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TR2/3/3A Fun With Wire Wheels for my '60 3A

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Tinkerman

Tinkerman

Darth Vader
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I'm taking my wires (4) over to North Carolina in about a week for Hendrix Wire Wheel to work their magic on them. One thing I learned after talking to them, is the the wire wheels have to be "tuned" which I knew, however, thay have to be tuned AFTER the tires are mounted, which I didn't know. To do that, ALL of the spoke nipples have to be able to turn. Most of mine, in all 4 wheels are frozen solid. I spent several weeks dowsing them with Kroil and then set to loosen them. on the first wheel(chosen at random) the net result was two loosened and two broken. I do have a small supply of spokes and nipples, but NOT that many. In my research I found that to get them broken loose I needed to heat them to a "cherry red" and then quench them with water. In fact several of you confirmed that method. This morning I decided to see what I could do. I have a MAPP gas torch a spoke wrench, my trusty bang upon table, a $1.25 squirt bottle and I went after it. Pictures attached. Net result, IT WORKED! Now, mind you, I needed some self training but after I broke one spoke, I learned not to force the issue. You have to get the nipple and about 1/2" of spoke cherry red, quench with water let cool a bit and they generally came loose. I had a few that I had to run through the process a second time, but once I got into the system I found it to be a reliable method to break them loose. and Yes, I did have a Fire extinguisher of the proper type handy. Been down that road in the past, don't want to go there again.
I took all of the nipples off and put Copper Eaze on the threads so that they will stay adjustable.
One of the things that I learned from all of this is that wire wheels can be re-used, if you have the time and the desire to do it. I know that it is quicker and easier to order a set and roll on, heh. I'm at a point in my life that I have more time than money and it's kind fun to be able to say "yeah I did that".
PM me with any questions.

Cheers, Tinkerman
 

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Dick,

You are an inspiration...

Good luck,

Cheers,
 
Way to go.
I agree 100%, make the effort and make it work. When you do whatever jobs you can yourself it makes the driving that much more of a personal experience.
 
I never knew that you could do that with them. Of course, I never owned a car with real wire wheels. Nice job. I'm sure that those who have them will find it very interesting and informative. I did and I don't even own a set.
 
Just a quick note to ye who have not yet painted a wire wheel(or a set of the little buggers)Its a freakin nightmare.So after all the time and expense they still have to be blasted and powder coated......you could have gotten the Daytons for just a few more $$I have like 45k on the ones on my tr4 and they are great.Just check the tune once in the spring and rock on.
MD(mad dog)
 
Nice work Tinkerman. The satisfaction of a job well done is something you can't put a $ amount on.
With budget in mind I did not have mine redone but I cleaned them up with steel wool and sandpaper and used Caliper paint. Not so bad a job and I think they look fine.
 
Tink: A word of caution please. I don't want to sound like an alarmist but I would not want to see someone injured. I have no experience with wire wheels, but I do understand metalurgy. I am concerned that there is some risk in changing the ultimate strength of of the spokes. Cherry hot is an indication that a critical temperature has been reached. At that point, quenching rapidly with water will cause a significant change in the grain structure of the steel. One effect is embrittlement. Generally this is not good for the subject application. The spokes are cycle loaded in compression and tension each time the wheel rotates (under load).

You have some choices at this point. Either re-heat in a heat treating oven for a period of time with slow cooling or replace all of the spokes (only the ones that were heated to red hot. Otherwise, those will be the first to break at some point in the future. One the first one breakes, you have a domino effect.
 
Thanks for the word of caution Frank. Tomorrow I will check with the wire wheel experts.

Tinkerman
 
angelfj said:
Cherry hot is an indication that a critical temperature has been reached. At that point, quenching rapidly with water will cause a significant change in the grain structure of the steel. One effect is embrittlement. Generally this is not good for the subject application. The spokes are cycle loaded in compression and tension each time the wheel rotates (under load).
Click to expand...
I agree entirely about the effect of heating and cooling; just wanted to note that spokes are never loaded in compression; only tension. Effectively the entire weight of the car hangs from the few uppermost spokes; the rest of them just hold the wheel round. In a properly tuned wheel, even the bottom spokes are still under slight tension.

Dunno what he charges for them, but Valley Wire Wheel has a machine that makes spokes. Kind of fascinating to watch it rolling the threads; like rolling Play Doh in your fingers.
 
just wanted to note that spokes are never loaded in compression

Yes. I stand corrected. I am primarily concerned about the cyclical loading and embrittlement of the spokes.
 
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