A Riveting Time

[Phillip]

After spending another weekend working on finishing the 25 pdr (or quarter pounder as the missus calls it (affectionately I might add)), it interesting going back and I now realise how rubbish I am at taking lots of photos. I put it down to being task orientated.

Going back in time....I thought that its best to start from the ground up.

The rims proved 'interesting' to get apart to say the least. They had a great set of 900x16 that whilst in really good condition, were probably put on when the rims were owned by the PMG.

I could not get the beads to break, despite bead breakers, driving onto them with the landy, pleading and strong language. Time and moisture had firmly welded the beads to the rims which was preventing the locking rings from coming off (without being bent that is).

I ended up cutting a slot into the side wall of the tyre with an angle grinder, then grabbed a jigsaw and cut all the way around the side wall to get the tread off. Did this on both sides and then carefully cut the bead from the inside with the angle grinder and hey presto, the rims fell apart. No damaged locking rings or anything, quick and simple.

Pulled the axle to pieces and discovered that one of the bearing retainers was missing Went down to the local parts store and picked up a new one - only kidding, picked up the bearing seal but where do you get a bearing retainer for a 25pdr? is it really needed?

I decided not to bother searching and picked up a lump of steel. An afternoon on the metal lathe and I've made what would be the biggest thing I'd turned up so far. Original (on left) is next to my effort for comparison.

Cleaned everything down to bare metal, ranexed then painted (my standard process). The original wheel bearings were perfect as were the brake linings, so after repacking and cleaning they all went back in.

The hubs ran nice and true on the axles, so with the rebuilt rims and new 900x16 bar treads, I started looking for something to put on top of them.