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Airsoft BBs didn't work

SimpleXJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
east coast
My work jeep has 235-75-15's dunlop mud rovers on it. They are 3/4 of the way wore out. I started to feel a slight vibe around 50mph, after I rotated the tires. Instead of going and having them balanced, I thought I would give my new harbor freight manual tire mounter a try and put some airsoft BBs in there to experiment. I pulled off all the weights (there were only 2 1.5oz weights on each wheel), broke the bead and added a package of airsoft .20gr BB's. I don't know how many, or how much the package weighed (didn't say on the bottle) but it was the size of a soda can and weight about 8oz I guess.

After I put everything together, I went for a test drive. The vibes at 50mph are much worse now. I could barely notice them before and now it's almost like death wobble. I made sure the wheels were clean of mud on the inside before I put them back on. Here's the interesting thing - if I take the jeep up to 60mph, and then back off to 50mph, the vibes are gone. It's like to needs 60mph to balance the bb's out. But this will not work the way it is, because accelerating thru the 50mph range causes serious vibes.

What did I do wrong? I searched here and everyone says they had good results with theirs. I know I added more airsoft BB's in weight than I had in lead weights on each wheel.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

SimpleXJ
 
dude....you put too much weight in there! pull em back off and get those bb's out, then put em on a scale and start with the same amount of well weights that you pulled off. Any tire balance can be offset a little with speed. That's how you know when your tires are out of balance, because when you hit that magical 55mph, you get your teeth rattled. IMO, a good wheel weight and a pro balance is worth the money.
 
you NEED to weigh them, stop monkey guessing it and put them BB's on a scale. I used 160grams per wheel and i'm running 245/65/16's. I might have used to much on mine but I've done this before with 33's and it rode like heaven. I think i'm just in need an an alignment.
 
A sandwich bag sized ziploc nearly full is ~12oz, you've got maybe 3x too much in there? Take them all out and start over would be my suggestion. This mod is one of those that takes research b/c the volume/mass is v important. For perspective, I've got about the amount you've described in my 38's.
 
i currently run airsoft pellets in 5 vehicles, and have NO PROBLEMS. BUT YOU HAVE TO MEASURE IT OUT FOR EACH TIRE.

different size and type tires require different amounts. go check out innovative tire balancing.
 
Ditto the work in advance.

I'm running approximately 8.25 ounces/2000 BBs per 33/12.50 tire. Works really well.
 
Well, I went ahead and took half of the bb's out of each tire, that was before I read all your responses. It rides a little better, slightly less vibes and they have now shifted to 55mph instead of 50mph. I agree, I do need to weigh them. The BB's are made in china and there is no indication how many BB's are in the package or the total weight... or weight of any sort.

Thanks for your help fellas, I'll post my results in a few days.

Regards,

SimpleXJ
 
Keep an eye on them. I ran airsofts in my old BFG muds and almost all of them had dissolved into a nice green dust by the time I unmounted them to put on my new tires. They worked alright in the beggining, but just got gradually worse until I found that.
 
Starscream said:
Keep an eye on them. I ran airsofts in my old BFG muds and almost all of them had dissolved into a nice green dust by the time I unmounted them to put on my new tires. They worked alright in the beggining, but just got gradually worse until I found that.

How long were they in?

I just put new tires on after putting mine in 2 years ago and they looked like new.
 
alwaysready said:
anyone ever use golf balls??
i know my dad and some other truck drivers that put 3 golf balls in each semi tire( think it was 3 maybe more??

A buddy used them in his 35" Boggers and they didn't work worth a damn. Keep in mind, they were Boggers.
 
I just got new 33 -12.5's and asked the tire dude about balancing with bbs/pellets. he told me he would use sand. comes in packages specifically sized for specific tires size. they just throw the plastic package of sand in when mounting the tire and after the first few meters down the road the bags rip open and the sand does its thing. works well for me. I can feel the imbalance at low speeds but it goes away quite quickly

just my .02 btdt
 
Onkover said:
The disadvantage in the sand is clumping. I currently run airsoft and it helps but not a complete fix.. yet my tires are tore UP!!

I agree that tire quality makes a huge difference. My 33" BFG MTs were torn up and just about done and they were still OK. When I added the AirSoft to the new BFG ATs they were perfect.
 
fuzzydog said:
I just got new 33 -12.5's and asked the tire dude about balancing with bbs/pellets. he told me he would use sand. comes in packages specifically sized for specific tires size. they just throw the plastic package of sand in when mounting the tire and after the first few meters down the road the bags rip open and the sand does its thing. works well for me. I can feel the imbalance at low speeds but it goes away quite quickly

just my .02 btdt

Was wondering if this was done in conjunction with wheel weights. Or, if he just throws them in there and lets it ride? I could see throwing some in there but there's no sense in not balancing your tires. If your worried about mud and tire wear changing the balancing, you could just run an auto balancer. It's the same thing pretty much just mounts inside the wheel.
 
coastie124 said:
Was wondering if this was done in conjunction with wheel weights. Or, if he just throws them in there and lets it ride? I could see throwing some in there but there's no sense in not balancing your tires. If your worried about mud and tire wear changing the balancing, you could just run an auto balancer. It's the same thing pretty much just mounts inside the wheel.

That's what the AirSoft bbs do. No need for outer wheel weights or any kind of other balance. This is it. Having wheel weights AND AirSoft would be counterintuitive.
 
I have never heard of BB's in your tires. Why not just spend a few dollars and have them balanced?
 
ColoradoJeepXJ said:
I have never heard of BB's in your tires. Why not just spend a few dollars and have them balanced?
Low pressure and rubbing against tree roots and rocks is a great way to strip your outer wheel weights off. The tape weights never stay on either.

As the tires move on the wheel from being knocked off the bead or from change balance due to chunking or wear, internal BBs are always going to the imbalance, regardless of the position of the tire on the wheel.

I was having a tire balanced after every trail run the last year I ran wheel weights. Without question, this saved me hours of sitting around the tire shop waiting for these to get fixed. The whole setup, all 5 tires, cost $10 to balance with BBs. Done once and for all.
 
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