The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Hub cap clips

Wasn't sure where to ask this,
I was wondering if the hub cap clips for the AD trucks inparticular are made from spring steel or a special steel that helps keep there shape over time. Just curious, any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks, Tom

Tom - All the descriptions I've checked for the 1/2 ton truck repop hub cap spring clips indicate they are made from "spring steel", the same as the original pieces (read that in basically every ad description from all our usual vendors).

The big problem for 3/4 and 1 ton truck owners being only the shorter 1/2 ton truck clips are being reproduced/offered. Wheel hub cap spring clips for the AD 3/4 ton and 1 ton trucks are taller than the 1/2 ton pieces and are currently in the "unobtanium" category, unless you can scavange some from old/unusable 3/4 or 1 ton wheels.

Fellow 'Bolter "tesa" has an ad in the Truck Parts Wanted forum that has some related information if your interested.

Thanks Dan for the information, I assumed that was the case. I have both a 1950 1 ton and a 1946 3/4 ton with both having this bigger clip. For the 3/4 ton, on the 5 wheels I have, I'm only missing one clip, so I'm going to try the following. The thickness of these clips appears to be about 16 gauge, the shaping does not seem to complicated, so I am going to bend one up (may use 14 gauge). Once installed on the rim, I figured I could mount the hubcap in place by first hooking it on this clip and then let the other 3 original clips do their thing and hold the cap in place. I will try both 16 gauge and 14 gauge for the clip and see how it goes, the 14 gauge will be stiffer and should act more like the original spring steel clip. The clip I make won't be visible when behind the hubcap, so who going to know it's homemade. Let you know if it works.

Thanks, Tom

That sounds like a great idea Tom! Please take and post some pictures of your "homemade clip" as it could be very useful for other 'Bolters suffering from the same predicament.

I will do that, however, I'm leaving for a 5 day trip to Florida at the end of this week. Probably be later next week at the earliest before I get back on this. I'm anxious though to see how this will work, maybe some hope is out there for these larger clips.
Thank, Tom

Worked on the new hub cap clip a bit yesterday and this morning, I hope the pictures come thru. Started with a simple flat piece of 14 gauge, rounded the shape over a solid bar, then continued with the two bends. Checked the shape as I went with a clip on the existing rims. Overall was fairly easy to make. Only needed the one as mentioned above, but I am well pleased with how it turned out. This is not made out of spring steel, but the stiffer 14 gauge will act a lot like the 16 gauge originals that are spring steel. Again, when installing the hub caps, I will attach it to this new clip first then let the other three spring steel clips hold it solidly to the rim.

It was a fun little project, and now I have a brand new hub cap clip for the 1946 3/4 ton (with original rims). Just a note - these clips are the same for the stock 1 ton rims (at least for the AD trucks with single wheels - not dual's).

Thanks for looking! Tom

Your plan for installing the hub caps makes sense and given that there are 3 spring steel ones it should be okay. In general I think that not being spring steel will create some issues over time/installations as the 14 guage will be stiff enough but if it gets forced enough to yield it will not hold again without reforming.

You'll need to make some sort of mark on the outside of the wheel so you know where the imposter is. That way you won't risk damaging the cap when you try to remove it.

I figured I could just tap it one way or the other with a hammer if it does get out of position. I put very few miles on it in a summer with my 1 ton and two cars from the same years to drive around also. Try to give them all equal attention.
Yes I did plan on a small mark somewhere letting me know where the as you say impostor is.
Tom