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05-08-2010, 10:31 AM | #1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
A while back, after I had finished the interior, and got the car back on the road, I realized that the wheels and tires really needed some attention... the tires were presentable, but when I started checking the date stamps and realizing that some of the tires were from the thirties, I figured it was about time to splurge...
I picked up 5 Firestones 450x21, tubes and flaps, and started taking my first Model T wheel apart.... thankfully the 27's are demountable rims, so it was just a matter of removing the four rim bolts, and the rim should pop right off.... after about two hours, I got the first one... after about thirty years they needed a little persuasion... |
05-08-2010, 10:37 AM | #2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
here's a shot of the tire and tube of one... yup... the tube is dated 1931...
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05-08-2010, 10:42 AM | #3 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
the rims had some cracks, so I figured I should sandblast to get an idea how bad they were... I then welded up the cracks and primered.. looks like Henry was using Kelsey wheels in 27...
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05-08-2010, 10:50 AM | #4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
the spokes, hubs and inner rims looked pretty tough too, so I took thenm apart (numbering the spokes before your remove the hubs) and sanblasted the outer rims. I used pain stripper (gallons of it ) to strip the hubs and spokes, taping off the bearing races before stripping.... the metal pieces were then primed and painted, but I couldn't bring myself to cover up the grain in the hickory spokes, after spending days stripping them, so I used minwax stain and spar varnish...
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05-08-2010, 10:51 AM | #5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
pics..
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05-08-2010, 10:58 AM | #6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
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05-08-2010, 11:06 AM | #7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
take a tire and tuck the inner tube in, then inflate the tube slightly to seat... then tuck the flap around the tube... I'll post more later
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05-09-2010, 04:35 PM | #8 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
once the tube and flap are installed, time to put the rim spreader to work... attach the spreader, and compress the rim until the hole for the valve stem is just visible... carefully place the rim inside the tire. Once inside, then slowly unwind the rim, being careful not to pinch the flap or tube...
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05-09-2010, 04:37 PM | #9 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
now you've got to expand the rim slightly to line up the "ears" to insert the pin...
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05-09-2010, 04:43 PM | #10 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
I then reassembled the hubs and inner rims (installed new inner rim bolts), touched up the scratched paint and re-installed the rims and tires.... should be good for another 50 years...
Chris |
05-09-2010, 07:38 PM | #11 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Seattle
Posts: 389
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
those look nice!
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05-10-2010, 04:43 AM | #12 |
Senior Member
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
Decades ago I had a car that had Wards Riverside tires that were about 50 years old then and I ran the hell out of them and never seemed to be able to detect any sort of wear. I have one tire on my current T that is probably from the '70's that is all checked and worn out and needs to be replaced. Go figure. Lots to be said for those old rubber compounds, but when the time comes there is never anything like brand new tires. Your wheels and tires look great! What a bunch of work but what a great result!
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05-10-2010, 09:58 AM | #13 |
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Browns, IL
Posts: 59
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
Nice job man...
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05-10-2010, 10:21 PM | #14 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
thanks guys.....
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05-13-2010, 05:41 PM | #15 |
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: NJ
Posts: 4
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
How did you expand the rim after the tire was on?? RV
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05-16-2010, 09:13 PM | #16 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Somewhere in the woods AB
Posts: 111
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Re: Wood Spoke Wheel Restoration
RV,
I used the rim spreader in reverse to get it close, but with at least a couple they needed a whack with a rubber mallet on the "ears" so that the pin would line up... Chris |
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