Great War truck Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 This is an interesting picture and worth athread in its own right. The owner is restoring an early Belsize and has been unable to get any wheelright to take on the manufacture of new wheels for him (too wide and spokes too big and numerous, apparently). So he bought a book on the subject and two weeks later on he and a friend had made these. If you set your mind to it anything can be done. Tim (too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotBed Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 :bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow: regards graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynx42 Rick Cove Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Great job on the wheelsbut where did he get the tyres????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Great job on the wheelsbut where did he get the tyres????? My guess is that he has found some suitably sized road wheels from an armoured tracked vehicle, and cut the centres out. Come on Tim I am sure you know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 I dont know anything other than he said he had them made. We had 4 made out of Polyurethene and they cost about £75 each. Not sure of there wearing abilities yet, but similar ones are used for fork lift trucks. There is a guy who makes them out of rubber and turns them down on a lathe, but he charges about £1,000 each for them. So about £4,000 of tires there. I understand Rick that you used rubber from tank wheels on your Albion, but isnt there a chap in Australia who makes them from rubber? What sort of price are they? Tim (too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Really impressed with those, the enthusiastic amateur will often find a way when professionals can't. Any idea what the book was called? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 The steel fabrication on the left is the mould that was made for the tyres. Unfortunately, the owner was not about when I saw them so I was not able to enquire further but they had obviously been turned from a proper rubber compound rather than the polyurethane we have used. Most interesting to see. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nz2 Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Tim, Do you have any more photos of these wheels showing the hub and spoke pattern. Any idea of the wood type used? Have to assume he already had the rims and hubs available. The mould also in the photo is interesting. Assume used for the shaping the tyres, and not as a jig for the spokes. Always a problem restoring heavier trucks is the wooden wheels. Those who rebuild wooden wheels for vintage cars here( NZ) are not interested in heavy weight spokes. That's a project for another day Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 If they are wooden wheel centres surley they have an iron rim , which is hot shrunk on to give the wheel strength. Who ever made them is a master wheelwright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 The owner is doing a restoration and i am fairly certain that he had the hubs and rims already. It was just a case of copying the old wheels construction and making new parts accordingly. I would think that the wood would be Ash, but Steve might have a different opinion. In the USA they would have probably used Hickory. Hang on, i think i am going to have to look something up in a book now. Tim (too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 Here are the newly made (well in 1992) Autocar wheels made by a local wheelwright. Luckily the spokes are a lot narrower and less challenging for him. He did rather a good job. It was a shame that we had to cover up all that fine work by painting them. Tim (too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Works of art in there own right. Is there a wooden rim under the metal centre plate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynx42 Rick Cove Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 No Tim, no tank wheels on my Albion. The tyres on the rear are off an old farm trailer. They were too big in diameter, so I had 3/4 inch thick spacers made up which were shrunk onto my wheels to take up the 1 1/2inch difference and then the bigger diameter wheels fitted over the spacers. The front wheels are another story. The right front is one that came with the chassis and is very worn. The left front tyre was is a bigger diameter rim which we out cut the difference in the circumference, re-rolled the rim to fit and affixed it to the wheel. The right front tyre started to delaminate badly on a 650+km trip we did in May 2006 in the old girl. I had to carve off all loose rubber with a carving knife on the side of the road to stop the rubber flapping and tearing off the rim. So I need two 720mm solid tyred rims, to if on the front. Regards Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Quote: "Do you have any more photos of these wheels showing the hub and spoke pattern. Any idea of the wood type used? Have to assume he already had the rims and hubs available. The mould also in the photo is interesting. Assume used for the shaping the tyres, and not as a jig for the spokes. " Unfortunately, I took only the one picture. However they appear to be classic artillery wheels with oak spokes and ash felloes. The spokes wedge together in the centre and are clamped by the hub and cover plate. The hub is original for sure but the chain sprocket and rim looked new. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Works of art in there own right. Is there a wooden rim under the metal centre plate? No, no hub. Cart wheels have hubs with the spokes pressed in. However once guns became common, with their great weight, it was found that the hub could not be made big enough to fit all the spokes needed. To get over that, the spokes wedge against each other and more can be fitted. This is the origin of the 'artillery wheel'. When we acquired the Autocar lorry for which these wheels were made, it had pneumatic tyres on steel disc wheels. However, a close inspection revealed the original spokes, sawn off, behind the discs. It was therefore just a case of stripping the hubs down and getting new wheels fitted. The steel bands were shrunk on in the traditional manner but they were pre-formed to carry beaded edge tyres. Much to our surprise, these were available off of the shelf. The challenge now will be repairing the slightly poorly wheels we have for the Peerless lorries. These are of similar proportion to the ones at the top of this thread. There's nothing like a challenge! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Thanks for that, I presume the spokes are Ash and the rim Oak? Wouldn't even like to think of cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Oak spokes and ash felloes. The wheelwright made all four for £540 with us providing the hubs and rims. I think we got a bargain. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 BARGIN!! I'd have thought the wood cost that, I know small horse drawn wheels are more . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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