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Over time I have dealt with loose wheels on my Clod(and other trucks) and it always comes back to shaking wheels which means they need balancing(as long as the outdrives are straight!).
I could try locktite or serrated nuts but this doesn’t seem the answer to my mind as the wheel nuts aren’t the cause. 
 

Does anyone do this? If so what do you use?

I’ve seen 1:1 car weights suggested as well as balancing clay and once I saw someone use some kind of weighted clay for golf clubs or tennis rackets or some other sporty thing. it was a long time ago and my memory is only on 3 cylinders just now as my 3yr old son is trying to steal my phone as I type this. 

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Will Tamiya putty work? They are 32g a tube, so should be enough weight for you to balance the wheels. They contains plastic cement as the solvent so will stick to PS. Not sure about other materials if your wheels are not PS based though. I got some (lots actually) if you want to try.

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@alvinlwh what’s the part num on that?

Ive about 7 sets to do eventually, some are nylon and some abs/pc blend (I’m guessing). 3 sets of proline brawlers, 1 jugg, 2 clod and some old school nylons that I can’t remember the make of(CRP or something). 
 

I have found some tungsten putty for fishing weights that would do the trick but £8 for 30g. 

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@ad456 87053, but just realised, you can try Milliput as well? That sticks better I believe. 

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On 11/16/2021 at 3:55 AM, ad456 said:

Does anyone do this? If so what do you use?

Yes. I use hot glue and nuts. Sometimes bolts too.  

First, the tires must be seated evenly. That could be a challenge of its own. Using caulk would be better than fast curing glue. (If you don't glue the tires, it could rotate on the wheel, and the heaviest part of the rubber could go around, messing with the wheel-balancing.)

Then I stick a wheel/tire on a prop-balancer. Clod tires would be way too heavy for that. So you'll have to find a way to free-roll it on the axle (like removing the motor or something). Or just take out the wheel and roll it on a rod.  Roll one at a time, see how the wheel rests. Most likely, it will stop the same way. Mark the top of the wheel with a sharpie. On the inside of the wheel, temporarily tape few nuts, keep adding them until the wheel rotates smoothly.  Take one or two nuts out to compensate for the weight of hot glue. Take out the tape and hot glue the nuts on the inside of the wheel.  Because of centrifugal force, it won't go anywhere.  

Now, Clod tires are special. The wheels are little in comparison. You might want to drill few holes on the lighter side of the wheel, and using bolts and nuts to give some heft.  The tires are so big, the tips of bolts would never hit when compressed. But if you feel uncomfortable, you can put the bolts from outside, so the round head would be hitting the tire.  You'd have to hot glue or shoe glue bolts and nuts so they wouldn't come undone.  

udXp9pS.jpg

If you put a lot of weight on one wheel, you might want to add some weight on the other wheel evenly too. Even if the other wheel has no balance problem, you might want to consider the weight difference of right and left tires.  Heavier tire would accelerate slower, and decelerate slower.  When you pull or push the throttle, heavier tire would dig in, lighter tire would lose grip. The truck could veer to one direction.

2D6LgCH.jpg

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I found it. I knew I've done it long time ago. I didn't realize it went all the way back to Mad Bison.  

The bronze looking thing is an Tamiya copper bushing from the 80s, I think.  I put a 5mm bearing ball on the inside. The rings are spring washers. Since they are cut on one side, they fit well on the supporting ribs of the wheel.  Proline Masher is nice and all, but it threw off the balance quite a bit. All 4 tires have this much balance weight.  Otherwise, the nitro truggy would shake itself apart. 

I only used superglue. But they all survived multiple excursions against big dogs. To them, this thing has 4 soft chew-toys that roll around which they can peel off the wheels, if they can just run hard enough to catch it. (how rewarding!)   

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Very interesting.  Either mine all happen to be perfect (unlikley), or I just never noticed...

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My problem lies with Proline Brawlers and some stock clod tyres I shaved a bit, the problem was there before the shaving as I thought it would help but that’s not why I did it. The one is out for itself at full belt and the xvds and original axles suffer from wheelnuts loosening. It’s ridiculous if you lift the truck and go full throttle. Just shaking like a lunatic. 
 

There is the chance a wheel is kerbed and bent I guess. I’ll fit another pair with the same tires and see what the outcome is.
 

Either way I’ll be balancing them as it’s sensible for such heavy wheels for the sake of the bearings and parts. 

@Juggular thanks for the pics, that’s a big help and I wouldn’t of thought of the split ring washers, that’s a neat trick! The balancing left and right is a very good shout too, would haven’t even considered that.

I was gonna print a big prop balance jig with some threaded rod and bearings etc. 


@alvinlwh milliput is a good idea too. Less chance I melt things with hot glue. 
 

@87lc2 I am wondering if I just have a bad one/two as I’ve never seen much talk of balancing Clod tyres.

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3 minutes ago, ad456 said:

 

@87lc2 I am wondering if I just have a bad one/two as I’ve never seen much talk of balancing Clod tyres.

I do a good amount of monster truck racing and as far as I know none of the racers do any balancing (could be off on this, just don't remember hearing about it).  Even in my high powered brushless trucks any imbalance was not enough to notice or cause an issue when racing.  Now, I've definitely had bent wheels which caused issues, but normally just replace those guys. 

Of course now that you've mentioned it I will notice and go crazy trying to balance tires on 20+ RC monsters and drive myself nuts in the process.   Thanks... :)   

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