Remember when we used to true wheels by feel and not by a dial indicator?

Last week I was showing a younger mechanic how to true a wheel with just a spoke wrench and a zip tie. He pulled out a digital truing stand and asked why I was doing it the hard way. I told him 3 years ago in my old shop in Austin we had a Park stand but no gauge. We just spun the wheel and listened. Had another old timer tell me once 'if you can hear it, you can fix it.' Has anyone else noticed new guys rely way too much on tools instead of feel?

3 comments

3 Comments

rubys8015d agoMost Upvoted

Oh come on, that's total gatekeeping nonsense. Modern tools exist for a reason, and that reason is accuracy. Just because you can "hear" a wheel doesn't mean you're getting it perfectly round. A dial indicator doesn't lie, but human ears sure do, especially after a long day. That whole "feel" thing is just an excuse to skip proper measurement. I've seen old timers claim a wheel is true only to have it wobble like a hula hoop once you actually check it with real tools.

king.aaron15d ago

My last wheel truing attempt turned into a pretzel shape, so @rubys80 is probably right that I need to stick with the dial indicator and leave the "feel" to someone who isn't me.

finley_price2414d ago

Dial indicators are great until they're not.