Centramatic to Rim clearance

[Skinny]

I am running 37" Goodyears on my M1031 with what I believe are late 70's Ford Campers Special rims or from a late 80's F350. They are 16.5x9.75 rims that actually fit quite well with the width and backspacing.

I just purchased H1 Centramatic balancers and they clear the axles/brakes fine. I have this inner lip on the rim which is interfering with the centramatic installation. Now my spare tire rim which appears identical to what is on the truck right now does not have this lip or interference issue. I do not want to purchase new rims or use spacers if possible. It would require 0.75" space to clear but I think the minimum size of spacer that you can buy with new studs is 1.5" width.

I'm no engineer but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express, I'm thinking I could plasma cut that small portion out without compromising integrity of the rim. I think that is safter than adding 3" of track width to a set of heavy offset wide rims.

Thoughts???

 

[Sharecropper]

Hey Skinny - which Centramatics did you get? The fellow at Centramatic who knows all this stuff is Jerry - 800-523-8473

http://centramatic.com/Page.aspx?page=Balancers

 

[Skinny]

400-448 which are for a 1ton application although 17" rim. I spoke with Jerry before. I'm wondering if these would fit better:
http://centramatic.com/ShowItemDetail.aspx?id=12532

I want the larger size for the heavier tires but I have that weird lip that interferes. If it wasnt there, I could clear the 400-448 balancers all day long.

 

[Sharecropper]

I wonder if the wheel lip would fit inside one of the cut-outs on the Centramatic?

 

[Skinny]

Not sure what you mean by cutouts. This lip on the rim has no place to go on my centramatic.



I just sent an email to Jerry to see if he has anything else. I want to avoid using spacers if possible. I've run them before with big tires but I'm not into pulling wheels and torquing the spacer plate every 1000 miles. Not an issue on my old rockcrawler because the wheels were off every 1000 miles for something

 

[richingalveston]

for my re-centered hummer rims from TWF I used the H1 balancers but not the ones shown on the website, they had the flat plate not the one with the bevel as shown on the website.
they look just like the ones you have skinny but have the larger ring with more weight. I had to take the first ones back.

I think your only choice with those rims is to cut it. You do not want to run the balancer between the hub and spacer. If you were to add spacer's the balancer would still go on after the spacer or you would probably have torque issues.

from the vehicle those rims came from, they are probably rated for a lot more weight than you are running so it probably wont hurt them to loose a little metal, I am surprised to see them with riveted centers and not welded.

I did not stay at a holiday inn last night so get more opinions.
Rich

 

[Skinny]

Jerry said that the position of the balancer to the rim would not affect the performance if it was offcenter by 1 to 2 inches. My intent was to slip the balancer on, then torque the spacer on top of it. I'm even thinking that some blue LocTite would help as well.

I too was surprised at riveted centers! I'm thinking a little plasma trim is going to be the solution here.