Staghound Tires/Rim

[rob love]

I'm replacing the tires on the museum's Staghound today. In the past, someone stuck a set of Michelin radials on it, and while they don't look bad, I was able to pick up a set of the 14.00-20 non-directional bias ply tires off the surplus market in the US for a good price. Brand new, manufactured by Denman around 2008, they were just $135 each USD plus shipping, exchange etc. I also ordered in a set of 4 new tubes and flaps of the appropriate size. Just as well because when I tore the old tires down, I was finding everything from 22.5 tubes to much too narrow flaps. Two of the radials required topping up about once a year.

Anyway, I did find a crack on the bead area of one of the rims. It was right on the first inch of rim, so shouldn't effect the mounting of the tire, but for a clear conscience I would like to find another rim. Were these rims used on other military vehicles like 5 or 7 ton trucks of the era?

I'm attaching a couple photos showing the difference in the tires.

[tankbarrell]

The 155mm Howitzer M1 uses that rim but I think the Sorel built ones all used the later style with the locking ring.

[rob love]

Adrian

You are likely right.....the Sorel guns were built in the late 50s, so were built using the side locking ring rims which were in use at the time.

Canada used the side locking rings on the old M135 from the 1950s, and later the M35 (MLVW) from the 1980s. Around 2002, the DND decided these were dangerous, and replaced all the wheels and tires on the MLVWs as well as the 1.5 ton trailers, over to a rims similar to these bolt together rims from WW2. The big difference was that the new tires were tubeless, and depended on an O-ring in the rim to hold the air. The O-ring channels were very susceptible to corrosion, resulting in flat tire after flat tire. I have repaired dozens of these flat tires over the years, and never once found it was due to a nail or a tire issue....always that darn O-ring.

Anyway, now that I have wandered in my own thread, thanks for the lead. I may head down to the dustbowl later and see if we have anything similar floating around there. Perhaps the Mack NO is similar.

[tankbarrell]

So much for progress!

I think the Mack is a 24" rim.

[rob love]

I didn't even have to look at the tire size....they are offset because of the dual tire setup. I found a couple of 20s that came closer, but they were 6 hole, so for a 2-1/2 ton.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Rob.

Any chance of finding something out of BC in the form of ex Staghound forestry equipment languishing in junk yards?

David

[rob love]

David: I didn't know that was a thing in BC. I thought it was more-so tracked armour conversions.

[Robin Craig]

Staghound forestry equipment, any links to anything on that subject on here or elsewhere?

[Robin Craig]

Rob from what I recall the RCD Staghound has something ex Cf as tires on it.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Rob.

I cannot recall the name of the company, but it was based in Vancouver I think. The vast majority of Canadian based, serviceable Staghounds ended up there for conversion and the products sold throughout BC and possibly even down into Washington and Oregon.

Lots of photos of the converted products on a thread somewhere on MLU a few years ago.

David

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Robin Craig

Rob from what I recall the RCD Staghound has something ex Cf as tires on it.

I was looking at some of the wheels on ebay, and the MRAP wheels look pretty close. But I didn't go to all the trouble of sourcing original non-directional tires so I could put them on modern MRAP wheels.



Something tells me these Staghound rims would have been used on other heavy US produced vehicles as well. I had a look at some photos of the M1 155 towed howitzer as Adrian suggested, and they do look like the ones.


I just did a search and found I missed a batch by about 10 years. Some of the viewers mentioned they would also be on the 155 and the M21 ammunition trailer. I found an online manual for the M21 trailer, and the diagram for the rim gives a part number of G134-03-69730. G134 is the ordnance code for the Staghound, so at this point I am going to say the Staghound was the primary user of these rims, with the 155 towed and the M21 ammo trailer also using them.