'perfect'. It looks like you figured out to remove it as soon as possible so it doesn't mess with your final measurements. I would pull that off once I stared moving weights around. I don't have that exact balancer, but I do have an old tire truing machine with a balance feature. It's for a free spindle like yours, but the motors on the machine keep running without spinning the tire. The vibration really helps the tire find the bottom. Just for fun, I put a new set of freshly balanced tires on my machine and every single one of them was way off. After I shaved off about 1/8" to make them round, the weights were moved around again. I'm curious how round your bias ply tires are mounted on those rims. When you had them on the balancer, did you set up a stop and see how far out the tread was from center?
Thanks for your kind thoughts! I did not set up a stop as you asked! I have no way of shaving the tires, so I saw no need! I would guess they are out of round quite a bit based on there age! Besides wheels and tires, I've actually balanced my 14 inch 4 jaw chuck, with this balancer! Thanks for watching!
@@Letsmakeitgreatagain. I'm ''only'' 52, but I believe all old style bias ply tires of that era are supposed to be shaved (and radised). From what I understand, that was a standard practice to mounting tires back then. I had to search for YEARS to find my truing machine. Even modern tires aren't perfectly round. Not sure if it's 100% on the tires though. I have a feeling those rims are nowhere near true too. And like you, I will put anything on my machine I can think of. When I was doing rotors on my truck a couple weeks ago, I shaved and balanced the tires just because they were off. If I'd really gave it some some thought, I would have put the rotors on the wheels and balanced them as a unit. I know when big truck tires get shaved on the vehicle, they mark a lug stud and the wheel, so if it's ever pulled off, the rim can be put back on the same index.
Thank you for posting! So cool to see this. I’m 68 and worked in my father’s Conoco station in Texas back in the early 60’s and helped him balance many tires. LOVE this balancer you have! Thanks again!
Wow Steve, I haven’t seen or used one of those wheel balancers since about 1972! The Pontiac/Buick dealership where my father worked had one of those exact models. I used to use it all the time on my first car, a 1966 Oldsmobile Jetstar 88. It worked very well and was easy to use. The Oldsmobile used G78-14 tires which fell right into the range of wheels/tires used back in those years. That is a real gem of a tool and well worth keeping around and using. The way of distributing the weights with the articulating spring steel wand I believe was patented. Not sure if it was patented by Snap-On or not, but still a superior way of static balancing a wheel/tire as opposed to a single position directly opposite the heavy side. Seeing one of those things brings back a lot of memories of working on cars with my dad!
I have an even older model of this, and this is the single (and only) video I've seen of using this type balancer. However, I think the 6 oz. of weight should have been divided between the two locations. But again, I've used it twice, it belonged to my grandfather and I don't have a manual, so I had to "fly-by'the'seat'o'my'pants" to use it. Very cool video and Thanks for taking the time to create this video.
No, the weight shown on the bar is to be attached to each mark 120 degrees from the heavy spot. If you would have used only 3 ounces in each spot it would not have stopped falling to the heavy spot. I’ve been using mine for almost 50 years and first saw one demonstrated by a Snap-On salesman.
I have one of these, always wondered how it worked, as the paper instructions are the first to go. Any way you could share them in a pdf file? Thanks for the video!
SO GLAD you dropped this video. I have this same machine but back in the 60s on up a buddy used one and Balancer Mfrs used to try to sell him the latest. He had a customer with a 65 CADDY (tough to balance) and the NEW machines could NOT do it but back on his SNAP-ON and it worked. ALSO the word is if you need more than *4 pounds of weight* you should turn the tire on the rim (up to 180 degrees) to lessen the weight. THANK you & we'll talk more later!
Thank you Sir, the video is amazing, the contraption simple, putting it into Y formation means 120 degrees or thereabouts to space weights on circumference and that's it. It works and it's Brilliant the way you explained it.
just bought one of these for real cheap. Need to blast and respray the red base and polish up the bright pieces but it is all there and spins free. The small set of wheel cones did come with it as mine has the exact same. Thanks for the tutorial. Much appreciated.
@@Letsmakeitgreatagain. Any chance of getting a xerox copy or PDF of the instruction manual that you have? I have searched all over the web and can't locate a copy for purchase. Happy to make a contribution to cover your time. Thank you
Thanks for taking the time to make such a detailed video. I have an old bubble balancer but I'm not very satisfied with it so I'm looking online for a 'new' used one. I saw that someone was selling one of these snap-on versions but i had no idea how it worked. After watching your tutorial, it makes sense.
The measure should have the balancing weight at 6 oz mark position when you use the spring marking bar that tells you where the weights go. Being at the 6oz mark position with the spring marker narrows the marking position. At zero would be wider giving the wrong weight position.
No, you want the weight at the center (zero) to make the marks 120 degrees apart. Then after you know the weight needed and make the 120 degree marks, remove the weight bar.
Thanks for input! Two things I like about it, is its compact size and the other is the fact its entirely mechanical, nothing electronic to go bad! Have a great day!
Handy machine. As I embark on the whole mounting, dismounting, balancing world I am assuming the light spot on the tire markings probably would not have been on this tire. From my learning position I wondered if that was a lot of weight to be using and if dismounting and repositioning would be an option for this wheel. My line of thinking as I start to do this might be to find the heavy spot on rims before mounting the tire but wondered how the light spot on a tire is determined. That was a great video....I felt like I was back in my high school auto shop.
I just picked up the exact same balancer as you have. A little more worn and rusty. I have a large cone and a small cone frozen (rusted I think) onto the snap ring side. I have tried liquid wrench (similar to WD40) but no luck yet. I am not seeing any welds but I think I might have to put some heat on the cone to loosen them. My bearings are sealed units up top with a recess to hold them in the groove while the wheel spins. Very nice piece of equipment.
Try soaking in a tray/container of Evapo-Rust for several days or until it works free! I usally check once a day, once it took over two weeks of soaking! Good Luck and Thanks Again for watching!
The time to balance a tire, to someone experienced and much younger, I'm sure was under 10 minutes, back in the day! Thanks for watching and for your comment!
I think the idea was that if you put the recommended weights at the spots 120 degrees apart, it would be closer than a bubble balancer. I think dynamic balancers were pretty rare in the late 60’s and early 70’s. My dad said it was too sensitive, and he was right if you wanted to get it perfect.
