Bogie Wheel Re-rubbering

[ron]

As a matter of fact I have a stack of wheels here, so Andrews idea is I think the best option , regarding the one way trip to save on freight,there is no need to consider the China option regarding track it can be done here no problem, just need a few guys to put up the cash and share the cost of the patterns and mould and keep the product at home, at some time everyone is going to require peplacement track, so it is really an investment in the future, regards Ron

[Stew Robertson]

I am of the same mind, Ron do it at home it is a lot cheaper in the long run.

I made a mold and poured a complete set carrier wheels using 80 duro polyurethane which was the same material used by the stamping industry for pressure plates and will take millions of compression hits before failure
The poly is a lot more durable than the rubber
The one I did have about 100 miles on them and still look like new
no sign of chips wear or nicks
If I can remember I will try to post some pics over the weekend
The same can be said about track every one of our countries have casting shop, why send it to China
The steel mold was so good there is not machining and you can pop out a wheel every hour if you are so inclined
to remove the rubber I just took a gear box with a through shaft and spacers to fit the hub and cut the old rubber off > I will try to get the picture of that too

[SDeMocko]

Stew,

Any chance of seeing pictures of the mild too?

Stephen

[RichardT10829]

I heated up the casting with some charcoal brickettes... It softens the rubber on the wheel, then I just popped the rubber off and wire brushed the grooves, job done.

[lssah2025]

Current Advert on E*** Australia located in NSW.

200 AUD

A set of 4 british/canadian pattern wheels from a universal carrier/bren gun carrier. These wheels are narrower than the australian pattern wheels, having a tread width of approximately 2 inches.

The rubber tyres on 2 of the wheels has perished over time, however the remaining 2 appear not to have suffered as badly with the Firestone logo clearly visible and "made in canada" raised profile easily located. There is some gouging to the edges of these tyres - see attached pics for details. The wheels are stamped with 1941 and various makers marks. One wheel appears to be in a different style/finish to the others, possibly cast as opposed to a pressed or stamped manufacture.

All wheels still have the original bearings still in situ and rotate freely. Original hub caps/seals/spacers also included. Perfect if you're restoring a british/canadian pattern universal carrier.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Universal...item25989a5781

[Snowy]

Regarding the use of do-it-yourself two-part polyurethane. A few years ago a friend and I did some experiments with 90-duro hardness PU to cast experimental sections of Weasel track bands. Wanting to see how the embedded cable looked in the results, I omitted the black pigment. The casting went ok but it is very easy to get tiny bubbles. If you could arrange to build or borrow a vacuum chamber then these could be greatly reduced or eliminated. The PU is easy to work with but it does have a shortcoming alluded to above, that is, chunking. It also has a tendency for splits to run along the cracks.

However the most interesting effect was when I left a test piece outside and it got soaked in the rain. The PU which had hitherto been a clear honey colour turned an opaque pale milky shade, obviously it did seem to absorb moisture, but unknown as to how much. Later on after it dried out in the sun it returned to its original state, but that swayed me against using home-cast PU for Weasel bogies wheels or track bands. I suspect the factory-cast stuff is much more robust, such as a forklift wheel, and we have explored that avenue a tiny bit too.

As for Big Tyre, we visited them a few years back to discuss Weasel track bands in rubber with kevlar or cable and they were indeed very receptive - the CEO gave us a good deal of his valuable time. In the end the major problem was the sheer cost, well outside our expense limit so we didn't pursue it any further unfortunately. I did see the carrier wheel mould there at the time and a re-rubbered wheel made from it and it was truly excellent.

Steve.

[David Dunlop]

Just a thought, but there are companies around that specialize in putting new rubber on fork lift truck wheels. Smaller wheels but same process. Anyone ever checked with these companies to see if carrier wheels could be accommodated? Any local business running a fork lift should know who does that kind of work.

David

[RichardT10829]

They use the process Hanno mentioned, by spinning the rubber onto the wheel then machining the correct profile.

[drcowie]

Some time ago, the carrier guys at Lithgow gave me contact details of a NSW company who did re-rubbering of carrier wheels by the wrap, vulcanise & machine method. I sent the 4 top idlers for my Loyd down & had prompt service - no hassles (even included cartage both ways from Brisbane). The total cost was AU$484. I don't have a quote for the carrier wheels but just contact Brian at
http://www.macksrubber.com.au/

Recommended !

[RichCam]

Guys,

I have 2 rims now cleaned up and ready to put in the mould. I'm going to try a 2 part PU casting of the bogie tire. We are going to do a 20" diameter bogie tire and a 19" diameter tensioning tire.

As soon as they pop out, I take some more pictures.

Cheers