War Department 16” divided rim: British and Canadian manufacture

[Mike K]

Found this , haven't read it yet.

http://www.usarmymodels.com/ARTICLES/Tires/tires.html

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Found this , haven't read it yet.

http://www.usarmymodels.com/ARTICLES/Tires/tires.html

Lynn posted this link also, upon actually reading Kurt Laughlin's article I found an interesting drawing.

The US 16" rim was 15.965" in diameter and had 5 deg. bead angle.

US Combat Rim.jpg

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Lynn posted this link also, upon actually reading Kurt Laughlin's article I found an interesting drawing.

The US 16" rim was 15.965" in diameter and had 5 deg. bead angle.

Worth a read if you want to turn down your rims to fit new tyres currently available.

The 16” divided rim has plenty of thickness to allow machining 0.125” off:

9E8C1018-D13A-428F-9C3F-4ABF2BA7A16D.jpeg

[David Herbert]

In the article Jim describes his modification as not attempting to machine the 5 degree taper used on the Dodge rim but instead to machine the new seating area parallel and about the same diameter as the mid point of the bead contact area of the Dodge rim. I would have thought that any lathe capable of this machining could have just as easily reproduced the 5 degree taper and exact start and outside diameters of the American standard. This would provide a better seat for the bead and make dismounting easier if needed. It really is not hard to change the angle of the compound slide and turn the handwheel manually on any lathe !

David

[Grant Bowker]

One thing that would concern me about turning a taper would be to minimize the loss to the rim near the join line. In other words: if turning a taper, just put it in the area nearest the flange, then turn a parallel section further inward to maintain thickness/strength.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

“Jock Reed” mentioned

”Just checked a 16" blitz rim. overall width 8", Backspace= 4.25", (centerline = 8.00"/2=4" 4.25" -4" = +1/4" offset). 20" wheels may be different?“

“Wheel hub studs: 8 x 5/8-18 UNF on 10-13/16” bolt circle. This is as measured on my 16" rims. Doing the metric conversion it is 274.6 mm!“

B88C117F-1D88-4EB8-A38C-3A781660C0B8.jpeg

[Bob Carriere]

I find the last post confusing.....

Seems we all measure differently...... and do not identify what the wheel came from (type of vehicle).....

It is my opinion, based on some reading originating from a GM publication.....all older original rims were made by GM and stamped.....later the rim manufacturing was transferred to Kelsey Hays and they used a similar stamp with the Kelsey name instead of GM.......Kelsey became an outside supplier some time around 42 to 43...... and there may have been some overlap.... the rim press is photographed in some old GM publication....about 3 stories high and sunk into the floor to the basement for clearance of the flywheel......operators are feeding precut circular 1/4 in. steel plate and it seems that they where punched/shaped in one go with the center opening.....the stud bolt holes were probably done in a separate indexed gang drill operation as they were also tapered for centering purposes....... the CMP wheel can be said to be center and bolt centering as the seat of the nuts are tapered and the center opening rest on the raisea groove on the brake drum.........civilian GM wheel of the time where self centering on the axle stub only using flat shouldered nuts...

From experience 900x16 and 900X10:50 Tires will fit US and Canadian CMP rims without modification IF you use special tire lubricant on both the tire and the rim face. On HUP vehicle with original rims mounted with 9.25x16 tires the vertical section of the HUP rim seems to be more parallel as opposed to a slight taper on the regular CMP rims. It makes mounting and removing ( the tube was pinched) by far easier.