REFLECTOR: FG Nosewheel Shimmy

[Mark Magee]

Hi Kevin,
Interesting question: First I kept it on the yoke and I took it to the local tire shop and asked for help. The guy I know who owns the shop (rural central Texas: lots of tractor tire carcasses about) said nothing to me and walked it over to his vise and using a rag to prevent damage to the aluminum clamped the yoke in his vise. 
"How fast will this tire go," he asked as a small crowd began to gather and watch.
"90 MPH" I replied.
He again said nothing and began to spin the tire (yoke clamped vertically) and watch where the tire settled and began applying stick on weights opposite the low spot. After a while of this methodology the tire would never land on the same spot after spinning an it was balanced.
A rancher walked in to his shop an seeing the on-lookers asked the shop owner what he was doing.
"Mark says he needs to go 90 MPH on his -ZTR- (mower)! 
They all got a good laugh at my expense... I explained it was a flying machine.
Any tire shop that handles ag or lawn equipment can balance your nosewheel or main mounts for that matter, the old fashion way.

Mark B. Magee
Sent from IPhone 4

On Mar 7, 2012, at 11:40 AM, Kevin Baker <flykb at verizon.net> wrote:

> Hi Mark
> How did you balance your wheel ?
> 
> Thanks
> Kevin
> 
> .
> 
> On Mar 7, 2012, at 11:20, Mark Magee <edjonesbrady at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> All,
>> In cogitating on the nosewheel shimmy trial I went through, I forgot to mention that Scott Swing recommended a perfectly balanced nosewheel, which I took care of. In balancing the nosewheel/tire combo it was readily apparent it was grossly out of balance. Apparently an out of balance nosewheel/tire combo is the 'trigger' that starts the destructive shimmy (vibration).  So my nosewheel shimmy was solved in 2 pieces: Jorge Bujanda style bumper (I made my own from a block of urethane) and a perfectly balanced nosewheel/tire assy. Once done do a high speed taxi to confirm.
>> 
>> Ahhhhhh... Smooth as glass now.
>> 
>> Mark B. Magee
>> Sent from IPhone 4
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