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Ok, being the stubborn, independent, hard-headed guy that I am, I have
decided that I want to service my own 8-bolt M998 HMMWV wheels. I'm
still afraid of split-ring rims, and I won't dig inside a mechanical
fuel injection pump, but otherwise I want to do as much of my own work
on my green trucks as I can.
Now, the depressurize-unbolt-swearalot-breakbead-inspect-reassemble-
hide-clench-seatbead-searchforsurvivors process sounds pretty
straightforward, but I also want to get my hands on a suitable
inexpensive bubble balancer so I can balance the wheels myself.
I've found bubble balancers in on-line catalogs from various sources,
including Harbor Freight, J.C. Whitney, etc. Most of them seem to have
identical-looking units, with prices ranging from $70 to $220 (?!).
J.C. Whitney also carries a second model. None of the descriptions I
have seen tell me enough to figure out whether the balancers will be
compatible with my HMMWV wheels' weight, hub hole diameter or bolt
pattern.
The $70 Harbor Freight one can be seen at:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/taf/DisplayItem.taf?ItemNumber=39741
J.C. Whitney carries two models, the first one appearing identical to
the Harbor Freight one, but selling for $190, and the second one
selling for $70:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml?CATID=5174
http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml?CATID=5181
I've seen ones which appear identical to the Harbor Freight balancer
at one or two other places, selling for around $200. NAPA also sells
one for around $220. I haven't seen the one they currently offer, but
I've seen a picture of an older NAPA bubble balancer in an Ebay
auction a while back, and it appeared identical to the Harbor Freight
model.
Does anybody know from personal experience whether any of the units I
mentioned are compatible with my HMMWV wheels? In addition, would any
of them be compatible with the 200-pound 9.00x20 wheels on my 2.5-ton?
Are any adapters necessary for either wheel? Will the cheapoid Harbor
Freight model's high-tech aluminium-Bakelite alloy crumble to dust
after a few of those heavy wheels have visited?
I figured I might buy an appropriate bead-breaking tool (either a
traditional tire hammer, or the slide-hammer variety) from Ken-Tool
(www.ken-tool.com), simply because that's the only place I've found
that offers them (with pictures) so far in my on-line searching. I'm
leaning towards the slide-hammer type, which should be very
understandable to anybody who has seen me swing a regular hammer and
lived to tell about it... :-) A tire cage might not be a bad idea,
either, though I'm less concerned about bolt-together rims than
split-ring rims.
Thanks in advance for any information!
-- Mark J. Blair, KE6MYK <mblair1@home.net> PGP 2.6.2 public key available from http://pgp.ai.mit.edu/ Web page: http://www.qsl.net/ke6myk/ DO NOT SEND ANY UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL EMAIL TO THIS SITE
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