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Changing wheels on a B

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keith k

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After spinning a second wire wheel hub on the 73 B I bought a wheel on ebay, advertised as a 14" in good shape. When it arrived it was in good shape, good splines, true and good spokes, so I took it in and had it powder coated in the silver grey color to match my other wheels, and then on to the tire shop to have the tire removed from the old wheel and put on the new one. That's when the bad news came, the new wheel was a 15". I know, I should have checked it before having it powder coated but I made the mistake of trusting the ebay listing. So now I've got over $100 in a wheel that I have no use for. Anyway, I'm burned out on dealing with the splined hubs and wheels, and can't afford to replace all 4 hubs and 5 wheels with new ones, so I've decided to go to a solid wheel. I know I've seen posts here saying that you really should change the entire rear axle to have the correct spacing, but I don't fully understand the implications. Can someone explain to me, is one axle longer than the other due to the design of the two wheel types, and if so which is longer. If I simply change out the splined rear hubs to the bolt on types will the rear wheels be too close together or too far apart? And are we talking about a minor change or more? Or am I totally confused on how these two types differ? Also, if you know anyone looking for a freshly powder coated 72 spoke 15" wire wheel I'd love to talk to them. Thanks.
keith
 
The axle housings are different lengths. The wire wheel axle is shorter by about 2" overall. I suppose you could cut down a set of bolt-on axle shafts to fit the narrow wire wheel housing and then space the wheels out, or buy wheels with more offset, but the better way to do it is to replace the entire axle housing.
 
Did just that years ago.. had a wheel seized onto the rear axle, and was tired of wires.
The salvage yard that had a steel wheel MG was more than happy to accept the wire wheel rear end and front hubs in exchange.. it was over 10 yrs ago, and 3 MGBs ago, but the swap out only cost me $50 plus a new brake hose.

and I never ever ever had to deal with wires again!!!!
 
Keith -

Check your Private Message.

Mickey
 
[ QUOTE ]
...anyone looking for a freshly powder coated 72 spoke 15" wire wheel...

[/ QUOTE ]

If Mickey doesn't take it off your hands you might post a classified mentioning Triumph as those are probably the most frequent users of 15" wires (assuming TPI, etc are correct).
 
[ QUOTE ]
I suppose you could cut down a set of bolt-on axle shafts to fit the narrow wire wheel housing and then space the wheels out

[/ QUOTE ]

Please excuse my ignorance, but won't the bolt on hubs fit the wire wheel axle shafts? Seems like that would be easier than cutting down the longer ones, or are the two hub types mounted differently? Thanks again to all who have helped enlighten me.
 
I ran wire wheels on a steel wheel axle for years. The only problem was the tires would scrub with two aboard when you leaned into a corner. I swapped to a WW axle- rame ratios, etc. and the problem went away. You could put a set of, say, minilites on a WW axle- you'd have more tire clearance and the track would be a tad less. No big deal..
Bill Beamon 72B
 
Keith, I believe the splines in the rear of the hub are different between the two.

Bill, knock-off minilites are expensive! And kinda heavy, too.
 
Splines are the same...axle housing on a wire rear end is narrower than a steel axle housing because there's more of the axle outsaide the housing on a wire axle (the splines)...the axles themselves are avout 1-1/2" different in length....I've been messing with these cars since I was 16 (& I'm 58 now) & I can tell you that, while you can cobble something together to use for a short time, you can't do it over the lomng haul - replace the entire rear end...

...heck, buy a parts car for $200-$300, make the change & then sell the parts tyo offset youyr expense....or, I sell complete setups all the time!
 
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