This ^^^^ You won't find a single weight on any of my KMC XD231's. The Chamber Pro II's that Moby is running has nothing out of the norm in terms of weights. :idontknow:
Drain Holes on KMC XD Wheels
- Thread starter SLO
- Start date
This ^^^^ You won't find a single weight on any of my KMC XD231's. The Chamber Pro II's that Moby is running has nothing out of the norm in terms of weights. :idontknow:
trailraider
Active Member
I was trying to be facetious, but my keyboarding doesn't convey it as well as my inside voice sounds when typing.
Rubicon310
New member
As I’ve never run 37’s or BeadLocks, do you just not balance them? You mentioned no weights? What about those bead sacks that go inside?
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fiend
Caught the Bug
I balanced mine. I don’t know why large tires on beadlocks would be different from any other tire/wheel combo. Some shops can’t or won’t touch them, but if you find a shop that will do it, why not?
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LivingLegend
New member
trailraider
Active Member
I didn't balance mine, I run 35 Toyo MT's. I didn't notice any issues and have 50,000 km with no wear issues. Any that we do balance we typically road force for them. If I had issues when I first ran them I would have probably balanced them.
I think a lot of shops have the conception the bigger the tire the more weight they will need. We have had some that were a bitch to balance.
Ddays
Hooked
The best way to install those bags of beads is to go to a really high hill and throw the fuckers over it. All 4 of them They don't work. At all.
I couldn't find a shop to balance my Chamber Pros/Cooper STT's when I installed them 3 years ago. No one would touch them. Hoinestly, until they got about 25-30k miles on them they were fine. As they wore they started to give me some vibrations above 70 so I tried the bags. Total waste of time. Did absolutely nothing. I ended up shop vacuuming them out after I found a shop that would balance them for me. The only imbalance those damn things help with is felt between the ears. :grayno:
Steve Williams
Member
My coffee came out of my nose, I was laughing so hard. Discount will balance your 37s and beadlocks for $25 a tire. They won’t touch the mounting. I just had my XD s and SST pros done. All the wheels took less than 5 oz to balance, I thought that was pretty good given the weight of the tires.
I’m not sure why anyone would drill holes in a perfectly good new wheel, I’d get sick at my stomach. No thanks.
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trailraider
Active Member
We had a truck show up one time with vibration issues. spun the wheels up and didn't matter what we did we could not get to balance, checked after putting on the weights and was out every time. turned out it had beads in it, still all in the bag they came in.
trailraider
Active Member
It's like cutting frame brackets to install long arm. was nervous until the first cut , after that it's like "WTF no turning back now".
cozdude
Guy with a Red 2-Door
As everyone has mentioned your are ruining the integrity of the wheel. Regardless of what you think that wheel is designed that way for a reason and the other one has the drain hole and integrity in mind. Plus your really gonna throw the balance off of the wheels big time.
Snboarder113
Hooked
If you make a jig to machine / router out the mess of the holes perfectly you should be fine as far as balance goes. What’s done is done, so if you ever crack one there you’ll know why.
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fiend
Caught the Bug
I would find someone with a CNC milling machine. That would make short work of the project and minimize any balance issues.
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jesse3638
Hooked
I was going to suggest a chamois. This is not like the mirror drain hole mod.
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SLO
Member
They are pretty much identical except for the backspacing and the drain holes. But if you look at the picture of the black wheel I posted, you can see how they machined out the lip around the threaded holes for the water to drain through to the holes on the rock ring. That is what I am trying to re-create.
Holy Fuck man!I get what you are saying but just because it sounds like a good idea doesn't mean it actually is! I'd highly recommend stopping at one wheel and using it for a spare. There's no way you can consistently remove the same amount of material evenly around the entire circumference of the wheel. If you want the drain holes buy the Machetes & be done with it. The wheels Eddie is running on Jet Li have drains holes too I believe. Think they may be KMC Robbie Gordon editions or some such....
Come on guys, this group is smarter than that. I have a lot of respect for you guys so hear this in the right way. There is so much bad information out there on forums that mislead people and one of the reasons I chose to follow Wayalife is because you guys speak truth even if it is at the expense of people. I have thick skin and can take anything that gets thrown at me but I am going to correct the mis-information knowing that I will need to put on my flame suite. Make fun of me for wasting time on something frivolous but as soon as you make stupid claims, it becomes just as bad as the other forums out there.
There is no way that the difference in amount of material that is removed from each of the 24 “pockets” will affect the balance of the wheel and tire in any noticeable way. And, I’ll get “WAYALIFE” tattooed on my forehead if a wheel fails from drilling holes through those pockets. It’s just not going to happen.
Aluminum weighs 2.7 grams per cubic cm. We are talking about fractions of a gram that I could potentially be off per pocket. A wheel weight weighs 7 grams in comparison. The 40” STT Pros are going to have more inconsistencies than the amount of aluminum I take off. But therein lies the reason why we balance wheels and tires, right?
Same reason why people cut perfectly good sheetmetal or drill into a perfectly good body panel or cut a perfectly good frame to fit a new bumper or cut perfectly good brackets to install different suspension. Replacing a $300 wheel is a lot more stomach-able to me than thousands that it could cost to fix the frame or body panels. I have cut into those as well but so have most of the people on here. :idontknow:
It’s not so much the wheel as it is the tire. The larger the tire, the more room for inconsistencies there are, especially with the large lugs on MT's. They are generally harder to balance than a low profile tire, for example.
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SLO
Member
That is essentially what I am doing. The carbide bit I ordered is a 1/4" bit with a 1/4" shank and the cutting surface is only 1/2" which is exactly the thickness of what I am cutting through. So, the shank will ride along the edge of the pocket wall which will prevent the bit from cutting any more than the size of that pocket. Not sure if that sounds confusing but same concept as having a bearing on a router bit that acts as a guide so you can't take off too much material. Plus, the depth will be set consistent. I am confident in what I am doing...even if I am the only one!
fiend
Caught the Bug
That is essentially what I am doing. The carbide bit I ordered is a 1/4" bit with a 1/4" shank and the cutting surface is only 1/2" which is exactly the thickness of what I am cutting through. So, the shank will ride along the edge of the pocket wall which will prevent the bit from cutting any more than the size of that pocket. Not sure if that sounds confusing but same concept as having a bearing on a router bit that acts as a guide so you can't take off too much material. Plus, the depth will be set consistent. I am confident in what I am doing...even if I am the only one!
I tend to agree with you that the balance and strength concerns re removing material for the slots are probably overstated.
I understand what you have in mind with the router. I have never heard of someone using a woodworking router (which is what I assume you have) to mill metal. I suppose it might be possible, but I’d be concerned about keeping control and not breaking stuff. But it’s your project and you’ve committed to it now (at least for one wheel), so by all means go for it. I’m keen to see the results.
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SLO
Member
I am using a woodworking router with a milling bit...same bit as a small CNC router would use. I wasn't sure about it at first either but I Googled it and the internet said I could do it so it must be valid.
Actually, I was surprised how common it is. You can get more kickback than with wood but the concept is the same. It's not as much about the router (machine) as it is the bit. At the end of the day, you have a motor that rotates a bit. CNC is more precise but it would be more difficult to use something static like a CNC than a handheld router for this particular case. I saw many videos of guys using wood round-over bits to make a radius corner on aluminum. I enjoy learning by trial and error. Kind of excited to learn on this one...
BaddestCross
Active Member
Your best bet for success here would be to build a jig so you have consistent and accurate cuts all the way around. I don't see a problem with a woodworking router as long as it's a good plunge router with speed control so you can set it to the right RPM for the bit.
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Build Thread - Adventures of Fiona - https://wayalife.com/showthread.php?t=47407
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Build Thread - Adventures of Fiona - https://wayalife.com/showthread.php?t=47407