Professional Tool And Equipment News - June 2020 - 37

Ranger

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

DST30P Wheel Balancer
The reviewer finds the Ranger Wheel
Balancer to be worth buying 100 times over.
by Emily Markham, Assistant Editor

The Ranger DST30P Wheel Balancer accurately and efficiently calibrates wheel and tire configurations, says the company. Like the DST-2420 Wheel Balancer, the DST30P handles
wheels up to 30" in diameter. Features include inside and outside measuring, manual wheel offset distance setting, self-calibration function, auto start when the hood is lowered, wheel
holding manual brake pedal, and truck cone/spacer ring adapter
set. This balancer has a 64-tooth magnetic transducer encoder
built into it for minimal yet precise wheel weight placements.
The encoder features precision-cut square teeth to convert
rotary position to a digital electronic signal, quickly achieving
maximum profile and top-dead-center positioning.
Circle 148 on card, or enter at
"e-inquiry" on VehicleServicePros.com

THE REVIEW:

n an automotive
repair shop, technicians require
certain tools and
equipment to be
able to operate. For
Thomas Stevens,
owner of Powerhouse
Performance, the
Ranger DST30P
Wheel Balancer is
part of that necessary
equipment. At Powerhouse
Performance, Stevens and his
team offer wheel/tire services, making the balancer essential equipment
in his shop.
"This is a necessity when I'm doing
mounting and balancing [of wheels]. You
have to balance the wheel every time you
mount a new tire, so, [the Ranger wheel
balancer is] more of a necessity than a
want," he says.
Upon arrival, the wheel balancer was
removed from the pallet and taken out of
its box. Stevens said setup was as easy as

plugging it into
the wall, zeroing
the machine out,
and taking
a look at the
instruction
manual to properly
adjust all the settings. He was pleased
with how self-explanatory and easy to
use the balancer was after setup.
In comparison to other wheel balancers Stevens and his team have used in the
past, he says the Ranger DST30P is one of
the most budget-friendly he has found.
"You can [go to] another manufacturer and spend two, three, four times
as much ... [but] I don't feel that one of
those super high-dollar balancers is going
to make it easier [to balance wheels],"

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JUNE 2020

he says. "There's some knowledge that
goes into making this thing work the way
it does."
Stevens appreciates that this tire
changer is easy to use and allows experienced technicians at his shop to rotate a
tire and make it balance out "better" and
"cleaner" just as accurately as if using a
more expensive model.
"It's perfect for what it is,"
Stevens says.
Overall, there are no features Stevens
didn't like, but in the future, he says he
would like to see a larger top tray. With
all the wheels and tires Stevens and his
team do in a week, he says they run
through a lot of wheel weights and having a bit more storage on top would be
beneficial. Though he does note, storage is not too much of an issue as the
wheel balancer does have storage trays on
the side.
For the price point and ease of
use, Stevens says the Ranger DST30P
Wheel Balancer is worth buying 100
times over.

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Professional Tool And Equipment News - June 2020

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