18 inch Trailer rims Blitz Semi Pontoon Trailer

[Brett Nicholls]

Hi,
I'm on the hunt for 5 Trailer rims 6 stud 18 inch which I think are going to be hard to get and the same with suitable tyres.. These are for a Blitz semi Pontoon type trailer. So my current idea or alternative is to graft the centers of the original rims(which are way beyond useability) into Blitz 20 inch rims and down size the tyre to say a 9.00x20 so as to have roughly the same overal size as the original 10.5x18 and not have the problem of finding 10.5x18 tyres. Does any body have any suggestions or a suitable alternative? Thanks.
Regards,
Brett.

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Brett

The somewhat recent Gamma Goat had 18 inch tires.... some still floating around the good US of A..... Wallace Wade of Texas has been promising to run a new NOS batch of 18 inch tires soon..... which can be many months or until he has sufficient back orders....

Do you have any pictures of the beast for us to admire....?

Boob

[Brett Nicholls]

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the reply and the info. I have a bit of a project ahead of me as you can see by the pictures .
I have examined the brakes and wheel hubs and came to the conclusion that to just change hubs it would require nothing short of stripping the axels bare and rebuilding them with different hubs/brakes etc.
so I'm hoping some one might have some leads on 5 original useable 18 inch 6 stud rims which I could then use with some of the tyres you mentioned - if I can get them. Another idea I had was to machine out the centers of 20 inch blitz rims and weld/graft in the old 18inch rim centers but this idea is almost as much work as stripping the axels and may even be dangerous if the welds are not propper!
Regards,
Brett.

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Brett

If these wheels were designed/built with two huge stampings similar to a CMP wheels they must be unique to Australian market....

The GM/Kelsey Hayes plants had a 3 story high 120 ton press that stamped the 16 and 20 inch half rims in one blow.... pictures have been posted on MLU before.... if they were made in 18 inches for Australia someone at Holden had some big machinery.

DUKW also used 18 in. rims...... and 6 bolt pattern....wonder if they are similar/interchangable.....?

Good luck on the project.

Boob

[jack neville]

I have 11.00 x 18 inch tyres coming in from America for my Marmon Herrington right now. They are used Gamma Goat tyres said to be 97%. They should land in a few weeks. If they are as good as promised I will consider bringing in a bigger order depending on demand in Australia

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by jack neville

I have 11.00 x 18 inch tyres coming in from America for my Marmon Herrington right now. They are used Gamma Goat tyres said to be 97%. They should land in a few weeks. If they are as good as promised I will consider bringing in a bigger order depending on demand in Australia

I might be interested in some Jack. If its not too rude to ask, how much were they?

[Brett Nicholls]

Hi Jack and Tony,
Thanks for the reply. I'd be interested as this would make one part of the tyre/rim combo easily solved. Now I just need to find correct rims .
Apparently theese rims where "a dime a dozen" during the war years so someone had the bright idea of using the surplus on trailers. Its now some what frustrating as they are rare! . Oh well the search continues.....
Thanks again.
Regards,

[motto]

I'm pretty sure that the four wheeled Wiles Cooker was on 18" wheels and that they were bolted together like a Blitz type but I have an idea they were not two complete halves, the outer half having a large opening and not being held by the wheel nuts. I don't know how many studs they were.
If the six stud pattern on your trailer was the same as GMC CCKW which would be too much to hope for things get a lot easier. This stud pattern was common to DUKW(18"), White M3A1(20"),Studebaker US6(20"),Chev 4x4 1 1/2 Ton 'Yankee Joe'(20") and was carried over to the post war M series trucks a lot of which were on 9.00x20.
David

[Brett Nicholls]

Hi Lionel and David,
The Gamma Goat sure looks to be an interesting vehicle but I wonder if beacuse of its articulated design if it's a mechanically complicated machine?.
I don't know of anyone who has a Wiles cooker so as to examine the rims. The originals were what you could term a 1 1/2 split. One rim (the inner) is complete and has the stud holes where as the other only has the holes for the outer studs and has no rim center. The bolt pattern is six stud and very similar to the GM vehicles but not the same unfortunately. As you can see in the picture mine are pretty well rotted out!
Regards,
Brett Nicholls.

[Lionelgee]

Originally Posted by jack neville

I have 11.00 x 18 inch tyres coming in from America for my Marmon Herrington right now. They are used Gamma Goat tyres said to be 97%. They should land in a few weeks. If they are as good as promised I will consider bringing in a bigger order depending on demand in Australia

Hello Everyone,

Sorry for hijacking the thread - in case you were wondering, like I was, what a Gamma Goat is? I found these links on the web http://www.gamagoat.com/info_history.html
Plus a colour photo http://www.olive-drab.com/idphoto/id_photos_m561.php3
Some walk around photos http://www.primeportal.net/trucks/ha...61_gamma_goat/


Kind Regards
Lionel