Has anyone ever straightened a wire wheel? If so, How?

[steve hackel]

I have several nice 40 spoke Kelsey Hayes wire wheels that I set up on a spindle & hub with a dial indicator mounted to the work bench to check for run out - most are really nice & true, but they all seem to have something from a slight wobble to one with a bad wobble. I have a few ideas of my own in conjunction with a good hydraulic press and a fixture to hold the spindle & hub rigid while I rotate the wheel to the high wobble spots and then press down, but I am wondering if anyone has been successful with their home grown attempts & possibly some pictures to along with their experiences?
Thanks, Steve

[flatheadmurre]

If there´s just a tiny runout you can true up the mounting surface on a lathe (takes a big one..)
Straightening that last runout is very frustrating you pull just a little to much and it is as bad just the other way..lol
And with a wire wheel you can work on the spokes to get it where you want it.
Think straightening a bicycle wheel stretch and shrink to move it where you want it.
First get all spokes straight there are tools made for straightening them...i use a slidehammer with a hook.
Then torch time heat up let them shrink to move it where you need.
You can hit a spoke and the sound will tell you how tensioned it is.

[richard crow]

put the 4 good ones on the car use the one with the wobble for a spare if the ones you have don,t have adjustable nipples there very hard to true

[tubman]

Just curious, as I have a set of regular '35 wires I might use. Is there anyone (a person or a company) that does this? I tried to true the wheels on my bicycle myself (read the book and everything) and ended up taking it to a bike shop that did a great job.

[cas3]

be certain you are checking the surface that the bead will sit against, and not the outer rolled edge as that will vary. a guy in the local model a club built a rig for straightening wheels. its a heavy table with a spindle and hydraulic jacks mounted, and the final step is heating and shrinking spokes as Murre stated above. they dont need to be perfect, put the worst ones on the back. 1/8 is pretty normal.

[JM 35 Sedan]

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I read a good article on straightening wire wheels some time ago. It may have been in the V8 Times, but can't remember for sure now. It talked about straightening, shrinking/shortening and expanding/lengthening spokes by certain methods of controlled heating and cooling of the spokes to accomplish this.

[steve hackel]

These wheels have the welded spokes and not the adjustable type as some refer to as part of the straightening process. All of the measurements have been taken at the bead and not at the outer lip areas, and I do not have enough cores to just use the 4 best ones, I'll need to straighten something to make up a set. Still thinking about it .

[hardtimes]

Originally Posted by tubman

Just curious, as I have a set of regular '35 wires I might use. Is there anyone (a person or a company) that does this? I tried to true the wheels on my bicycle myself (read the book and everything) and ended up taking it to a bike shop that did a great job.

Yeah, there IS a company in Van Nuys, Ca...if remember correctly.
They are THE wheel company to go to, if you want perfection. Of course they are a long distance from Florida and they are not cheap, if that is what is looked at.

I'm not far distant from them, but run a bit of bent Kelsey's due to their cost to repair. My driver ford and I are not into show.

[Brian]

I have a total of 10 bent spoke Kelseys, and they all have some runout. Not one of them runs perfectly true. How good were they from new? I run dynabeads in the tire/tube combos, and find they have no vibration at any speed.