Hunter spin balencer

[Gwillys]

hey All,
A buddy of mine has this tire balancer, It's a model 138-41-1. I would like to use it but don't have a clue as to how the actual balancing part works. There is a collar that appears you hold the rings or?
I searched the internet with no luck, called Hunter to see if maybe a PDF exsited but so far no luck.

Any help would be great,
Thank You,
Chris

 

[Packard V8]

It appears to be mint. You have what are probably mounting rings for 13", 14" and 15" steel wheels. They will fit some aluminum wheels, but not all. If you're wanting to do 16" or larger, the rings may not exist. The red disc is then clamped to the adapter ring and the motor is used to spin up a front tire.

Explaining how to use it takes a lot of typing, so it is to be hoped some of the paper you have with it is the Operators Manual.

jack vines

 

[Milton Shaw]

Those used to be great before front wheel drive came out. Now you cannot use them on front wheel drive cars, or four wheel drive cars with traction control, then only for 13,14,15 steel wheels. That just about eliminates any thing since the 70's. I have one of them and don't have any cars/trucks that it can be used on. You basically would use the inner pair of rings to change the amount of weight and then the outer pair to change the location of the weight around the wheel. Then you felt the vibration in the car and when it lessened you kept fine tuning it until it was smooth. The head would show the amount of weight and the location then.It took a little time to get used to it but did a good job on 60-70 vehicles. The advantage of them was that they would balance everything rotating such as brake drum, wheel and tire. Even then you could still have a shake from out of balance hubcaps.

 

[VocaTexas]

Some of those had a strobe light that was part of the set-up. When I worked for the local Texaco jobber, one of our stations had one. I've seen it used, but that's about it. Great thing about balancing on the vehicle was that it would tune out any misbalance in the drums or rotors, as well as the tire and wheel.

 

[gnpenning]

I haven't seen one of those in years. As mentioned they balance everything as an assemble. If you rotate tires you most likely will need to re balance.

As a side note make sure your rims clamps are secure. If you have ever seen one come off with speed it will give you a trip to the underwear section. Make sure you don't have anything valuable in line with the tire being worked on.

The strobe helped you locate where to put the weights.

 

[tatra]

Used one in my youth . Got good at it so became the guy to do all of the jobs that came in that were mostly Chryslers with those big heavy out of balance wire spoke hubcaps popular in the late 70's early 80's . Maddening . Spin up, note position of valve stem ,applying balancer break was a smoke show of rubber orget up and apply breaks by foot pedal , remove hubcap, apply weight , and spin up again, hoping you got it got it right the first time but of course , no. Rinse and repeat . Hated that effing job . This was at a Goodyear tire shop off the corner of Broadway and Granville in VancouverBC back in my day . The tires were polysteel radials . Pieces of **** as bad as the Firestonne 500. Interesting location tho as we did Jensen , Rolls Royce, Occasional Ferrari, Maseratisand Jags along with the Big three offerings of the day . The on the car was a last resort sort of thing . I remember spending sometimes hours on one car . Hated that task . But results were worth it I guess to keep from refunding a customers money for what were lots of times defective tires. To this day won't buy Goodyear. Good luck with your new toy .

 

[lboast]

hey All,
A buddy of mine has this tire balancer, It's a model 138-41-1. I would like to use it but don't have a clue as to how the actual balancing part works. There is a collar that appears you hold the rings or?
I searched the internet with no luck, called Hunter to see if maybe a PDF exsited but so far no luck.

Any help would be great,
Thank You,
Chris

I have also been unsuccessfull at finding a downloadable operations manual for this unit. If anyone has one, or knows where I can download one?