Happy Easter and welcome to Packard Motor Car Information! If you're new here, please register for a free account.  
Login
Username:

Password:

Remember me



Lost Password?

Register now!
FAQ's
Main Menu
Recent Forum Topics
Who is Online
138 user(s) are online (78 user(s) are browsing Forums)

Members: 1
Guests: 137

Ross, more...
Helping out...
PackardInfo is a free resource for Packard Owners that is completely supported by user donations. If you can help out, that would be great!

Donate via PayPal
Video Content
Visit PackardInfo.com YouTube Playlist

Donate via PayPal



(1) 2 »

Are Welded Wire Wheels Repairable?
#1
Home away from home
Home away from home

Don Shields
See User information
Recently I had the misfortune of a flat tire in my '33. It went flat at a major suburban intersection that would have been very unsafe to change the tire in so I limped it into a parking lot, travelling about 150 feet. The owner's manual said to not drive on a flat tire, now I know why. Even that short distance ruined the tire, the cords on the sidewall were loosened. But the worst is that the welded wire wheel cracked, probably when mounting the apron of the parking lot from the street. The crack is about 9 inches long and 7/8" wide at its widest point. My question is: Is this rim repairable? Perhaps one of our members has experience with this. Fortunately I bought 2 extra rims years ago, so I have no problem there. I'm thinking that these rims may become scarce in the future. If the rim could be made safe for use I would have it repaired; if not I'll discard it.

The flat was caused not by a puncture but rather a rupture of the innertube at a seam joint at the inner side of the tube. A pinhole leak, I found it by feeling around the tube. It actually held air up to about 15 psi. Even though it was probably patchable, I have replaced the tube and of course the tire.

Attach file:



jpg  (94.59 KB)
1814_5420e69d69162.jpg 1280X484 px

Posted on: 2014/9/22 22:48
Don Shields
1933 Eight Model 1002 Seven Passenger Sedan
1954 Convertible
 Top  Print 
 


Re: Are Welded Wire Wheels Repairable?
#2
Forum Ambassador
Forum Ambassador

Owen_Dyneto
See User information
If it's an Eight or Super Eight, used 7 x 17 wire wheels aren't impossible to find, though not common. You might also try either Don Sommer (American Arrow) or Dayton Wire Wheel for repairs, or for a totally new wheel. However a new wheel from American Arrow will have threaded spoke nipples.

Posted on: 2014/9/22 22:55
 Top  Print 
 


Re: Are Welded Wire Wheels Repairable?
#3
Home away from home
Home away from home

Don Shields
See User information
Thanks, OD it is an Eight, model 1002 7 passenger sedan and rides on 7:00 X 17 rims. I also appreciate the tips on who might be able to repair it. A new rim would be unnecessary since I have another spare rim.

Posted on: 2014/9/22 23:04
Don Shields
1933 Eight Model 1002 Seven Passenger Sedan
1954 Convertible
 Top  Print 
 


Re: Are Welded Wire Wheels Repairable?
#4
Home away from home
Home away from home

PackardV8
See User information
That is a LARGE crack!!!! Cheque the thickness of the metal in the wheel at say 3 different points around the circumfrence of the wheel. Compare that measurement to the thickness of the other wheels or a known good wheel.

No doubt, that wheel was cracked long before the tyre ever went flat which is probably what caused the hole in the inner tube.

Posted on: 2014/9/23 8:38
VAPOR LOCK demystified: See paragraph SEVEN of PMCC documentaion as listed in post #11 of the following thread:f
http://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=7245
 Top  Print 
 


Re: Are Welded Wire Wheels Repairable?
#5
Home away from home
Home away from home

PackardV8
See User information
Also look close at the crack. Does it appear to be FRESH SHINY metal at the seperation or is there signs of rust or corrosion or any tarnish that mite indicate a long existing crack.

Posted on: 2014/9/23 8:42
VAPOR LOCK demystified: See paragraph SEVEN of PMCC documentaion as listed in post #11 of the following thread:f
http://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=7245
 Top  Print 
 


Re: Are Welded Wire Wheels Repairable?
#6
Forum Ambassador
Forum Ambassador

flackmaster
See User information
Even if you were to weld it up, I'd bet the balance would be way off. I'd say forget it, or designate as "spare/emergency use only". Plenty of other good uses for your time/money...unless you want/need practice welding.

Posted on: 2014/9/23 12:16
 Top  Print 
 


Re: Are Welded Wire Wheels Repairable?
#7
Home away from home
Home away from home

Tim Cole
See User information
A more likely scenario is that the rim split and caused the flat tire. When an owner's manual says "...do not drive on a flat tire..."; that means move the vehicle to a safe area and mount a spare.

Every now any then I see some knucklehead trying to change a tire in the middle of an interstate highway. Sometimes they are killed. I knew someone who was driving on the FDR Drive late at night, rounded a curve, and slammed into the back of someone changing a tire in the left lane. Since they were driving a truck they were able to walk back and find the owner in shock holding a lug wrench. In those cases the stopped vehicle is usually held at fault.

Anyway, check with the wheel builders like Dayton who are rebuilding those wheels. I bet they can repair the thing.

One thing the FDR wreck did was the guy I knew started carrying flares. Turnquist had a 38 Super 8 that was rear ended by a coal truck, so flares are a good thing to carry in case of a break down.

Posted on: 2014/9/23 16:41
 Top  Print 
 


Re: Are Welded Wire Wheels Repairable?
#8
Forum Ambassador
Forum Ambassador

Owen_Dyneto
See User information
In 50+ years of driving it, I've had 2 flats on the 34 and almost beyond belief BOTH occurred on the Tappan Zee Bridge which has no shoulder or breakdown lane. And to top that off, both flats were on the traffic side! Do you think a police car would have come along with flashers? Where are the cops when you need them? I put out one of those little yellow trianges in the road a hundred or so feet behind me, and with my a## sticking out into the traffic, changed the tires, no fun especially with sidemounts and metal tire covers. Scared the living you-know-what out of me, but it was almost 2 miles to the far side of the bridge so I didn't see that I had much choice. Had it happened in the cell phone era I'd have called AAA although I've since been told they are not permitted to provide service on the bridge.

Posted on: 2014/9/23 17:29
 Top  Print 
 


Re: Are Welded Wire Wheels Repairable?
#9
Forum Ambassador
Forum Ambassador

Randy Berger
See User information
Turnquist had a 38 Super 8 that was rear ended by a coal truck, so flares are a good thing to carry in case of a break down.
Good idea Tim, the reflectors aren't good enough.

Posted on: 2014/9/23 18:44
 Top  Print 
 


Re: Are Welded Wire Wheels Repairable?
#10
Home away from home
Home away from home

Don Shields
See User information
Sorry for the delay in responding, my DSL was down from yesterday evening until now. Lots of advice and opinions, thanks for all of them. I'll respond in order:

V8, unfortunately I don't have a micrometer and I would need one capable of measuring thickness at the radius of the bead flange, as the crack runs right along that radius. Eyeballing it, it doesn't look any different than any other rim. There is no sign of rust in, at, or anywhere near the crack.

Flackmaster, I'm thinking along your lines. I hadn't thought about wheel balance, but I'm concerned that the heat from welding could weaken the surrounding metal in the rim and bead flange areas. There also might be problems squaring and truing the separated section of the bead flange. It doesn't look like it'd be a simple repair.

Tim, I have a copy of the 7th Series (1930) Owner's Manual and it has this to say on page 18: "In case of tire trouble on the road, do not run the tire flat even for a hundred feet, for the carcass will be mashed between the steel rim and the road and will be broken so that repairing is impossible." Eighty-four years later, I found that that is still true. However, I don't regret my decision; better to lose a tire and wheel than risk getting run into. Curiously, my 10th Series Manual only explains how to change the tire, it doesn't give any advice about tire trouble on the road. Modern car manuals do say to drive slowly to a safe place, but this is due to radial tires; their sidewalls are much more flexible and forgiving than the bias plies are. Your suggestion to carry flares is spot on, I'll have to pick some up.

I'm still thinking that the tube ruptured first and the rim cracked when I made the right turn into the parking lot. The cracked inner flange contacted the lip of the lot apron just slightly before the outer flange. With the lip and the bulk of the mashed tire pushing up on the flange and the approximately 1000 pound weight of the left rear quarter of the car pushing down, it was just too much for the flange and it cracked. Had I made a wider turn so both flanges hit the lip straight on, the cracking probably wouldn't have happened.

I placed the tube back on the rim to see just where the hole developed. It was about an inch in from the right end of the crack in the photo above and not at the crack's widest point. In the first photo in this post I can see a stippled pattern embossed on the tube right where my finger is. The inner surface of the tire bead has this same pattern so that part of the tube was against the bead. The section of the tube where it ruptured would have been on the bead land or possibly at the upper part of the drop center well of the rim, not near the sharp edge of the crack. There is no corrosion or sharp point in that area. The second photo shows the hole on the right and two other fissures along that seam in the tube. They hadn't ruptured yet, the first fissure relieved the pressure on them. I think it was just a bad seam.

OD, my hat's off to you. Two flats on the Tappan Zee, talk about two nightmare scenarios! I avoid big bridges and expressways for fear of something like that happening. Years ago, my '56 Chevy vapor locked on the Ninth Street Bridge into Ocean City, NJ, snarling traffic back through Somers Point on the mainland. Definitely not a fun experience.

Attach file:



jpg  (148.48 KB)
1814_5422fd41845cc.jpg 1280X931 px

jpg  (78.00 KB)
1814_5422fd6ddbf02.jpg 1280X931 px

Posted on: 2014/9/24 13:31
Don Shields
1933 Eight Model 1002 Seven Passenger Sedan
1954 Convertible
 Top  Print 
 




(1) 2 »




Search
Recent Photos
Photo of the Day
Recent Registry
Website Comments or Questions?? Click Here Copyright 2006-2024, PackardInfo.com All Rights Reserved