He “Trued Up” Cheap Tires

He “Trued Up” Cheap Tires TIRES/WHEELS Handling Brian Lazenby turned a bad tire buy into a good investment by making a tire truing machine The made-in-China Gladiator brand tires he had ordered online were out of true Rather than send them back he fixed them     “I saved $700 on a set of 5 tires for the 19 1/2-in wheels I was putting on my truck but I could feel they were out of round even driving at low speeds ” says Lazenby “When I checked they were as much as a 1/4 in out-of-round ”     Out-of-round was once a common problem with tires so much so that tire trimming or truing machines were common Lazenby’s father recalled having tires trued before using them and suggested he find someone with a tire truing machine     When none could be found within several hundred miles Lazenby decided to build his own     “I had an old radial arm saw and an engine hoist and decided to use them ” says Lazenby “I built brackets to temporarily attach the radial arm saw head to the vertical leg of the hoist ”     Lazenby had recently replaced hubs on his truck One fit nearly perfect to a 1-ft length of 4-in schedule 40 pipe He bracketed it to the leg of the hoist with a single pin The pin allowed minimal movement of the pipe     “I attached a turnbuckle between the hoist base and the pipe so I could level the tire ” explains Lazenby     Once the wheel and tire were mounted he lowered the saw blade to just barely trim the high area on the tire He moved it across the tire’s width and rotated the tire as he worked     “I brought it down a bit more and trimmed again ” says Lazenby     When he was satisfied that the tire was true he repeated the process on the other tires He then remounted them on his truck and took it out on the road     “I ran it up to 85 and it rode as smooth as glass ” he recalls     Lazenby needed the larger wheels and tires to safely and legally haul RV trailers for an Indiana manufacturer Since truing the tires he has made multiple trips cross-country with no problems Whether he buys the same brand in the future and goes through the truing process again depends on how they last His advice for others is to spend more up front     Check out the tire truing machine in action at www farmshow com     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Brian Lazenby 9750 70th St W Mojave Calif 93501 ph 805 829-6263; brianplazenby@hotmail com

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