Quick No Cost Bubble Balancer Mod

Here is a quick no cost bubble balancer mod you can do that will greatly improve this style of bubble balancer. This one I ordered off of Amazon and it cost me $104 dollars. The red base ones on Amazon are like the Harbor Freight bubble balancers, the problem with the Harbor Freight model is I have seen videos of them and the inside of the top piece is very roughly finished and I have seen then have gride marks inside of them and weights trying to balance the top they were so poorly finished.
I purchases the silver colored model and the inside is well finished with no big grind marks and no weights trying to balance the top.
I would avoid the Harbor Freight model and the Red base models on Amazon as they are likely the same unit as the Harbor Freight model, they sell in the $60 dollar range on Amazon.
The silver finish one like I purchased is a little more expensive but the finish is much better.
The mod I show you in the video is quick and no cost and will greatly improve all of these style bubble balancers.

[@MarcBchannel]

Drilled out the socket on my HF balancer and it made a big difference. I didnt do anything to the pin just the socket. Widened it out as close to the center point as I could without contacting it. Moves freely now and the bubble centers everytime🤙

[@rudyhonings]

I bought a red cheep one. Finishing was fine, besides the need to drilled as well, and since the angle of 99% of the drill bits have a flatter angle than the hardened pointy tip, the is no need to make the point sharper. To reduce the swinging time, you can add some thicker oil or grease. that will stick a bit and helps to take out the energy.

[@kongtaing5206]

this is very helpful - thank you!

[@frigglebiscuit7484]

just bought the new harbor freight balancer, its got a black base and is 99$. pittsburgh brand. its super nice, just like yours.

[@lindacook891]

Nice JD you got there!

[@SuperPhen0m]

would it be easier to just sharpen the point? instead of drilling ? and also what size drill bit did you use again? 3/8?

[@MarcBchannel]

Just did mine. I didn't touch the pin just drilled out the socket. I used a 1/2 first then 3/8 and 1/4 last. Careful not to contact the point on the last bit. I drilled just enough until it started moving freely. Worked good. Alot more accurate now. Before I would center it and if I rotated it the bubble would be off now it's centered even if I rotate it and it swings freely. I didn't want to mess with the pin because a sharper angle makes it weaker

[@gemanscombe4985]

1) Drill underside as described and/or grind sharper taper on pin, making sure to leave centers untouched. Clean and lube. 2) Measure distances between balancer head flanges at 4 rods. I cut gasket paper shims to install under circlips to equalize distances after re-assembly of Step 3. Needed? Maybe not but it's a freebie. This does assume precision of the Chinese springs. 3) Remove bubble chamber, screws, washer and spring. Flip balancer head upside down on two 2X4s. Remove 4 circlips taking care with spring tension, particularly w/the last one. Circlips are cheap, unspringy and will need squeezing later to restore fit. Set 4 coil springs aside and check fit/spacing of rods into holes of head flange. One video showed bad misalignment and binding. Mine was accurate in all 4 positions and slid fully w/out binding. I ran a PVC pipe brush in the flange holes and cleaned deposits on rods (500 wet/dry), then greased very lightly. Reassemble w/any Step 2 shims and recheck distances. 4) Spin the balancer head on pin and check concentricity of black circle to spin axis. Adjust bubble chamber sideways as needed within the fit gap. Mark bubble disc edge and head where closest with paint spots. 5) Center bubble in ring with adjustment screws. Watch for deviation while head slowly rotates with its own momentum. Spinning fast will bring out any dynamic imbalance of head and cause lunging. Base flange should spin true. Bubble should repeatably self-center after swinging. The center dot on mine looks slightly off so I ignore it. 6) Set wheel gently down and centered on taper. Note bubble position and re-center wheel with a few more attempts. If bubble reads the same, lay weights on wheel to center bubble, then pick up wheel and reposition 180* to see if bubble is still centered. Try to get the wheel onto the taper w/out much sideways motion of the floating upper flange. This would be less critical with better rod/hole fit and bearings, but we went w/Harbor Freight for a reason. When a wheel gives inconsistent readings at 180*, I recalibrate the black ring and bubble. The bubble chamber can move, so check center for each tire/wheel and with any anomalous results. This usually works.

[@kendalgee5808]

I had to return $60 amazon red wheel balancer. Reason: I have a 16" wheel & on the sticker it says it can only balance maximum a 15" wheel.

[@patrickhoyle8357]

Loads say drill it out, i've never come across steel drill bits long enough to reach up there

[@AndiceRupen]

Work like a charm!

[@madgingercustoms]

Glad that helped.

[@JustMe-gx4xt]

Can you get repeatable results after balancing the wheel? I rotate my wheel 1/4 turn to 1/2 turn and results are always off. How are your results looking?

[@mustangecoboosthpp3869]

I haven't had a chance to use mine yet, I have only done the mod so it will move freely. Both my current vehicles have new tires on them.

[@JustMe-gx4xt]

I am confused. Did you make a video on how to use it without actually testing the balance?

[@mustangecoboosthpp3869]

@@JustMe-gx4xt You don't have to balance a tire to set up a bubble balancer, the issue with these current bubble balancers are they can't reliably be set to zero because they hang up instead of wobble freely. By drilling out the hole where the shaft goes into the head unit it allows the head unit to sit on just the point of the shaft and the head unit is free to wobble until all the momentum has dissipated. Before drilling out the hole the head would wobble about six times back and forth and stop and you could not zero out the bubble because the head would stop in different positions causing the bubble to not be zeroed. After drilling out the hole the shaft slides into the head is now free to wobble on the point of the shaft and will wobble until all the momentum has dissipated and you can zero the bubble and wobble the head again repeatedly and it will still be zeroed when it stops.

[@nickaxe771]

But we still need to know if you get repeatable results time after time. Check your balance.....lift off the wheel turn 90 or 180 degrees....are the results the same....only way to say if its any better than the Harbour Freight Junk. Keen to know how your shapes up Sir.@@mustangecoboosthpp3869

[@richbinaz]

I gave up with the HF balancer after getting results like you describe. It is so full of problems kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5-ZpIiIq7qbeKM I developed 2 alternate methods of balancing, this one is my favorite. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKexZZxjpq-kg9U

[@leewaynenishida8732]

you should have balance a tire before mods and after mods to see if it' just a waste of time mod it?

[@peterrivney552]

There all made by the same company just different colors and different base aluminum or plastic painted or not but the top is the same I've compared quite a few of them that I had and I sent a lot back keeping the aluminum base model not the plastic but the top was all the same so save some of your money a lot of things have design flaws now of days what do you want for child labor in China ???