Our 89 Regal has Centramatic Balancers on both the front and rear wheels. Tere says she feels a vibration that increases the faster she goes. I'm thinking things like harmonic balancer or drive shaft rather than tires. She feels it even when her hands are not on the steering wheel. Would appreciate thoughts on the Centramatic Balancers.

J

Jim, I have thought about getting them, so far have not!

Can you feel anything by just revving the engine in neutral. If not probably not the Harmonic. Not sure how to test the Drive shaft other than to check and see if any balance weights have fallen off or the u-joints are shot.

My guess is it is in the wheels or balancer somewhere. Check and make sure the balancer weights are free (take them off and shake them) to move as needed or take them completely off, get the wheels balanced and go for a drive.

Sorry not much help just food for thought, be curious what you find out, will influence whether I continue to lust over them.. Good luck!

I had centramatic balancers on the 32' Regency and now have them on the 40' Foretravel. I would not have a coach without them. Absolutely no problems ever with wheel balance, Replaced tires on both RV's without balancing wheels and have never felt a wheel vibration. I learned about them from Marvin who swears by them and runs them on all of his and Doris's 18 wheelers.

I guess you might say this is a positive endorsement

Nick

I had 6 Centramatics on my 86 and I have 4 on the Monarch. I have never had the wheels balanced and they have always been smooth. I would recommend them as well.

Put new tires on the back of Nose last spring, the installer said they really needed a lot of wheel weights. So I considered Centramatics but at @ $100 a crack I was a bit set back.. But may bite the bullet.

Do they make them for 16 inch wheels?? yes they do 4 for $200

Another thought might be one of the tires is out of round, as in tread separation. We had an old Merc years ago that I thought the balancing was off but it turned out to be a "bubble".

They make a centramatic for the driveshaft too. I believe that is your problem. We were towed and the guy fixed our alternator and cranked the Barth without reconnecting the driveshaft. It was shaking like crazy on the test drive. He brought the driveshaft to a machine shop in Somerset KY but it was never replaced, just fixed.
Marvin says one of the ears is broke off where the u joint is.

Ok, found the 4 centramatic units needed for ole Nose on Ebay for $135 plus tax, free shipping, bought them!!!

Another project when the snow leaves!!!!

Good deal! You will not be disappointed. You will never have to pay for balancing and they rebalance every time you drive.

quote:

Originally posted by Marvin+Doris:
They make a centramatic for the driveshaft too. I believe that is your problem. We were towed and the guy fixed our alternator and cranked the Barth without reconnecting the driveshaft. It was shaking like crazy on the test drive. He brought the driveshaft to a machine shop in Somerset KY but it was never replaced, just fixed.
Marvin says one of the ears is broke off where the u joint is.

This is what the chunk out of the u joint looks like

Here are our options:
1. A company called Balance Masters makes a drive shaft balancer-same principle as Centramatic, but with a mercury filled rubber ring- and it's about $110.
2. Replace the drive shaft completely-don't know the cost. Current set up is a split drive shaft with the rear section being the one with the chunk out of the u joint.
3. Take both sections of the split drive shaft off, throw them away, install Gear Vendors that came with the coach to rear of transmission, and have a new one piece drive shaft built to go from the rear of the Gear Vendors to the differential. The one piece driveshaft would be about 72".
I'm thinking of the cheap option as a temporary fix because we're not ready financially to do the one piece/Gear Vendors thing. Of course, we could do nothing and drive it as it is. The vibration is not very bad.

J

Have you considered getting the driveshafts cleaned and rebalanced? Two piece driveshafts are notorious for developing imbalances. Always mark the yokes and install in the same position when servicing ujoints, etc.

Inspect transmission tail bearing for play. Also check the trans yoke and center splines for wear.

Be sure the center bearing is good and well aligned. When I had the 86 I removed the driveshafts when I replaced the transmission. I replaced all the ujoints. As I replaced the shafts I was surprised to see they were not in a straight line from trans to rear end. I used a string line to adjust the position of the center bearing. It was about 1/4 inch off to one side. It was smoother after that.

The Gear Vendor/new shaft option would be ideal but pricey.

Help confirm, sounds as if you will sometime put the Gearvendors in your coach, if that chip has been around since Marvin and Lois AKA Doris owned the coach and as you say it is just a minor irritant. Save the dough for the big change!!!

Just cheap guys opinion!!!

Another possible option, come to the Michigan GTG, pre-measure and get a drive shaft made, throw that Gearvendors in the Regal, Steve lives close so any tool needed will be available, between all of us that thing will get installed. Geez I love to volunteer folks without them knowing!!

This is Tere:
re: centramatic wheel balancers

do you need to remove the weights on the wheels? Or does it matter?

Hi Tere, I just put new tires on the breakaway. I told the tire man that I wanted them balanced and that I would be using centramatics. He told me not to balance the wheels if using centramatics because the balancers will fight against the weights.
Kenny