RE: [ihc] axles and drop-centre wheels

["Mac @ TRIAD" <mac@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

## >> What I'm trying to say is that you MAY well have seen a couple of them
## >> without realizing it !! Was pretty standard stuff in the
## >> 120/1200's thru
## >> '66.

i was prepared to accede that what was under the D1200 might have been an
RA-10, maybe.  except when you said the third members won't cross between
the two, that clinches it for me.  like i said, i know the one from the B
was an RA15.  there is no doubt in my mind.  the D1200, though...  i've
always wondered.  but if the third member won't cross between an RA15/RA20
and the RA-5/RA-10...  then both must have been RA15.

## >>   does this smaller axle you mention
## >> >use the same third member as an RA15/RA20?
## >>
## >> NO!!

see above.

## >> ALL smaller. AND--there's a Powr-Lok type limited slip that
## >> came in some of
## >> them.

but was there a No-Spin for the smaller ones?  both of mine had a No-Spin in
them, as does the current axle.

## >> A drop center rim takes tubeless tires--
## >>
## >>  the B122 came with those funny-shaped-centre 16" splits,
## >>
## >> Canadian made shiite !! Better know to real truckers as
## >> "widow makers"--and
## >> for GOOD reason !! The VERY BEST thing you can do with that
## >> type of wheel
## >> is cut 'em in two with a torch !!!

now i'm a little confused.  those wheels are what the truck rolled out of IH
with in 1960.  when i say funny-shaped centre, i just meant the wheel isn't
flat like my duals are, it's got a rounded ridge that sticks out around the
centre lug area, i've seen many of these kinds of wheels with hubcaps popped
in there, my D1200 had some.  i can provide pictures of the wheels i had, if
that will help determine if they're what you're calling canadian garbage or
not.

## >> Captain Obvious sez : Because the center portion of the rim drops to a
## >> smaller diameter so that you have a place to let one side of
## >> the bead of a
## >> tubeless tire drop into when slipping the opposite side of
## >> the bead over
## >> the rim while mounting it !! :-)

oh!  i didn't know that's what "drop centre" meant.  i thought maybe you
were referring to the actual wheel centre, like the mounting surface area.
i know the portion of the wheel you're referring to.  the wheels on the
Scout are like that, as are the mags on the TravelAll.  no wonder those
won't fit on the RA15/RA20.

## >> Don't know of anybody ever made 16.5" wheels in anything but a drop
## >> center--in fact don't know of ANY _1/2"_ size wheels ANYWHERE
## >> in anything
## >> but a drop center. In TRUCK wheels, at least, a drop center
## >> wheel nominally
## >> 2-1/2" larger diameter is designed to be a DIRECT replacement
## >> for a split
## >> rim:
## >> 22.5" replaces 20", 24.5" replaces 22", 19.5" replaces 17",
## >> 18.5" replaces
## >> 16", 16.5" replaces 14", etc. !!
## >>
## >> This even extends to the tires: an 11x24.5 tire has exactly the same
## >> rolling diameter as a 10x22, an 8.00 x 19.5 matches a 7.50x
## >> 17, a 9.00x22.5
## >> matches an 8.25x20, etc.--and all these pairs match closely
## >> enough so that
## >> you can run one dualled with another in a pinch !!

i'll be keeping this in mind if i ever get new wheels.  i'd heard this
before, somewhere else, but never had the wheels next to each other to
compare for myself.  i've never really liked half-inch tire sizes anyway.
<grin>  would this be the reason that the 16" splitrims have a similar
rolling diameter to the 33" tires and 16.5" wheels currently on the
TravelAll?  having had both trucks side by side, but not taken strict
measurements, they sure look very similar in diameter.

## >> Crud on the mounting face of the hub or wrong lug studs or
## >> the stamped lugs
## >> on the backing plates that support the brake shoes laterally
## >> and align them
## >> square to the drum were worn or grooved--or a bent backing
## >> plate. Solution
## >> to the worn support lugs is to build 'em up with gas weld,
## >> hard face them
## >> (with a carburizing flame) (quench to harden) and then grind
## >> flat, smooth,
## >> and true. Makes 'em work FAR better & smoother than original,
## >> and the hard
## >> facing solves the wear problem PERMANENTLY !! Either fixed as above OR
## >> original, you're supposed to put some lubriplate on those lugs when
## >> installing new shoes --but hardly anyone DOES it !!!

DING DING DING!!!  the bells are going off and the lights have come on!  one
of my "work mates" got mad at me one day and took four of my six lugnuts off
and loosened the remaining two on the right rear wheel (we had a
"discussion" about it a couple days later)...  the wheel came off going down
the road.  i replaced the lugs, but...  that's the side that kept breaking
drums, and it was AFTER the wheel came off and i repaired it.  i'd only been
driving it maybe two months when this incident occurred.  i'd never have
connected that event with the consistent breaking of drums, though.  perhaps
the axle and drum slamming down on the ground at about 35mph damaged
something enough to start breaking drums?  at the time i could not see any
damage, but...  perhaps that's what did it?

i'll be looking very closely at the brakes on the new axle.  nobody ever
mentioned to me that i had to use lubriplate on anything when i was doing
the brakes for the RA15.  in fact, the bloody manual i had didn't mention
lubing those aligning lugs either.  if they're worn, or even if they're not,
i think i'll have 'em *fixed* as specified.  is it possible to resurface old
drums with hardfacing in the same manner and then turn them to true?  i've
thought about that off and on for a long time, but never checked to see if
it would work.  will it?  if it will, that's probably cheaper and easier
than trying to replace the drum.

## >> These days, those drums go for $300--$400 apiece for good
## >> ones IF you can
## >> find 'em !!

i paid right about half a week's wages per drum, and this was 1990 (six
bucks an hour plus overtime rates, 10 to 16 hours a day, 5 days a week, you
do the math).  at a scrapyard.  i thought it was outrageous at the time, but
i needed the drums.  wasn't much choice in the matter.

--Mac

---------------------------------------------------------------
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Krystof "Mac" MacBryghde
TyrGothi

http://master.triad.ath.cx/