The 89G - I Bought a Harbor Freight Wheel Balancer: Was It Worth It?

[@garymahon1955]

Thanks for this video. Good job. I have seen some, where they say to put a little grease on the needle under the bubble part. Might help keep it in good shape. I just bought a tire changer at Harb Fate, and it works good. Im in 70th yr, and changed my first non bicycle tire ever! And ordered the balancer on Ebay, to be here soon. We can sure save a little money doing it ourselves!

[@89G]

That's awesome! At 40 dollars per tire for mount and balance, I'm fine doing this myself for that much. It's really easy once you figure out the trick.

[@MrLuke4582]

Came here for the balancer review, heavy bonus points for the fox body mustang factor

[@89G]

Thank you :) I love these things!

[@engrxtn]

I drilled a little bit under…where the bubble seats so it could swing more freely. My shop balanced tires were shaking a lot….but my bubble balancer fixed it.

[@AaronW315]

I'll have to give that a try

[@89G]

That's a really good idea. How far did you drill into it?

[@89G]

@@AaronW315 that's what I'm thinking too!

[@engrxtn]

@@89GI noticed that the pin walls were having too much friction with the sides of the tiny hole…so the bubble moved maybe two times and stopped. I drilled the small hole with a very long 5/16” bit and then opened it more with a long 3/8” bit until I saw that the pin walls were not touching the hole sides. I did it in small increments as I think the hole material is aluminum and it goes pretty quick with the bit. Now the bubbles moves/swings like 7 times before coming to a stop. I think I can drill a little bit more. Now the hole has a nice conical shape.

[@89G]

@engrxtn I will definitely have to try that! Just to make sure I understand what you did... you drilled/cleaned up the "dimple" where the pin goes into the back side of the bubble?

[@MrBlitzkrieg1987]

Awesome tool review my friend! I’ve considered buying one of those and after watching this I think I will! I think exactly the same way 😂 why pay someone to do something I could do myself 💪😎

[@89G]

Thanks Bud! Yeah, I'm not about to waste money on some guy at Walmart to put 'em on, LOL.

[@BigStickStangs]

Great review! I’m gonna need to get one of those myself. Have a great day! 👊😎🤘

[@89G]

Thank you! Much appreciated!

[@joewhitlock9996]

This looks like static balance. Most shops do a dynamic balance. Static is vibration of a virtical motion. Dynamic includes a horizontal motion. And it can affect steering control, or even some fishtail in rear wheel driven applications. The wider the tire, the more you balance for dynamic fluctuations in the rubber. I would like to see all four tires tested for balance after the home balance.

[@89G]

Thank you so much for watching, and sharing that useful info.

[@SleazysGarage]

Neat little tool! That center part looks really well engineered for HF. Did you get a chance to drive the car with them on yet?

[@89G]

Yes. It's perfect. Very impressed that the tires needed so little.

[@linuxster]

Not related to this video. I saw the horrific video of the accident on main St. I hope you, your family, and all your loved ones are doing ok! Stay safe, my friend and I can't wait for your next video.🤛

[@89G]

Yes, a really bad accident indeed. My neighbors son was hit by the truck. It's a complete miracle that nobody died. I appreciate you my friend! Thanks. BTW, that dealership the truck started on fire is less than two miles from my home.

[@linuxster]

@89G oh, my! I hope he's ok. All of my immediate and extended family in the valley were unaffected. The dash cam video person was able to make a right turn, but most of the others had nowhere to go being bumper to bumper in traffic.

[@89G]

@linuxster he is. I just talked to his Dad. He's mostly sore and bruised up. He was 2 or 3 cars behind the car with the dash cam.

[@89G]

@linuxster I actually went over to the dealer this morning and did a little video of the aftermath. I'm debating on whether I'll post it.

[@linuxster]

@@89G thank goodness! That's a story that will be passed down for years...

[@richbinaz]

Sometimes you get lucky and get a good one (I didn't). My advice is keep the box handy in case you have to return it.

[@89G]

Good to know. What happened with your balancer?

[@richbinaz]

@@89G I thought I had it set up correctly (I did), balanced some tires and then on the next freeway trip I had bad vibrations starting around 65 and it was undriveable at 75 or over. Tried rebalancing everything and could not get it right or have it repeat. Put a wheel on, it said It was wrong. Removed all the weights, adjusted for new weights, lifted the wheel, turned it 90° and it was wrong again... That's where the rabbit hole started for me... kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHalin2sm7FjmJo Found the internal pivot was not concentric with the cone: 0.017" off center, or the equivalent of 1 1/2oz of weight off at some random point around the circumference. Started looking at it more closely and it had all kinds of issues Gave up with it and went 2 other ways - vertical balancing with a modified hub kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqaYlIeDptV8nrs & Horizontal laser balancing with a ball to center the wheel. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKexZZxjpq-kg9U

[@nickaxe771]

Can I ask sir....are you not concerned that when you put your wheel on the balancer.....its settles almost immediately. Its stiff due to the same design prob all of the HF ballences have.

[@89G]

Thanks for watching! That may be an inherent problem with the balancer, but these tires ride down the road perfect. Even took them to 100 mph to see how well it did. On the next set, I'll look into the issues with the balancer. I have a set of tires to mount, but it's been pretty cold lately - so I've been procrastinating.

[@nickaxe771]

Yes thats puzzling....I own a 50 year old Landrover......its never had a wheel balanced in all those years...I bought it new. Maybe some truck are not prone to a balance problem. Thank you for getting back to me.@@89G

[@frigglebiscuit7484]

hes got the updated one with the black base. i just bought the same one, and the quality is way better than the red base old ones. id still put some grease on the pin though.

[@79beans347]

I know that I'm fixing to buy me a complete setup because tire changing prices are ridiculous, I just had 2 tires mounted and balanced not even on the vehicle and no tire to take off nor a valve stem to put in plus I took the center cap off for them because they couldn't get it off and they charged me $50 bucks and they didn't have to even put them on my car . I could have my money back after I do one set of tires almost

[@89G]

That's exactly what I was thinking. Plus, every time I go over there, I have to leave my car or tires until they can get to it.... Not my favorite.

[@79beans347]

@@89G yeah Walmart takes forever and the other places want way to much money for 10 minutes of work . At that rate they're making 300 bucks an hr for freaking tire work, when I changed tires it would only be 10 bucks per tire if they were off already and no old tires to remove or dispose of which we didn't charge to remove the old tire anyway , only to dispose of it which the owner tossed in the dumpster 🤣😂🤣 and pocketed that money, he was a lil shady 🤣😂🤣

[@79beans347]

RIP Leroy the happy spider🕷, I knew you for seconds and you were there for me when I needed you for something to look at momentarily before this mad man stomped on you like you was going to bite him 😢 Poor poor Leroy, my friend til the end. Rip to my best friend Leroy the harmless spider 🕷😭😭😭😭😭😭 🤣😂🤣😂

[@89G]

LOL, the was coming after me until I started walking towards him. Wait... how could you tell it was a male?

[@79beans347]

@@89G 🤣😂🤣😂 Cause we were friends until you stomped him, He said I'm Leroy when we first met then🕷🦶🏻 splat and that was the end of our friendship 😁 cause he was dead 😅

[@89G]

@@79beans347 LOL... sorry for your loss.

[@79beans347]

@@89G 🤣😂🤣😂 Its ok I didn't know him that well anyway 😄

[@89G]

@@79beans347 Oh man.... I just went out and found one of Leroy's legs to send you. Never mind then...

[@linuxster]

Um, it must be a Halloween video with the spider. Joking. Honestly asking, why didn't you rotate/spin the tires on the Hobo Franklin jig about 45 or 90 degrees around to make a full circle and check each time? I really think there could be a lot of friction on the cone and mating surfaces that could skew your reading based on static position of placement of the wheel. What does the bubble indicate after rotating the tire 90/189/270? This question plays off of drilling the cone hole a little deeper...

[@89G]

Honestly didn't even think of that either! Great thought. I will definitely take the wisdom here and put it to use. I have a set I need to mount for my 89. All aside though, these tires in the video are great. Her only complaint (my daughter drives this Escape) is the tires make more noise, lol. Oh well. At least she'll have traction in the snow.

[@linuxster]

My apologies. I'm just saying, if I put a tire on there, and it read center or middle or balanced, I would need to turn the tire and keep checking. Just placing a tire on statically like that and stating it's balanced seems sus...what's really happening in the balancing surfaces?

[@89G]

@linuxster Very valid point! No apology necessary, my friend! I will for sure be checking that on the next set!

[@frigglebiscuit7484]

this is true, but tires actually have dots on them to indicate where they should line up with the valve stem. this reduces weight needs alot. if the tire shop knows what they are doing(rare)then it wont need much weight

[@ezee2daz]

See if you can hide the weight behind a spoke and still keep it balanced. A

[@89G]

That's a good idea! thanks...

[@tudocervera3764]

thank you sir.. cool video..

[@89G]

Thank you! I appreciate your support and feedback 🙏