billmac

I know that most folks on this site have 4X4 trucks so this may not be applicable. Two days ago I ordered and received a set of Centramatic wheel balancers. I was determined to install them myself instead of driving 27 miles to Alvarado, TX where Centramatic is located. Fortunately for me and the fact that I decided that I'm too old at 60 to be lifting heavy truck tires; I called Tru-Trac, a part of Centramatics and asked them about installation. This is the lucky part for me because I spoke with the shop foreman and he told me that some of the installations they did on Dodge trucks required a spacer on the front wheels. The spacers were not included in the kit that I had bought. Anyway, I drove to Alvarado this morning and had the balancers installed. Sure enough my truck required the spacers on the front wheels; not because of the disk calipers being too large, but because of the OEM alloy wheels. Without the spacer, the wheel would have crushed the balancer when I put it on. For those that are not familar with the Centramatics, They are a large aluminum disk with 2 different size holes so they can be used in more than one application. The outer ring on the disk is filled with metal *****. The balancer is supposed to fit flush with the wheel and clear the disk caliper. There are two types of disks; type A and type B. I received two of each with my kit. One of the types has a slight offset. The other is flat.

The shop installed my balancers in about 50 minutes taking much precaution to ensure there was adequate clearance as needed. My only gripe with their performance was their placement of the floor jacks on the front end. I told them to use the frame rail but they had the jack under the lower control arm where it attached to the frame I think. The rear jack was under the differential which also annoyed me.

I just thought that I would pass along this information just in case some of you might order the balancers. So far, I have only driven about 30 miles with the balancers so I can't really comment on their performance. The trucks tires and wheels are in excellent shape and the tires have about 16k miles on them and are wearing very evenly.