The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts New tires installed.

I can now mark one thing off the "To Do" list for the old truck. Thought I'd share the saga with everyone. It started off with trying to find the right size tires all in one store. I was wanting traction tread for the rear and highway tread for the front, all in 7.50x20. No store local to me (Oklahoma City) had both styles in said size, but after talking to several shops about them I was able to locate both tire types in Tulsa. Since my wife had an all expense paid business trip to the "T" town, seemed like an excellent time to pick them up. A quick phone call to make sure they still had them all and I was good to go. On that phone call installation happened to come up, though I didn't expect them to be installed, because of the "Widow Maker" rims. (said in hushed awe) But to my surprise "It wouldn't be a problem" I even repeated the scary part and I was assured they could handle them. Great, a one stop affair. I was plannning on picking up tires coming home and hunting around for a while till I found some shop willing to install them. So after some last minute plan changes of getting the old tires and wheels off the truck. Which was another big ordeal... loading them into my 1/2 ton for the trip. Keep in mind I've nicknamed myself the "Spaghetti Man" same color and size... and those tires and wheels are HEAVY.

After arriving at the shop first thing on a Saturday morning dropping off the old tires and wheels to be broke down and remounted, with new tires explaining what I wanted and such along with leaving my cell number so they could call as soon as they were ready to be picked up... My luck isn't that good, I got a call 15 minutes later, "We can't touch these wheels."
"But when I called the other day..."
"We can't touch these wheels."
No surprise back to the original plan. Just load everything back up, old tires, old wheels, and new tires, and new tubes... Spaghetti Man didn't help with the loading either.

Back home I happened to know a guy that dealt with a lot of old tractor tires and the like, maybe he could help. After all I know how they are supposed to come apart and go back together, I just like being able to blame someone else when things go awry. One thing of note I was trying to avoid the truck being undriveable and at this point its been sitting over a week. It does get better though because my backyard tire man was able to break all the beads loose with no problems, I had to help get the rims apart, but in two evenings the dastardly deed was done, the rims lay in pieces strewn about the yard. But as we all know those rims were quite the mess inside, rust scale gallore. No problem a few cheap wire wheels will have them cleaned up in a jiffy.

No a few cheap wire wheels when at the end of cheap drill won't. I ended up taking them to my father-in-laws employer to be media blasted. now the truck has been sitting for two weeks. I planned on reusing the flaps but the rust had really chewed them up too, so those had to be replaced, two weeks til delivery.

And finally after many cans of white primer getting the very clean wheels, very white. I was ready to start putting them back together. I decided to at least try one and see how it goes, plus my tire man wasn't much of a confidence builder, what he lacked in intelligence he made up for with a REALLY big hammer, and very good aim too. With help of my Father we drug out an old wash basin and filled it with soapy water, to soak tubes and flaps in, and began the assembly process. After pounding the first two halves together and checking the "together" part several times, we laced the rim and tire with heavy cargo straps. And begin the very long inflation procedure, I have a small compressor...

I have to say it went flawlessly, all six wheels went back together perfectly, and although the color of the rims isn't original it looks great.

If any of you have read this far I hope it gives you some sort of idea what replacing all the tires on one of these trucks can involve. I had an idea but was hoping for the best. And turns out It was as complicated as I thought but the scariest part (putting them back together) wasn't too bad. I'm sure plenty of you would have had quite a few laughs if you could have been there through some of this.

Congratulations on the SAFE and successful install! Sorry to hear about the bad phone service with the tire shop. I had something just like that happen last weekend. I wish people would try a little harder to listen on the phone instead of just telling people "yes, yes" to convince them to come in.

Ah, well, you got 'em fixed up. If you get bored, my 53 could probably use some new "dancing shoes," especially in the back.

asilverblazer, your '55 has split rims? My 1.5 to 2.5 tons all have split "c-rings", which are very common around here on all the farm trucks. There is only one shop here that will actually do the true split rims, but they all do the c-rings.

Yep, it has the "real" split rims, no lock rings, just two halves. (albeit one half has the heel center/hub...) They are the rims with an "operating notch" and "cutaway sections" if that helps. Disassembly requires prying them apart, and reassembly requires hammering them back together.

Also, they seem to be more rare than the other types of multi-piece rims around here, a few older guys I talked to about them (that were gonna to tell me all about how to handle them) had never seen any like these.

Wheels like that make me nervous! I sold a '34 Ford 1 1/2 ton with those widow makers because I didn't want to deal with them. Sorry about using the "F" word, but it was a '34!

That's OK we can appreciate fords as long as they realize they are a lesser truck.

Guys, I've tried to take down my 1936 1.5 tonners wheels to save about $30.00 a wheel.I know 30 bucks is probably worth it but I've done every thing else myself. How in Zeus' name do you get them off? The solid ring is completely loose and I've got a couple old tire irons and one hell of a hammer :hammering: but i can't get them started. Why did they ( Our Founding Fathers )do this to us Old Iron Guys?

IF they are like mine...

There are two pimples on the side ring. Insert tire iron between those two pimples between the side ring and wheel rim. Start prying there. And then gradually work your way around from there. If your rimas are like mine I will try to take some photos.

Clutchhead, you say the "solid ring" is loose. Are these split rims, or split "c" rings?

These are 1 piece rings, what I mean by loose is I can move the ring around the rim, the tires flat, and I put a block of wood under the tire iron to pry. I've heard of the dimple in a service manual but can't locate them.I'll get the wire wheel out and find them this week-end.I know these are original wheels and they are in great shape.Thanks for the input guys, I will succeed.

to tell the true split rims split rings scare the c!!!! out of me.i have been around them all my life.thats why i got ride of them 64 c 60.went to tube less on my six bolt motor wheels.then changed up to stud piolte wheels
where i live rust is a major pain.

Clutchhead, If you look real close you should find two areas on the inner portion of the ring that are relived to start your pry bar. They are miserable rims. The rings are just as hard to put back on. And don't worry about the paint because you can't avoid knocking the paint off them.

With mine the only place to get the tire iron / pry bar in was between the dimples. Those two areas that are cut away weren't visible while the wheels were assembled.

If you find those two pimples insert your pry bar between them, use a hammer if need be, and start, it'll come apart just fine. You shouldn't need a wire wheel to find them either. They are on the ring, not the portion that would bolt to the hub.

Here is a picture of my style of wheel.

Wheel

Here is a picture of the pimples. You insert the tire iron between them, down in to the groove.

Close up

Asilverblazer, your pimple pic didn't show. Are they on the ring or the wheel?

Sorry asilverblazer you already told me where to look, I'll give it a go tonight, thanks.

New Link

That should fix it, I messed up the link on the previous post.