[ihc] wheels again, dual>single conversions?

[David Raistrick <keen@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey guys.

Been a bit of a frustrating weekend...computer ate another harddisk
started it all off.

Pulled the front wheels on the B130 to adjust the brakes and get a better
look at the front suspension, etc.  (Left grabbed a lot earlier then the
right front when braking)

Adjustment went fine, though I haven't tested it yet..but I've adjusted a
lot of drums in my time.  I didn't pull the front drums to have a look
inside, but...these brakes only use a single adjuster?  Interesting.
Discovered the left hand threads on the left hand lugs..didn't take long
to figure /that/ out. :)  One of the left lugs is a bit munged, the
corners look like someone cut'm off with a chisel..but it came off ok.


Reinstalled the front wheels, and tightend the lugs, easing them on,
shifting the wheel a bit to make sure it centered on the lugs, etc.  The
lugs never tightened down quite right.

Pulled off one of the wheels and examined things a bit closer....and found
that the lug circle on these wheels doesn't mate to the lug circle on the
drums.  At least not the fronts.

Hard to explain, and hard to photograph (and I haven't pulled the pictures
off the camera yet. see first line above).   This is an earlier picture of
the wheels that are installed on the truck:

http://www.icantclick.org/gallery/b130/20040425_195011

They have about 4" of backspacing, about 6" wide rim.  I have 5 matching.

Can anyone identify what truck these wheels might have come from?

Now to describe the "problem."

First, let me describe the bolt-circle area on the duals, which mate
perfectly to the drum. (I tried).  These have ~6.25" backspace, 6" wide
rim. http://www.icantclick.org/gallery/b130/20040425_195131

The bolt-circle area is a flat section of metal with 6 holes.  The holes
are chamfered, alternating one in, one out.  Presumably this is to assist
the connection between the two wheels when installed on the rear. There
are no other bumps, valleys, or domes.   The drums have 6 studs installed
in a flat circle of metal, with chamfers at the studs for the chamfers
from the wheels to set inside.  (query:  Are there special nuts to use on
the dually wheels, with a chamfer instead of a taper?)

Now...the wheels that I have currently:

The bolt circle is /not/ flat. Instead, it "domes" outward, away from the
drum surface, in the area of each lug hole.  All holes are chamfered in
the same direction.  In this image of the spare you can see what I'm
talking about.  Dialup beware, large image:
http://www.icantclick.org/gallery/b130/20040425_195126?full=1

There is a formed lip that runs around the hub opening on these wheels, as
well.

Now, when these wheels are installed on the drums, and the lugs are
tightened...this "dome" section gets crushed.  First down to the level of
the drum's bolt circle, then further, into the chamfers around the studs,
as well.  The metal doesn't feel particulary strong, at least not at the
end of a 2ft tire iron.  when crushed, they deform the bolt-circle a fair
bit, including causing the formed lip to curl "out" away from the drum.

These where crushed before I even took them off...or, at least, the rears
are, which I haven't touched with a wrench.


Since I have /no/ way to reliably return these bolt circles to true (short
of sending them to a wheel repair shop), I don't see much reason in
keeping them.  And even if I could return them to true, They'd just crush
again when bolted to the drum...:(

If anyone knows what truck these might have come off of, I'd be interested
to find out of the drums on /those/ trucks "dome" out around the lugs, to
match the wheels?


Now, Singling the Dually.

Has anyone out there converted a dually to run singles?  I did some
measuring, and found that the rear track of the truck is 4.5" narrower
then the front track, right now. (this takes into account the difference
in tread width of the front and rear tires).

Since the duals have 6" of backspace, the front drums must be much wider
then a truck that started life with singles up front, right?  ...And the
rear drums, or rear end, would be narrower, as well.

It looks like I could square up the track with 2 inch spacers (and longer
studs) on the rear...How square should the track be?  Do IH trucks
normally have a 4" difference in track?



So what do to now...spend over $1000 on 5 new wheels for the 6x7.25, or
try to do an axle conversion.  Sticking with 2wd, that means I need a
solid front axle from something, and a 1 ton or 3/4 ton 2wd rear end.
Short of an F450, I'm not finding anything that's got disc front brakes on
a solid front axle....any suggestions?  Or I could stay IHC with a 69?-73
front and rear axle and stick with drums.  This is probably the easiest
route...though none of them are cheap, it seems.

I don't feel comfortable installing new tires on the current wheels, and I
only have 4 of the duals. (now wouldn't that look funny...:)  So I've
gotta do something.

In the good news department I found a shop that's going to cut the hitch
and weld in a reciever tube and safety chain hooks for me on Wednesday.
Probably will be in it under 200 bucks including parts. Pressure washed
the engine, transmission, and rear end to scrub off some of the grim this
weekend, as well.

Ah well.

..david


--
        David Raistrick    http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html
keen@domain.elided	   http://www.expita.com/nomime.html