refurbishing Road Wheels

JTH · #1 24-06-09, 18:07

I have seen mentioned that one of our Australian friends has a mold to use to replace the rubber on road wheels. Is there anyone in North America who can do this work as well? If not what do you folks do when faced with task of needing to replace the rubber on a road wheel?

thanks

Hanno Spoelstra · #2 25-06-09, 12:22

Jeff,

Although I do not have the experience myself, several carrier owners told me how they had their wheels refurbished at forklift service stations or rather, the kind of places where they refurbish solid rubber wheels.

Reportedly, strips of rubber are rolled and pressed on the steel rim, cured, and then turned down to the required diameter and profile on a computer controlled lathe. So no need for expensinve moulds.

Here´s hoping those with the experience mentioned above will post details about this process here.

HTH,
Hanno

ron · #3 26-06-09, 05:26

Hi Jeff and Hanno,
I have had about a dozen sets done here in Qld, I had a mould made and the wheels come out as a finished item. we had thought about having them done with strips of rubber and then turned down in a lath, but the owner of the factory suggested that it would be much better to do them in a mould, he does wheels on a large scale for the mining industry up here in Qld, I looked at both ways of doing them at the factory, sure it costs a bit more to have the mould made but its there forever and the completed job is perfect, the way I look at ot is that you only buy the mould once, ask around amongst your friends the more orders you get the better, that way you can all share the cost of the mould, Bob Moseley down in Adelaide also has a mould,My suggestion is do them this way you will never regret it,
Regards Ron

Scrivo18 · #4 26-06-09, 06:42

Hi

Next week we are going to install a set of wheels that Salesman Bob had re rubbered for me, they look really good and the end product is well worth it.

We just have to give then a bit of a paint, then install.

Hopefully we can get the project done during the week as we are going to display the carrier, my halftrack and Jeep next weekend at Horsham, there is an armed forced display being put on by the RSL over there.

Tim Scriven

ron · #5 26-06-09, 06:54

Hi Tim,
Will look forward to seeing the finised article, any chance of you posting a pic or two of your half track,they are a bit od a favorite of mine and I dont have one at the moment, by the way I have a full set(8) of carrier wheels with new rubber. bearings and seals, that I dont need if anyone is interested, as an indication of price the cost of each wheel to get rerubberd up here is $300 each. plus the value of the wheels and bearings,but they are ready to fit,
Look forward to seeing the half track pics Tim.
Regards Ron

Scrivo18 · #6 26-06-09, 06:59

Hi Ron

The easiset way to see it is to go to www.timstankworld.com.au have a look at the halftrack page, and also the Gallery page. The photos in the gallery are at a re enactment near Geelong last year.

Tim

ron · #7 26-06-09, 07:19

OK Tim,
Have just found and it looks good, thats a nice collection that you have, thanks for sharing it,
Regards Ron

Ron Pier · #8 26-06-09, 08:30

Tim, presumably you have a Horsham in Oz, otherwise I'll pop along

Ron Pier

Scrivo18 · #9 26-06-09, 08:38

Hi Ron

I don't think the Horsham UK RSL would be willing to pay transport costs to your neck of the woods, but I would be willing and most interested in a visit.

Yes Horsham Australia Victoria is about 300km's south west of me, near the South Australian border, we will have pickets posted in case of 'Border raiders'

Tim

Ron Pier · #10 26-06-09, 10:41

It's great that we can all meet by the means of modern technology. Ron

JTH · #11 26-06-09, 19:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by ron

Hi Jeff and Hanno,
I have had about a dozen sets done here in Qld, I had a mould made and the wheels come out as a finished item. we had thought about having them done with strips of rubber and then turned down in a lath, but the owner of the factory suggested that it would be much better to do them in a mould, he does wheels on a large scale for the mining industry up here in Qld, I looked at both ways of doing them at the factory, sure it costs a bit more to have the mould made but its there forever and the completed job is perfect, the way I look at ot is that you only buy the mould once, ask around amongst your friends the more orders you get the better, that way you can all share the cost of the mould, Bob Moseley down in Adelaide also has a mould,My suggestion is do them this way you will never regret it,
Regards Ron

Hi Ron

Can you share with us the cost of the mold and the cost per wheel to have them refurbished?

thanks

Jeff

Stewart Loy · #12 27-06-09, 00:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTH

Hi Ron

Can you share with us the cost of the mold and the cost per wheel to have them refurbished?

Jeff,

You are not alone in Canada when you want to get some new rubber applied to old Carrier wheels.

I eargerly watch to see if this can be done.

Thanks,

Stewart
Sunny B'Ville

Bob Moseley (RIP) · #13 27-06-09, 09:00

Hi Jeff - I had a mold made for $AUD3000. I own this mold and have total control over it. At this stage I charge $AUD200 per wheel to re-rubber. The only proviso for that price is that the rubber is stripped off and the rim thoroughly cleaned. I have the logistics to do that but that is an extra $AUD30 per wheel.

I had this mold commissioned mainly for my Blitz half-track project and of course to offer the re-rubbering service. I am still waiting for several Carrier owners to avail themselves of this service that was supposedly highly sought after. At least Tim bought a set.

Bob

ron · #14 28-06-09, 03:10

Hi Jeff,
The mould that I had made cost the same as Bob Moselys, the cost of each wheel was $300 each, all I had to do was drop off the old wheels with the old rubber on and they did the rest,all you have to do is get enough starters but make sure that its money up front,before you take them on,if you will pardon the pun we have an expression here in Aust, gunners, --- meaning Gunna do this and Gunna do that and then do nothing,in other words tyre kickers, as Bob found out,dont make a move until you see the colour of their money, I guess that I was lucky I have had a dozen sets made, and I have one set left, the others are on three of my carriers and the rest on friends carriers,
Regards Ron

Scrivo18 · #15 29-06-09, 09:45

Hi Guys

I would have some photo's, but the camera went flat, we have spent most of the day and have replaced three of the road wheels on the left hand side of the carrier.
The front left is in reasonable order and it did not want to come off so we left it there for now.
We have removed the split pins and loosend all the nuts and pins in preporation for replaceing the right hand side wheels, again the front one is in pretty good order so will do the other three and then have crack at the front one.
At least with the worst ones done I don't have to worry abou the old ones flying to bits any more and a track coming off.
One of those slow and steady jobs, made a lot easier with a fork lift and a hydrolic porta power, this made the track adjustment very easy

Tim

Nigel Watson · #16 29-06-09, 14:42

When I had some of my wheels re-done I found a small company who did conveyor belt and farm machinery rubber repairs and they did my wheels. Burnt all the paint off first, then 'stuck' rubber on wheel before trimming it to whatever section I wanted on a lathe. Really good and didn't cost very much, about £35 per wheel I recollect. That was a few years ago now and they look like new. The ones I had done were the narrower section front idlers.

Nigel

JTH · #17 30-06-09, 15:57

Thanks for all the input folks!

I think I will check with forklift wheel refurbishers first and see what they can offer. I'll do one wheel and run it for a while to see what happens.

cheers

Jeff