Prop and wheel balancing

Tom-D said:
anyone have experience with these folks?

ACTIVE PROP & ENGINE BALANCING
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No experience with them. They've been around for a long time. I was looking at it for a Harley once. It was expensive. You took the engine apart, they machined the flywheels on the crank and installed it right there. Later I think they made one that bolted onto the clutch in the primary chaincase. Reviews were mixed. It would dampen the vibrations more at some RPM's then others.
 
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luvflyin said:
No experience with them. They've been around for a long time. I was looking at it for a Harley once. It was expensive. You took the engine apart, they machined the flywheels on the crank and installed it right there. Later I think they made one that bolted onto the clutch in the primary chaincase. Reviews were mixed. It would dampen the vibrations more at some RPM's then others.
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The method of attachment seems to make it a major alteration of the engine, thus no usage on a certified aircraft.
 
Because it is mounted on the crankshaft, it can only balance out 1/rev vibration. Simple weight etc will do that too. If there is a dynamic crankshaft unbalance or a different angle of attack on the two prop blades, two opposing longitudinally-separated weights will be needed, but that is rarely the case.

Save your money.
 
Tom-D said:
The method of attachment seems to make it a major alteration of the engine, thus no usage on a certified aircraft.
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Yeah. I went to their site. What they have for aircraft is the bolt on one. Looks like it goes on the flywheel outside on the front of the engine. Looks like it would be simple enough to do as long as there was room to make the flywheel "thicker." Drilling holes in the flywheel sounds like something the FAA would not want you just doing,
 
luvflyin said:
Yeah. I went to their site. What they have for aircraft is the bolt on one. Looks like it goes on the flywheel outside on the front of the engine. Looks like it would be simple enough to do as long as there was room to make the flywheel "thicker." Drilling holes in the flywheel sounds like something the FAA would not want you just doing,
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I saw that too. but where will you get authorization to add parts to the prop installation? Prop bolts, are you going to sign off the prop installation when the proper bolts are not used? If the normal bolts are used won't they be too short?

Scary stuff.
 
Tom-D said:
I saw that too. but where will you get authorization to add parts to the prop installation? Prop bolts, are you going to sign off the prop installation when the proper bolts are not used? If the normal bolts are used won't they be too short?

Scary stuff.
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I looked at the website more. It goes on using the all the bolts that are already there. No drilling, no new boots, no new anything. You just put the prop back on with this in between.
 
There is a thread already here about it. Balance Master For Lycomings. Started by Geico266 on Sep 23, 2015.
 
Seems like a complicated way to do a simple task / a solution seeking a problem.

Who the heck messes with their prop THAT much to justify this? and not many GA planes rotate long enough or fast enough to get much bang over balancing wheels.


Just get it running and do a dynamic prop balance, couple hundred bucks, some washers and a guy with a little box, works well enough for working planes with far larger engines.
 
luvflyin said:
I looked at the website more. It goes on using the all the bolts that are already there. No drilling, no new boots, no new anything. You just put the prop back on with this in between.
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You go ahead on,, I'll pass. Sounds like beads in a tire to me, with out a road.
 
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