[Charlie Stephens]

Since questions about wheels and adapters come up frequently I thought I would post a couple of pictures on the subject. The wire wheels from ‘28 (I am not sure about the AR wheels) through ‘35 are designed to mount on a surface that has 2 levels. The first photo shows the ring on the rear wheel of a Model A that provides this second level. Beginning in late ’31 with the cast drums and continuing through ‘35 this second level was provided by raised nubs as shown in the second picture. All wire wheels (including aftermarket Kelsey wheels) can be run without adapters on the brake drums intended for mechanical brakes. The wheels for ’40 through ’48 were designed to run on flat drums as shown in the third picture. There is an adapter shown in the fourth photo that provides this second level when running wire wheels on hydraulic brake drums. There is a spacer available to run the later disc wheels on the mechanical brake drums. In both cases it is necessary to check that the studs are long enough. The spacers to run wire wheels on the later hydraulic brake drums are available from MT Car Products as part # 5000, Speedway as part # 91065470, and Sacramento Vintage Ford Parts as part # 05199-8 as well as many other sources. Since all wheels had the same 5 on 5 ½ bolt pattern the wheels can be bolted on and appear at first glance to fit. Unfortunately, not running adapters/spacers when they are required may result in cracked rims.