listerdiesel Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 (edited) Long ago, about 2-3 years or so, we bought some carrier wheels (unknown to us at the time) for a trolley to put our Ruston diesel on. After a couple of posts on here, I subsequently did a swap with another forum member as 'my' wheels were more suitable for his carrier than the ones he had. After getting rid of the remains of the rubber, we turned the circumference down and with a suitable adhesive, fitted 1" strips of rubber to form tyres. That worked out well, and we also fitted 2" ID wheel bearings rather than the original 1-1/4" (?) ID size, as they were cheap as chips to buy, and we had to make the axles anyway. We are now ready to go, but we have two holes per wheel which are for grease nipple and relief nipple respectively (I believe, they may have had two grease nipples) What I need are the thread details and/or some decent nipples to fit, of the grease variety :-D The wheels are Ford Canada, so I'm assuming 3/8" NF or NPT or something along those lines. The new bearings are sealed so the nipples are purely for show and to keep water out of the hub. Any help would be appreciated, please. Peter Edited August 9, 2011 by listerdiesel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangie Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Any bearing stockist or agricultural engineer worth his salt should have them/be able to get them easily. NF/BSP/METRIC nipples are all still common use. If they object, let me know and i'll get em locally here for you :-D Oh, by the way, I take it these are for effect........... You aren't going to try and grease sealed bearings, ahem, thought I would mention it....:cool2: Alec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 that's a nice job you've done on those wheels. i'm on holiday until the weekend so i can't check my carrier wheels to confirm the thread but if you still need the sizes let me know and i'll get them for you on sunday. rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
listerdiesel Posted August 10, 2011 Author Share Posted August 10, 2011 Cheers, Rick, thread details are still required, so we can put a tap down and clear the paint and Zinc out. I've got a goodly selection of grease nipples, but the 1/8" Gas won't fit, that's the nearest size. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 i'll put the thread gauge on one when i get back but do me a favour drop me a pm if you've not heard from me on sunday as my memory is crap and i'll have forgotten about it. rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 A quick glance through Canadian and British parts lists show them all to be 3/8" BSF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woa2 Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 If it's any help, a Universal Carrier is a Ford product and all the grease nipples on my British Ford vehicles are UNF thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
listerdiesel Posted August 11, 2011 Author Share Posted August 11, 2011 I feel an Aspirin coming on.... You can see now why I asked in the first place! I have got the bearing caps turned up for the fixed axle now, will get the others done tomorrow: The caps are turned up from 25mm thick Dural bar, there's an M16 cap head screw bearing onto a 6mm thick stainless washer to hold it all together. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
listerdiesel Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 I've put a 3/8" UNF tap down the holes and it looks OK with just a bit of Zinc and rust being cleared cleared out of the hole. New grease nipples will be here shortly, I can't find and pressure relief fittings, but they aren't needed anyway as the bearings are sealed. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
listerdiesel Posted February 15, 2013 Author Share Posted February 15, 2013 I'm going to resurrect this thread to ask another question: Is there a supplier for re-tyring old wheels? I have another set of wheels (for another engine trolley) but after asking commercially about new tyres being moulded onto the rims, I had to go and lay down in a darkened room for a while! :-D The ones we did previously suffered from lack of adhesive adhesion as it were, although we have some new Bostik plus activator to try. The wheels only turn a few revolutions a year, so we may well persist with the rubber strips, but if there is a 'proper' solution that is within financial reach, I'd like to hear about it. First outing this year is to Nuenen in May. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 from what i can gather listening in to other carrier owners who've re rubbered wheels £250 a piece seems to be the norm but there is another solution, you could leave the original rubber on and turn it down on the lathe to the correct dimension or until the scabby bits were gone, that is assuming there's enough rubber left on the wheel. rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon_M Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 The little I know about it suggests it would be more difficult to build up existing rubber. Take a carrier wheel, cut or burn the existing rubber off it, blast and prime, then just hand it to the rubber place. They will have a cross section they can glue on or wind on till it it the correct size, then they autoclave it till it is nicely cooked. Fitting slightly less rubber, or a different cross-section, might be a hair cheaper but ultimately more fiddly that just replacing the lot, especially if you were doing several wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
listerdiesel Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 Thanks for the comments, £250 - £350 a wheel seems to be the going rate, but I haven't got that kind of money for something that only turns a few rev's a year. In most cases the old rubber is perished to the point where it is disintegrating, so I'll have to persevere with the strip rubber for now. If I find a better solution, I'll post back here. Thanks again, Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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