Tire shaving? Homemade?

[Classicfordguy]

I suspect the surplus bias 36" hummer tires on my truck might not be round, so I was thinking today of making a homemade tire shaving machine since I am not about to pay another shop $ to do crappy tire work as it always turn out.

Anyone ever tried this?

I have an extra TTB front axle that I found on the side of the road one day driving to school so I was thinking I would weld up a frame using that to mount my tires to and spin it with some motor to check for roundness then shave as necessary.

Sound like a decent idea? Any idea how to shave them at that point? I was thinking I have a crappy ryobi router I found in the trash that might do the trick with the right bit.

-Rob

 

[93turbo_animal]

never shaved a tire for street use but I have cut plenty of tires for our pulling tractors. I use a power hand planer to get rid of the bulk of rubber then used a hot knife to cut the edge and I can't remember the company name but they make a disc for a grinder just for cleaning up your cuts that may be all you need

 

[yARIC008]

Why do you suspect they're out of round, and how did they get that way?

 

[npe3484]

As cheap as you can usually get hummer tires for, I wouldn't even bother trying to get yours back into round. Maybe look for a set of the 37x12.50 Goodyear's that are the radial construction. My uncle had a set on his old Scout and they rode just fine.

 

[Classicfordguy]

Well I'm in college and can't currently afford radials though if I had it to do again I would certainly spend the extra on better tires, still learning these things. The tires still have tons of life in them they just ride like crap, had two of them re-balanced when I got an alignment and they seemed to ride worse. Just figured it would be a good machine to have anyway, check if rims are bent etc.

I had one tire wear completely out very fast, I had it replaced with a brand new one that I had as a spare. They put the new tire on the side that was wearing fine so I swapped them the other day and the truck rides even worse. Now when I hit the brakes and pass 40mph the truck seems to bounce pretty bad, way worse than before. So all that being said just figured I would see if they were even round.

-Rob

 

[Knuckledragger]

You can check for roundness while they are still on the truck, no need for building a machine just yet, unless you are so inclined.

Just jack up the truck and spin the tire by hand. If you need a reference, you can hold a pointer or stick with a couple of bricks near the tread. That is very easy and will tell you if the tire is out or the wheel is bent (much more likely these days). To check the wheel, put the pointer next to the rim while you spin.

Tire truing machines used a hot razor blade to take off the excess material, and it was set on a lead screw, to travel across the whole tread. Last time I saw one of those being used was in the 1970s, trying to get a retread round and true.

Sears used to sell an electric tire grooving tool with a heated blade. You might be able to use one of those, if you can find one.

 

[MUDKICKR]

does the place that balanced your tires, did they ck road force? if there machine wont ck road force then that could be another problem there. find a tire shop where there tire balancer does road force and they can help get your tires balanced. only problem is your tires have to be warm to do it correctly. if they balance them cold then it wont be correct. better yet find a trk tire shop and get some "equal" to put in your tires. that should help balance them. but the tires being bias ply could also be all your frt end problems.

 

[suv7734]

Well I'm in college and can't currently afford radials though if I had it to do again I would certainly spend the extra on better tires, still learning these things. The tires still have tons of life in them they just ride like crap, had two of them re-balanced when I got an alignment and they seemed to ride worse. Just figured it would be a good machine to have anyway, check if rims are bent etc.

I had one tire wear completely out very fast, I had it replaced with a brand new one that I had as a spare. They put the new tire on the side that was wearing fine so I swapped them the other day and the truck rides even worse. Now when I hit the brakes and pass 40mph the truck seems to bounce pretty bad, way worse than before. So all that being said just figured I would see if they were even round.

-Rob

As mentioned you can just jack up the truck and easily check for 'roundness' or bent rims.
How many miles do you put on in a day? The reason I ask is because bias ply tires will 'flat spot' from sitting overnight (especially nylon cords) and will have a definite 'bump' to them until they warm up. (man I'm starting to feel old here)
All that being said, your tire shop that did the alignment should have noticed if they were not round when they did the balance etc.
Just some thoughts.

 

[Classicfordguy]

I'll start with jacking it up and checking with the pointer. The tires do flat spot every time I drive it but that evens out after a few miles so obviously I need to check the tires hot. What is road force balancing?

-Rob

 

[krawlr]

I toss 6-8 golf balls in my 36" Swamper bias ply on beadlocks. It keeps them surprisingly tame. I think if you try to true up and balance those things they'll be all out of wack in a week. Walmart has used golf balls by the bag too.

 

[Classicfordguy]

Realy!? How does that work? How would the golf balls find their way to the light side of the tire???

-Rob

 

[jperecko]

Because the side is light... Think about spinning something with liquid in it. The liquid will evenly distribute around the edges. Same with the golf balls, with the tires at running speed, they will roll out to wherever it will even out the tire. People also have been known to run airsoft BBs or water to get a similar effect. The only potential problem is noise from the golf balls tumbling at lower speeds.

 

[tractorman86]

Golf balls!?!?!? i've heard of a hand full of bbs or even marbles but golf balls!?

 

[Agnem]

Nothing like wearing a tire from the inside out. Neat trick. Don't think I'd want to do it though.

 

[jperecko]

Nothing like wearing a tire from the inside out. Neat trick. Don't think I'd want to do it though.

Once you get going, whatever is in the tire is not spinning or tumbling, so no wear should occur there. And while spinning slow, you are talking smooth round object on rubber, do not think that will wear any. I know of a few who run such setups on and off road without issue. I would only really do it though if you had a tire/wheel that would not balance well.