A Wheel Explodes!

I just like this picture of the Organ Donor peeking out of the grave

Page Six: If you give a mouse a cookie...

If I see that I can take something completely apart, I can’t help it, I’m gonna wanna clean every piece.  Sane people would sandblast their wire wheels and paint them – done - but not me.  I have to take the damn things apart, every single spoke!   If it was put together, by the ghosts of the Rootes brothers, it’s coming apart!

Once the first wheel came out of my battery-charger-powered de-rusto cauldron, I tested a few nipples to see if I could tighten/loosen them to be able to true the wheel.  Some moved, most defiantly refused to budge.  Spokes and nipples had fused from their time on the road and at least a quarter century in the mud, so I threw the first one back in the brew for another 48 hours.  All de-rusted and laid out on the bench, the spokes, I thought, need sanding.  I’ll just take them apart clean ‘em up, how hard can it be?  It can be quite a pain, but with some of the spokes out, the scars on the center hub taunted me.  The rim’s rust pitting and dents glared at me - one thing led to another and now…

Bits, lots-o-bits…

Two wheels have exploded with shrapnel all over the floor.  We’re talking LOTS-O -BITS.  The wheels are 60 spoke, 13 inch Dunlop-cum-MWS wire wheels with 20 long and 40 short spokes, one center hub, one outer rim and 60 nipples – that’s 122 bits per wheel!  And there are five wheels (don’t forget the spare)!  By my calculations, tap, tap, tap… tap, that’s 610 bits, all told.

And you know I’m cleaning, sanding, chasing threads, straightening and “perttying up” every one of those bits.  (You’ll note the pile of spoke bones in the pic – some spokes put up quite a fight.)  Bent spokes, rounded-off nipples, the scarred center hub, the rust pitted rim – I can’t let any of it go.

Turns out, the wheels needed to come apart because spokes solidly and permanently rusted to their nipples would make truing the wheels a real can of spam.

Boom!  Spokes all over the place!
One rim just out of the Derusto-Cauldron and one primed and ready!

Spokes, lots-o-spokes…

Many of the long spokes have misshaped heads, indicating they endured considerable stress. The short spokes, on the other hand, survived their travails a little better. When I started this ordeal, I planned to salvage and rehab the spokes, replacing only the missing or broken few. Not happening. My first order to Buchanan Spokes and Rims, Inc. is for 100 spokes (60 longs, 40 shorts) and 100 nipples, which should get me into the third wheel (maybe the fourth depending on how hard each wheel plans to fight me), but there will be at least one more order.

Engineering Factoid

The short spokes keep the wheel round while the long spokes manage the wobble.  That means that the long spokes take the lateral load on the wheel while the short ones take the vertical load.  If spokes loosen a little (and spokes will inevitably loosen), the short spokes are pulled linearly (inline) while the long spokes tend to bend with the side strain.  In other words, looseness hurts the long spokes more, which is why they tend to break more often than the short spokes.

And, I think it’s fair to say, that the Organ Donor’s wheels suffered a bit from loose-spoke syndrome.  Ya gotta tune wire wheels at least once a year, more often if you drive them “spiritedly”.

Buchanan’s will custom make spokes if you send them a sample of both spokes and nipples for $1.64 each (nipples from $.90 and up).  I will need more long spokes than short ones, but I will have to guess a bit because I haven’t blown up but two wheels so far.

The Center Hub, Bub

The center hubs are in decent nick.  One of them, the abused one, looks like someone took a hammer to the surface where knockoff meets hub.  Why do people fix cars with hammers?  It also looks like someone pried against the center hub for some reason; maybe to hold the wheel while tightening the knockoff, but that would bend, let’s-go-with, the “crap,” out the spokes.  I can’t figure it out, but I’ll fill the gouges with the wire welder and file/sand everything smooth.  The other center hub is nearly pristine.  It was also on the spare, but it had several broken spokes so it hasn’t spent its entire life in the trunk.

A couple of the spoke holes (on the abused hub) are elongated, more evidence of loose spoke syndrome.  I don’t think the elongated holes will affect truing the wheel, as I can tighten to the elongation.  If not, I’ll can weld the elongation and file or re-drill the holes.  The elongated holes will allow grease from the splines to seep down the spokes, so I will need to RTV or silicone seal the spoke ends inside the center hub.  (I was going to do that anyway because grease will doubtlessly seep down the spokes even if the spoke ends perfectly fit their holes.)

The Rim

Bead-blasted and ready for primer.

The rims are in good shape, overall.  Both have some rust pitting, some of which is shallow enough to hide with a good high-build etching primer.  Before I exploded each wheel, I put them on my cracking Harbor Freight motorcycle wheel-balancing stand that I have pressed into service as a truing jig, and both ran relatively true - enough for me to see that I will be able to true them with judicious spoke tightening.  (Note in the picture that I have used some bearing driver adapters to center the rim on the truing jig –pretty nifty, if I may say.)
Why do people use crow bars (and hammers, apparently) to take tires off rims?! If your mechanic’s go-to tool is a hammer, get yourself a new mechanic, just sayin. Ironically, it will take some hammer and dolly work to clean up the rim edges. Fortunately, all the shillelagh shenanigans left the surfaces where the tires seat unaffected.

Close up - bead-blasting gets it clean!

The Plan

With spokes straightened or replaced, threads chased on both spokes and nipples, and every piece etching primed, I will lace up each wheel and true them wheel before painting everything a nice Argent Silver with a glossy Diamond Clear (all from The Eastwood Company).  I will tune each spoke to a satisfying “ping” when lightly rapped with the spoke wrench.  The music of happy spokes.

With new shiny chrome knockoffs, Alphie’s wheels will look spanking!

Why Not New Wheels?

Yeah, it would only be a few more dollars – and certainly a helluva lot easier – to buy a new set of wire wheels, but what’s the fun in that?!  

No one is impressed when you say, “Look at the wire wheels I bought!”  Now are they?

The Spokes Are In!

Buchanan's came through with some awesome replacement spokes and nipples.  The look great and only an experienced eye can tell the new from the old.  (I know the difference, but I'm not telling!)


Next up - Lacing Alphie's Shoes!