refurbishing Road Wheels

[JTH]

I have seen mentioned that one of our Australian friends has a mold to use to replace the rubber on road wheels. Is there anyone in North America who can do this work as well? If not what do you folks do when faced with task of needing to replace the rubber on a road wheel?

thanks

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Jeff,

Although I do not have the experience myself, several carrier owners told me how they had their wheels refurbished at forklift service stations or rather, the kind of places where they refurbish solid rubber wheels.

Reportedly, strips of rubber are rolled and pressed on the steel rim, cured, and then turned down to the required diameter and profile on a computer controlled lathe. So no need for expensinve moulds.

Here´s hoping those with the experience mentioned above will post details about this process here.

HTH,
Hanno

[ron]

Hi Jeff and Hanno,
I have had about a dozen sets done here in Qld, I had a mould made and the wheels come out as a finished item. we had thought about having them done with strips of rubber and then turned down in a lath, but the owner of the factory suggested that it would be much better to do them in a mould, he does wheels on a large scale for the mining industry up here in Qld, I looked at both ways of doing them at the factory, sure it costs a bit more to have the mould made but its there forever and the completed job is perfect, the way I look at ot is that you only buy the mould once, ask around amongst your friends the more orders you get the better, that way you can all share the cost of the mould, Bob Moseley down in Adelaide also has a mould,My suggestion is do them this way you will never regret it,
Regards Ron

[Scrivo18]

Hi

Next week we are going to install a set of wheels that Salesman Bob had re rubbered for me, they look really good and the end product is well worth it.

We just have to give then a bit of a paint, then install.

Hopefully we can get the project done during the week as we are going to display the carrier, my halftrack and Jeep next weekend at Horsham, there is an armed forced display being put on by the RSL over there.

Tim Scriven

[ron]

Hi Tim,
Will look forward to seeing the finised article, any chance of you posting a pic or two of your half track,they are a bit od a favorite of mine and I dont have one at the moment, by the way I have a full set(8) of carrier wheels with new rubber. bearings and seals, that I dont need if anyone is interested, as an indication of price the cost of each wheel to get rerubberd up here is $300 each. plus the value of the wheels and bearings,but they are ready to fit,
Look forward to seeing the half track pics Tim.
Regards Ron

[Scrivo18]

Hi Ron

The easiset way to see it is to go to www.timstankworld.com.au have a look at the halftrack page, and also the Gallery page. The photos in the gallery are at a re enactment near Geelong last year.

Tim

[JTH]

Originally Posted by ron

Hi Jeff and Hanno,
I have had about a dozen sets done here in Qld, I had a mould made and the wheels come out as a finished item. we had thought about having them done with strips of rubber and then turned down in a lath, but the owner of the factory suggested that it would be much better to do them in a mould, he does wheels on a large scale for the mining industry up here in Qld, I looked at both ways of doing them at the factory, sure it costs a bit more to have the mould made but its there forever and the completed job is perfect, the way I look at ot is that you only buy the mould once, ask around amongst your friends the more orders you get the better, that way you can all share the cost of the mould, Bob Moseley down in Adelaide also has a mould,My suggestion is do them this way you will never regret it,
Regards Ron

Hi Ron

Can you share with us the cost of the mold and the cost per wheel to have them refurbished?

thanks

Jeff

[Stewart Loy]

Originally Posted by JTH

Hi Ron

Can you share with us the cost of the mold and the cost per wheel to have them refurbished?

Jeff,

You are not alone in Canada when you want to get some new rubber applied to old Carrier wheels.

I eargerly watch to see if this can be done.

Thanks,


Stewart
Sunny B'Ville

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Hi Jeff - I had a mold made for $AUD3000. I own this mold and have total control over it. At this stage I charge $AUD200 per wheel to re-rubber. The only proviso for that price is that the rubber is stripped off and the rim thoroughly cleaned. I have the logistics to do that but that is an extra $AUD30 per wheel.

I had this mold commissioned mainly for my Blitz half-track project and of course to offer the re-rubbering service. I am still waiting for several Carrier owners to avail themselves of this service that was supposedly highly sought after. At least Tim bought a set.

Bob