How did all those wheels get bent spokes?

[Bruce]

Before investing in powder coating for some wheels last winter, I spent some time straightening spokes. With a set of straighteners, it was not a very hard project and the results really show. But it took some time because I had quite a few bent ones.
If you wander through a gathering of Model A's there are always some with wheels with bent spokes. And just about every pile of A wheels at a swap meet will have some with mangled spokes.
So, my question is this ... who bent 'em? I can't imagine hitting a hole so deep it would bend a spoke!
Have you ever bent a spoke ... or a wheel? Did you smash one recently or when you were clowning around in a $30 car back in the day?
Come on. 'Fess up!

[Jason in TX]

Someone kicking your wheel, or taking 2 wheels off the car, and the wheel on bottom hitting the one you drop on top of it?

If the wheel is off the car, I would think there would be a much greater chance of them getting bent due to it leaning against a wall in the garage, and then bumping it with something else.

[Chris in CT]

HI Bruce, There was a technique, back in the day, of straightening a wheel, that is, getting a wheel with wobble in it to run true, by bending a spoke to pull the rim into alignment. Just exactly how this worked, I do not know, never having done it myself or watched anyone doing it, but in the process of straightening some spokes on some wheels I was restoring, an old-time machinist pointed out that I might just be undoing someone's runnout correction performed on the wheel years before. he was right ... after I got done, all the wheels I tested had excessive wobble.

[Jason in TX]

haha! Very good point Chris!

These were the workin' man's cars, so a few bent spokes wouldn't have really mattered to anyone. Now they are much more special to us, the restorer, and we may tend to take it a little too far to make them more perfect than new.

Interesting topic!

[Frank The Plumber]

Maybe mounting and dismounting tires, have had rims bent, used to break a lot of motorcycle spokes when I was a pup, jumping...no....landing.

[ursus]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

I would agree that the Model was a working man's car and many are still around simply because of the car's basic utility value. Many of the roads we drive on now were not paved until the 40's or 50's and potholes and other hazards were the norm, as were bent wheel rims

In the early 80's I took some "A" wheels to an old guy that had a very large rim press in his repair shop in our small town. He told me that the press had been in the shop when he took over the business after WWII and that he had once had a fair business in straightening bent wheels on the vehicles that travelled the raggedy high desert roads. He even had various tools to straighten and shim the rims on wood spoke wheels, but couldn't remember that last time he had a request for that. The press was a manufactured device with a lot of tooling and not a home made affair.

The guy assured me that he could get my wheels to run true, but when I asked about straightening the spokes he just gave me a blank look and said, "well, do you want 'em straight or do you want 'em to look nice?" I left happy with his work, but got the impression that you just might not get both.

[Dennis/CT]

I bent mine by standing on the spokes trying to remove the old tire.

[MikeK]

Bent spokes?
Probably from being Denver Booted for not putting a penny in the parking meter!

[gweilbaker]

It comes from a long line of "benders". My wife has the gene, you should see what she does to her rims, I just shake my head in wonder. Her parents are benders too, their rims are knocked all to he11. When they leave, I always count how many turns it takes to back out of a straight driveway.

GW

[Jim Mason]

I've blamed them on this young lady for several years...fwiw,jm

[V4F]

i think most of the wheels got bent way back . the roads were poor in the days . but then i hit a pot hole the other day & broke a shock bolt , so maybe there were bent after they paved the damn roads !
i talked to the girl above & she denied ever bending a spoke ! ................. steve

[T.W.Dustin]

Originally Posted by Jim Mason

I've blamed them on this young lady for several years...fwiw,jm

Classic picture!

[Bob A.]

I don't know how you can bend a spoke on a car by hitting say a pot hole without some evidence of the rim being bent(flat at that point). Back in my younger days when I rode my motorcycles really hard,I hit some holes and loosened some spokes but the rim always had evidence like a flat spot. My friends and I straightened them by loosening or tightening the spoke nipples. just like a bicycle. I myself laced a few up and with the help from a manual and a home made truing stand. I could tell you it wasn't easy for me. For the boys that never have seen a truing stand, I'm attaching a picture of one from my old Harley Davidson
manual.

[Clem Clement]

In our club we have 2 wheel straightening machines. On one we used to have wheel straightening days twice a year. Our record was 31 wheels done in one session, if I remember right. This machine was a push only design. The wheel was mounted horizonally on a rotateable jig, the high spot on the lip was pushed downard until the wheel was true. Spokes were straighened first. Of ocourse, if the hub was off laterally, this machine did not correct that. I understand the other machine,which I have not seen, squooze the entire wheel so laterail uncorrectness could be fixed as well.
clem

[Jim Mason]

I have a 1.58 meg pdf on my site on a wheel straightening setup...fwiw,jm

[Bruce]

Thanks for the observations, but I notice that there are very, very few confessed spoke-benders among our "Boardsters." The roads must have been a lot worse way back when spokes were being bent -- which is saying a lot, considering the current condion of Illinois Route 38 near our house!

Couple things do make me want to respond. First, my old toes cry out at the thought of kicking a Model A spoke bent. Ouch! Second, my efforts in straightening the spokes on 19" rims did not create wobbly wheels. You really can take some heavy kinks out without throwing the works out of kilter! For that matter, I straightened spokes on some 21's without making them any shimmier. Advice here, though, is don't dicker too hard if you find a straight 21 at a swap! It is worth what that parts pirate is asking. I tried the heat/quench metal shrinking method of straightening 21" rims that did have some run out. I used a lot of Map gas and got very little satisfaction from the experience.

If you can, spin 'em before you buy 'em!

That's all I've got to add ... unless some of the ladies who might frequent this board want to speak up ... 'er confess ... somebody bent those wheels ...

[5window]

Originally Posted by Jim Mason

I've blamed them on this young lady for several years...fwiw,jm

I think she is probably straightening as many spokes as she's bending. Sorry.