Bogie Wheel Re-rubbering

[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.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Scott Hamilton

I don't know if the guys in the UK already know about this but, have you considered using the same rubber companies that the steam traction engine owners use to have their wheels re-rubbered??

I spoke to a representative of one of these companies at the Dorset steam rally a couple of years ago as I had a customer interested in having his wheels done and they said not a problem and gave the impression that they had done carrier wheels before, after all they are no different to any steam traction engine rubbered wheels.

[chris vickery]

The key phrase to look for is "mold on rubber wheel"
For those researching possibilities, this should narrow the search as I was able to come up with several vendors in North America and some who specialize in military and construction applications, short runs and prototypes.

[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 !

[Dale Jordan]

Looks great Des , was that price each or for the four ? maybe they could do lp2 carrier small top track support idler wheels . Dale

[Snowy]

Originally Posted by Dale Jordan

Looks great Des , was that price each or for the four ? maybe they could do lp2 carrier small top track support idler wheels . Dale

Weasel return rollers aren't so different from Carrier return rollers in size, apart from a lighter construction. We were considering getting our idler and sprocket wheels refurbished so I visited Queensland Rollers and Liners (http://www.rollersandliners.com.au) in Rocklea, Brisbane and they could redo them with the decent super-tough PU used for forklift wheels via the cast and machine method.

In the end the cost per wheel was equivalent to importing NOS Weasel idlers from o/s so we went that way. For your situation it might be worth having a chat to them.

Steve.

[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