16" 8 bolt Split Rims for 1.5 ton Australian Chevrolet Trucks

[Bob Carriere]

The famous Australian rim was therefore an 18 inch rim of similar concept/design made by stamping two halves in 1/4 inch steel plate.
Do we know who made them??? and probably sourced in Australia. Were they stamped by the maker like the Kelsey-Hayse rims.

Second question.... concerning the origin of the brake drum posted last in Hanno's posting........... I have a similar picture taken from the wrecks of North Africa...... attached...... from the picture I have concluded that it is a Chevrolet chassis from the cleanly sand blasted sheet metal, indentation on the frame for locating a LHD steering box and the spring layout. The fender seems to indicate an earlier version of LRDG using a 38-39 or 1940 round fender model.......

Does any one have a larger picture depicting that same vehicle but in larger format showing the cab style. So far I have not been able to find any references in GM part manuals for that elusive riveted brake drum and I have many.......

Thanks

Bob C.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

The famous Australian rim was therefore an 18 inch rim of similar concept/design made by stamping two halves in 1/4 inch steel plate.
Do we know who made them??? and probably sourced in Australia. Were they stamped by the maker like the Kelsey-Hayse rims.

Bob C.

The manufacture of the Chev 18" split rims is mentioned in the GMH 'War Record' book. My understanding is, GMH made the rims themselves , GMH had a huge press for the job . Don't know where Ford Australia got theirs from . Anybody know ?

[Bob Carriere]

GM did make the wheel stamping initially but was later taken over by Kelsey-Hayse.......

In view of the link of the six bolt rim to the 8 cwt, I am surprised they were used on the early Lynx armored vehicle...... unless they had more than one version of the six bolt brake drum / rim ....... or it explains why they went for the standard 8 bolt set up later in production.

Bob C.

[David Herbert]

Remember guys that the six bolt 16" rim was used on 8cwt trucks that had 9.25 - 16 tires not 9.00 - 16 (although I am not so sure about Lynx I ). 9.25 - 16 are lower profile and rather lighter construction than WD 9.00 - 16. They have not been available for a very long time. I don't think that there were any British WD vehicles that used 9.25 - 16 on the heavy style split rims so it is quite possible that they didn't fit. The main British user were the Humber 4x4 range and they had their own much lighter design of split rim with five studs.

David

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

In view of the link of the six bolt rim to the 8 cwt, I am surprised they were used on the early Lynx armored vehicle...... unless they had more than one version of the six bolt brake drum / rim ....... or it explains why they went for the standard 8 bolt set up later in production.

... it explains why they went for the 8-bolt 15-cwt split rim later in production!

H.

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

GM did make the wheel stamping initially but was later taken over by Kelsey-Hayes.......

GM Canada made them for Chevrolet vehicles, while Kelsey Hayes made them for Ford Canada and Dodge Canada. English WD wheels for Morris, Bedford and Austin are made by Dunlop.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Tony Smith

GM Canada made them for Chevrolet vehicles, while Kelsey Hayes made them for Ford Canada and Dodge Canada. English WD wheels for Morris, Bedford and Austin are made by Dunlop.

I think at least some of the British rims were made by SANKEY .... Was Sankey owned by Dunlop ? Pretty sure my Morris CS8 rims are marked SANKEY but I will have a look. Also found brass wheel nuts on a CS8 I have ....

BTW that's a nice original Maple Leaf truck . Are those 10.50 x 18 tyres

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by David Herbert

Tony,
Are those Maple Leaf 5 stud ones 16" or 18" ? I am guessing 18" as they look very much like the 10 stud GM/H ones and also have twelve studs holding the halves together.

David

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

BTW that's a nice original Maple Leaf truck . Are those 10.50 x 18 tyres

Yes, 10.50-18 tyres on 18x8.00 rims.

[Philippe Jeanneau]

Originally Posted by Jacques Reed

Hi Philippe,

Using Lang's link definition on my Ford Kelsey 16" CMP wheels the setback is 4-1/4" (108 mm) as measured.

A bit of parallax in the photo but when I got down to the level to the wheel the measurement to the bottom of the angle iron from the mounting flange is 4-1/4"

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Hello Jacques,

Thank you very much for the clear answer and photos, it is a great starting point… As for the rest of the thread, I was hoping it would stay close to the specifics of my question, since after reading all the additional wealth of information, while useful in many ways (it can become difficult to retain very fast) since we start to deal with other details that are not pertinent at the moment...

Please forgive the seemingly ungrateful reply, but it is not my intent... I appreciate all the additional very technical details, but I was only hoping we would remain within the confines of wheels that use the GM 10 X 7.25 bolt circle with a 4.75" pilot hole and designed with either 8 or 12 studs holding the two halves together. I realize that turns into 2 different wheels and more apparently!

For the sake of simplicity, shall we first classify the wheels that only share the 10 x 7.25 bolt circle with a 4.75 pilot hole? Perhaps that should have been the title of my thread. My apology for it is a huge learning curve here...

To the point, and as indicated by Tony Smith, on the 10 x 7.25 bolt circle wheels manufactured by GM/Holden Australia we have:

1- 16" x 6" (8 bolt split wheel)

2- 18" x 8" (12 bolt split wheel)

The next style would be a 5 x 7.25 bolt circle and 4.75 pilot hole also, unique only to Australian Maple Leaf Trucks, also made by Holden…

A) 18" x 8" (12 bolt split wheel)

Furthermore, I understand that there was also a 20”x 8” (12 bolt split wheel) that shared the same bolt circle with and pilot hole; manufactured also by General Motors in Holden Australia… Is that correct?

Lastly, would it be accurate to say that all these 16”, 18” and 20” split wheels share a backspace equivalent to the 16” x 6.0” (8 bolt) Ford Kelsey wheel which was 4 -1/4”? or...
Does anyone have the definitive answer?? Which would bring us to the next maze of information- that would pertain to all the different axle combinations (with or without wheel spacers) used under these 1.5 ton 133” wheel base vehicles with a combination of either one of these wheels…

[DaveBuckle]

I've learnt quite a lot here - thanks all - so my C15A wheels are interchangeable with my CS8.
I am also about to procure one of half a dozen Lend Lease and Mapleleaf trucks - I have a better idea of what am looking at wheel-wise now!

[Bob Carriere]

Dave

Is a CS8 the basic frame of the HUP....... in which case it has the 16 in. rims but only 6 bolts to the brake drum....... while the C15A uses the 8 bolt pattern.

Looking forward to seeing photos of your new acquisition....... front back sides underneath for frame stiffener and some focus on the tires, rims and bearing cap in the centre of the rim...

Cheers

[Matt Austin]

The there are the 18" six-stud Inter wheels. Just to add to the mix...

Cheers,
Matt

[Philippe Jeanneau]

And maybe these super rare 5 bolt 18" on a Ford but I don't want to get off topic..

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

The manufacture of the Chev 18" split rims is mentioned in the GMH 'War Record' book. My understanding is, GMH made the rims themselves , GMH had a huge press for the job . Don't know where Ford Australia got theirs from . Anybody know ?

The GM/H 18" rims look quite different to the WD-Pattern 16" and 20" rims in that they have have quite a few more rim-half bolts in a smaller thread than the British design rims.

Ford Australia's rims seem to be more faithful to the British/Canadian design, so I wonder if they are Canadian supplied?

[Tony Smith]

And then there were the heavy-duty 5 stud wheels made by GM/H for the Australian Maple Leaf trucks.

[David Herbert]

Tony,
Are those Maple Leaf 5 stud ones 16" or 18" ? I am guessing 18" as they look very much like the 10 stud GM/H ones and also have twelve studs holding the halves together.

David

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Second question.... concerning the origin of the brake drum posted last in Hanno's posting........... I have a similar picture taken from the wrecks of North Africa...... attached...... from the picture I have concluded that it is a Chevrolet chassis from the cleanly sand blasted sheet metal, indentation on the frame for locating a LHD steering box and the spring layout. The fender seems to indicate an earlier version of LRDG using a 38-39 or 1940 round fender model.......

This is not necessarily a LHD vehicle, in fact it is more likely not to be.

Canadian Built Ford, Chev and Dodge vehicles have the mountings for both RHD and LHD steering boxes on the chassis, even the CMP, although no-one has ever forund a LHD steering box that will fit a CMP chassis!