RE- Treaded soft rubber Carrier wheel

Aidan · #1 01-12-10, 06:37

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1291181435
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1291181435

My pal Mikes Carrier. He sent me these pic's to pass on as too, Do Not re tread your carrier wheels in soft rubber. Heat, Friction, Dirt, wetness will destroy the retread, as you can see. Aidan

The Bedford Boys · #2 01-12-10, 06:53

I would never have even thought to retread carrier wheels in soft rubber. The weight of the carrier alone would cause the rubber to compress and thus "bulge" out and rub against the track horns considerably. This in itself would quickly destroy the rubber I would think. Why did he re-tread them in soft rubber? Was it a money saving exercise or did the person that re-treaded them do it with the incorrect material?

Aidan · #3 01-12-10, 07:04

looks like it was incorrect material, all of his wheels as I have Noticed are in retread soft rubber, about 1/2". these were done before he bought his U. carrier. It felt to me it is hard rubber under the soft. Aidan

Hendrik van Oorspronk · #4 01-12-10, 08:14

Looks like someone made normal wheels from spanner wheels.

Greetings

Hendrik

Lynn Eades · #5 01-12-10, 10:32

with the bedford boys. We used to get tyres done on dock truck trailers, out of a urethane material. it was sort of shiney, and could be turned on a lathe. I think it would work well on carrier wheels. They took a lot of punishment on small dia. wheels, carrying heavy shipping containers on grip patterned steel ro ro ship ramps.

RichardT10829 · #6 01-12-10, 18:07

likewise with Bedford boys.... it is a hard natural rubber not soft. the stuff i have been looking to use is a Elastomeric composite which has the same properties as the original stuff (toughness wise) Feb will tell all i guess

The Bedford Boys · #7 02-12-10, 07:11

Somewhere we have a carrier wheel that has been re-done in urethane. I'll see if I can find it and get a photo. I don't know when or why it was done. It's orange from memory.

Lynn Eades · #8 02-12-10, 09:36

Thats NFG! I was talking black urethane.

Aidan · #9 02-12-10, 19:04

NFG? Please elaberate

Richard Farrant · #10 02-12-10, 19:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aidan

NFG? Please elaberate

Kiwi speak, for "of no use to man nor beast"

The Bedford Boys · #11 02-12-10, 19:46

Hahahahahahahaha loving the Politically correct dictionary style definition there Richard!!

Orange is the new black didn't you know Lynn? If you don't like orange then you could just colour it in with a black felt tip marker or rub some boot polish into it, she'll be right!!

Lynn Eades · #12 02-12-10, 19:52

Yeah Nah! (more kiwi)

George McKenzie · #13 03-12-10, 04:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

Yeah Nah! (more kiwi)

My friend has done his wheels with urethane .they are lasting pretty good .The color doesn't bother you if you don't know the difference .I think the fork lift guys made them .

Lynn Eades · #14 03-12-10, 04:51

Without any evidence, my gut feeling is that the Urethane will perform better than the original rubber.

SDeMocko · #15 13-12-10, 20:06

What Durometer are you shooting for, for either the Rubber or Urethane? I just wondered.
Stephen DeMocko

khern2365 · #16 14-12-10, 23:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

with the bedford boys. We used to get tyres done on dock truck trailers, out of a urethane material. it was sort of shiney, and could be turned on a lathe. I think it would work well on carrier wheels. They took a lot of punishment on small dia. wheels, carrying heavy shipping containers on grip patterned steel ro ro ship ramps.

When I was a kid I remember reading in Field and Stream magazine about a "new" liquid rubber in a can called Poly Urethane. I have often thought if it would work on Boggie Wheels?? By the way who "resurfaces" forklift wheels etc?
Knox

RichardT10829 · #17 14-12-10, 23:27

the people i am going with in Gloucester specialise in refurb of fork lift truck wheels etc etc

Snowy · #18 15-12-10, 07:53

In the past, I have experimented with home casting of 80 and 90 Duro two-part polyurethane with the intention of making repro Weasel track bands and grouser pads.
What I found was the stuff has quite different properties to natural rubber, and sadly not all of them good. The worst thing was that home-cast PU splits quite easily along small cracks. Very easily in fact. Natural rubber can withstand lots of small splits without breaking. The other thing was the water absorption affected the material. A friend left one sample I cast out in the rain and it went from a translucent honey colour to an opaque brown. Although it returned to its original state after drying out, we agreed it was not a good sign.
Also the pigment seems to affect the strength. Even adding the tiniest bit of black pigment to the PU seemed to produce weaker material. The other main problem was that of air bubbles, they are difficult to completely remove unless the job is placed in a vacuum chamber (which I don't have).

If going the PU route for retreading tracked MV wheels and bogies, I strongly suggest getting it done professionally by forklift wheel repair places where they use something much better than the 2-part stuff. Perhaps it's thermosetting, or perhaps done in a vacuum but whatever it is, it is much better and IMO the only way to get reliable and strong PU casting.

Steve.

George McKenzie · #19 15-12-10, 17:48

My freind Jim DeBock has had his wheels done by a forklift repare place with urathane and has used the carrier alot .they seam to be OK .Jim has been fighting his PC and doesn't use it much .Too bad as he is very knowlegeable about carriers and could add alot to the carrier site .I might add that if your carrier was sitting in the bush for sometime and the wheel rubber is bad .it could be that the porcupines have eat the rubber up .They have a craving for rubber .you will notice that the bottom of the wheel is not gone ,which is an indication it is done by a porcpine .