MTFCA Forum

Thanks for all the advice to my prior post. As a follow up: I pulled the rim off the wheel to see what was going on.

1.All the nuts holding the hub to the to the backing plate. Every one was loose! I checked them all originally when I checked out the axle and bearings. I drove it around 20 miles since than and now they are all loose. I tightened them up again and peened the studs per recommendation earlier. That will prevent nut from coming off but not really from getting loose. I put some loctite on them but I don't see that helping much.

What are you guys doing for this.

2. My rims are Kelsey. I can't get a good measurement on the tenons as they are all old and a different size. They are strange to me because they have a center pin.

3. Lastly am I missing a pin or something to prevent my split rim from separating?

Thanks in advance. You guys are awesome!

Those nuts will loosen up again in short order - a couple dimples in the end, 3 threads away from the nut is not enough. You haven't begun to disrupt the thread(s) anywhere near the nut. A good hard peening is in order and if necessary, grind off the bolt until just 2 threads are there and then peen aggressively to lay metal over and definitely swell the root of the thread. Your assessment of it not keeping nuts tight was spot-on so you have a good sense of judgement.

I'm a fan of threadlocking products when used appropriately, but Loctite in this situation is only good for making sure you cannot tighten them again when needed

Hopefully it is a strength of threadlocker which will yield when the inevitable happens (with apologies to Steve Jelf ).

Your rims are Canadian & the other 1/2 of the clasp is AWOL !

With the wheel bolts after they are tight I take a ball peen hammer and tap around the bolt end and give it a rivet like shape all the way to the nut.
It looks good (to me) and holds tight since it is jamming the nut.
Ford just smashed it flat down. That method is quick and easy if you are setup to do so.
Some replacement bolts are too long, trim to fit if necessary. The front bolts need to be shorter than the back since they don't have a drum to secure.

If you ever run into a situation where the bolts keep loosening up and won't stay tight, find out why.
Sometimes cheap low grade soft carriage bolts are used in wheels and will not hold things secure and must be replaced.
Sometimes the wood keeps collapsing and won't stay tight. If this occurs fix the wheel.

Once all the bugs are worked out, still check the wheels, axle nuts, wheel bearings, and a whole lot more when you do your routine service (yearly for me).
Mike

Typical peen needed to prevent nut from backing off, note flare of thread end into the nut.


And, a bit of view of a NOS Ford wood spoke hub and note the factory way of a very short thread showing and hammer flattened to prevent the nut from backing off.

You can measure the tenon from what I see in your picture. Cant tell, Is there a pin in the center of that tenon?
If so, someone already tried a fix on the loose tenons. If that's the case, I wouldn't try saving those spokes.
But there in enough info to be had to purchase the correct new spokes.

That rim is indeed a Canadian rim. The give away is the pair of holes in the side of the rim each side of the split. These are there to accommodate a special tool used to split the rim. There are two similar pieces on each side of the split, like T model door hinges. A pin fites between the two pieces when the rim is properly, just like the hinge pin on a door hinge. If you are to replace those bits, make sure they are off-set like they are now. The pin does not sit right in the middle of the spit.

Allan from down under.