MTFCA Forum

Would anyone recognize what company made this rim and if it was made by Ford or an After-Market Company?

A better view of the lug & rim contact would be nice.
From what I can see its an early, first series ford demountable. Loose lugs.
1919 & 1920.

Here is a slightly fuzzy blow up of the only one I have ever found and it was on this early Fire Truck.

The Fire Truck.

John has it nailed. Our Canadian sourced cars had loose lug rims up until 1925. Ours are Kelsey. The rim will have a bridging lug which goes over the bolt nearest the valve stem. It is there to stop the rim migrating around the felloe if the lugs get loose. The lugs may have Kelsey stamped on them , or 88, or nothing at all. We have two styles of rims. One has a rolled in groove around the rim to engage on the felloe outer land. This type will have a slot cut into that rolled land on which the foot of the lug rests. The slots allow water into the rim. The better type have a continuous steel land around the rim, the rim having a flat base. This land engages on the felloe and the lug engages on the band.

Hope this helps,
Allan from down under.

These photos show the two different types of rims, and the mounting hardware.

The rim with tyre fitted has the rolled in groove. You can see the relief cut in the groove to accept the foot on the lug. Water can get into the rim through the cut in the groove, helping rust. At the same time, the lug has less material to sit on.and this accelerates wear at that point.

The second rim shows the continuous land around the rim on which the lug engages. No perforation of the rim and a wider land for the lug foot means less wear. A bonus is a weld repair on this type of rim is much easier.

The second photo shows the mounting hardware. Langs have CNC machined replacement lugs and the special nuts with built in washers on them. Allan from down under.

Kelsey 88 rim?

Yes, Kelsey 88 rims. Sometimes the U shaped lugs have Kelsey 88 stamped on them, some have other stuff, some are plain. I believe the ones with the rolled in groove and the cut outs for the lug are earlier.The cut outs allow water into the rim/tyre assembly and this causes rust. The rim material is often worn if the lug is at all loose. My 1925 barn fresh buckboard has the style with the solid band around the rim. Four of the 5 are dated 2-25, the other 3-25. These do not wear anywhere near as much at the point where the lug engages. This band also makes it much easier to fit the rim accurately on the felloe as the nuts are done up. With the round groove on the earlier ones, lining that up is a bit hit and miss.

Allan from down under.

Got a full set NOS out of a Ford dealer in Tenn that closed in 28.

Thank you!

That narrows the list way down now!

Now I just have to fins two of them.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but these rims were a one year (1919) deal. Then Ford went to the rims with integral lugs. These rims are also used on Buffalo Disc wheels, but with a heavy retainer ring that went around the entire rim and the retainer ring was held in place with 4 lug bolts. Just FYI...........