Wire wheel conversion

[Hairyone]

My Bugeye came with wire wheels & I hate them (they're rusty & most spokes are loose).
The front end I've now put back to steels.
Now the back: I thought the splined hubs were bolted onto the shortened wheel studs, but no. I'll have to change the shafts.
Is the rear axle casing the same width? Are there other changes I'll have to do?

 

[Trevor Jessie]

The axles are a different width, but I can not remember which one is shorter.

 

[pakiwi]

I know that the 1275 casing is different between the wire wheels and rostyles. I was going to make the changeover to wire, but I have heard more complaints about the wire wheels, so left them as they are. I may change over to minilites or something like that to ligten the wheels.

 

[erstearns]

The original Bugeye wire wheel banjo is 1 inch shorter than the steel wheel version. Although I am not sure if it is 1 inch overall or 1 inch on each side. Oddly enough I was getting ready to post to see who has had success with using a conversion plate on the rear to convert from steel to wire.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Wait! Back up a minute.

Maybe a PO put wire wheel axle shafts into a disc wheel housing. Wire wheels were not available on a mk1 sprite. Correct?

 

[Hairyone]

Trevor, You are correct; Frogeye's did not have wire wheels fitted from factory. But people like shiny things & fitted wire wheels from later models.
What I want to do is change it back to steel wheels & I don't know what to change: The whole axle or just the shafts? Is the axle marked with what type it is?

 

[erstearns]

Had heard that it was an option but might be a wild goose chase. Ohters more knowing than I may be able to pass definative judgment. Had believed them to exist but rare as hens teeth.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Wire wheel axles will "sort of" work in a disc wheel case. If the previous owner took this shortcut then ... lucky you. We need to get some measurements to compare.

 

[John Moore]

WW were an option on the MII sprite and MI midget. It's possible someone swapped the rear axle out.

If I were close I would swap rear axles with you! I would love a WW bugeye.

 

[nomad]

While at LoTO I listened in on a coversation from the fellow from Colorado with the gorgeous BE fitted with wire wheels. He stated that he had to press the axle's part way out of the hubs to get acceptable engagment in the diff. From this it would seem the BE case is wider. I fitted later brakes to my BE and had to turn a little off the drums so they would'nt bind on the back plate. Exactly what the measurments are I can't say but there are differences.
KA

 

[PAUL161]

Will a later model year rear housing fit? If so, I'd drop the old rear and install one designed for disk wheels. You might be lucky enough to find a Bug Eye rear already set up for steel wheels. It would be less work and probably a lot cheaper. JMHO. P.

 

[Hairyone]

I've done a little more digging around, & from what I've found out it seems as if the wire wheel housing is wider & in order to fit W.W. to a bugeye it was common to saw 3/4" off each axle shaft.
This afternoon I pulled out the wire wheel axle shaft to have a look at the inner ends & they do show signs of sawing.
Can anyone elaborate on this?

 

[Trevor Jessie]

I thought the steel wheel shafts were longer. Just measure the width of your casing and we'll compare.

 

[Bugzy59]

Wire wheels were an option on a sprite II onward. Those differential housings were about 1" shorter than the disc wheel housing. They are also really rare. I am sure that most changovers used the wider housing and the wirewheel axles. The issue is that with the wider housing, the wire wheel axles have about 1/2 inch less of the splines into the pumpkin and there is a risk of breaking an axle. Most folks say that the risk is nominal with normal driving.
Later (1/2 eliptical) wire wheel housing will not work unless you weld the 1/4 eliptical mounts on it.
To summarize:
1. You probably have a standard differental housing so just get the disc shafts and try them.
2. If by chance you have a very rare wire wheel housing, you can sell it at a profit or someone will swap.

 

[kcbugeye1275]

To clear things up, on a BE, the origional wire wheel coversion,was a hub to a bolted spline. I don't know about housings on the BE. but the later cars the axle housings are different.

 

[Hairyone]

Thanks guys, I'll get some shafts later this week, from an MG breaker near me (he has over 100 MGB's, Midgets etc.)
It'll probably be next weekend before I try them, but I'll let everyone know what the results are.
Here's my car so far:
https://daylilies.org.uk/frogeye/

 

[JPSmit]

looks nice - good starting point actually

 

[jvandyke]

Man, BEs (FEs) are cool. I like the wire wheel look though.

 

[Mio]

I thought the steel wheel shafts were longer.

Hi Trevor,
That is my understanding as well, having researched this issue previously. The wire wheel half shafts were 564mm (22.204 inches) in length from the inside of the flange to the end of the shaft whereas the standard half shafts were 576mm (22.677 inches) in length to accommodate the fact that the wire wheel axle housings were shorter.

Mike

 

[Hairyone]

I picked up my frogeye rear axle this afternoon & whilst talking to the guy, we checked the length of my wire wheel shaft against a previously extracted midgets standard wheel's shaft & yep the standard was longer, as per Mike's post above.

However when we got out another rear axle assembly from the stack in the corner of his workshop & put it alongside my W.W. assembly they were the same length, the distance between the drum backplates is the same i.e. the housings are the same length.
We checked another & again the same.
I don't understand what's going on.
I shall pull out a shaft tomorrow & measure it against Mike's measurements.
Can anyone shed any other light on shaft/axle casing length???
Adrian

PS Nice car Mike, though I wouldn't like the job of keeping those wheels clean.
It rains & roads get really sh-one-tty, hence my change back to solid wheels.