Haunted Wheel Simulator

[Bullitt6283]

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On the last couple of trips, for some reason one of my rear wheel simulators actually rotates on the wheel a few inches. I would not have thought this possible, but it happens.

The inside dually tire valve extension, instead of poking through one of the 4 holes in the simulator, ends up bent sideways behind the simulator. Otherwise I wouldn't care if the simulator rotated, as long as it stayed on the wheel.

The simulator is not a bolt-on type. The pieces which make up the simulator are not moving in relation to each other. It looks like the gripper teeth are moving where they contact the wheel. I have bent the gripper teeth out to make better contact with the wheel, but but it has no effect.

It's haunted.
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[craigav]

I would suspect that the two (or more) pieces that comprise the entire wheel simulator actually are moving, but only do so under a specific road\vehicle harmonics which doesn't occur all of the time. One way to know is to use a sharpie and mark a couple of straight lines over the entire cross section of the simulator and then the next time it is out of alignment you can remove the simulator and determine if this is the case. You could also do this with the exterior of the simulator and make a small mark on the simulator that coincides with another mark on the tire. Just thoughts, as I have never had this happen on mine. ~CA

[Bullitt6283]

Originally Posted by craigav

I would suspect that the two (or more) pieces that comprise the entire wheel simulator actually are moving, but only do so under a specific road\vehicle harmonics which doesn't occur all of the time. One way to know is to use a sharpie and mark a couple of straight lines over the entire cross section of the simulator and then the next time it is out of alignment you can remove the simulator and determine if this is the case. You could also do this with the exterior of the simulator and make a small mark on the simulator that coincides with another mark on the tire. Just thoughts, as I have never had this happen on mine. ~CA

I am going to do this 'sharpie' marking trick to see what is moving. The three pieces which comprise the assembly (gripper ring, plastic assembly ring, and main cover) have press-markings and locking barriers that show on close inspection that they have never moved in relation to each other.... but Something is moving.
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