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MG MGB Technical - Wire Wheel Play?

How much play is OK for a wire wheel? This is rotational movement.

I have checked mine out after being shown the play by the MOT examiner and I have measured about 1 mm or 1/16" movement of the spokes in relation to a piece of tape stuck to the side of the brake drum when the spinner is just nipped up. I have to do them up real tight to stop them rotating on the splines.

The hubs are nearly new and look to have clean even splines with a flat top, but the wheels are recently reconditioned and I don't believe the centres were changed. The grooves look to be much deeper at the back of the wheel as they are at the front (outer).

Any help appreciated.

Regards

David

D M Tetlow

David
I have looked at the pictures of your car but cannot remember if it has spinners or nuts.
My 65 has spinners and they need to be hit quite hard withe copper mallet to lock the wheel to the hub.
You mention the wheels were reconditioned - are they normal MGB 48 spoke wheels?
With that lovely Rover V8 pushing out lots of torque I would belive that you should have 60 or 72 spoke wheels to take all the power - could ask the V8 drivers on the V8 Register website.
George
George Wilder

David
I have looked at the pictures of your car but cannot remember if it has spinners or nuts.
My 65 has spinners and they need to be hit quite hard withe copper mallet to lock the wheel to the hub.
You mention the wheels were reconditioned - are they normal MGB 48 spoke wheels?
With that lovely Rover V8 pushing out lots of torque I would belive that you should have 60 or 72 spoke wheels to take all the power - could ask the V8 drivers on the V8 Register website.
George
George Wilder

Hi David,

The theory of these wheels is that they drive on the cone on the back of the wheel, not the splines - so you have to do the spinner up tight enough to get load onto the cone, and make sure both surfaces of the cone are free of grease.

Of course in practice this isn't always done and they end up driving on the splines which wears everything out pretty fast.

fwiw even new wheels on new hubs will show some slop in the splines, probably about the amount you mention.

Obviously if you can move the wheel by hand with the spinner done up (just not ultra-tight) then something is wrong - spinner bottoming out? If you're just hearing some slop when going on and off the power, keep doing them up tighter with bigger and bigger hammers :o)

hth,
--
Olly
Oliver Stephenson

Cheers Gents

I have MGC 15"x 5.5" 72 spoke with spinners.

I have been greasing the cone so I had better clean them up.

Does any one know of a wheel repair shop I could get a quote from?

It may be cheaper than new.

Dave
D M Tetlow

Dave, here's a company in England which does wires, might be of interest to you, especially the information on hub and spline wear and how to measure.
http://www.wirewheels.co.uk/wornhub.htm
Bill Young

Having made enquiries in the past, I failed to find anyone who would even look at a wire wheel for less than the price of a new Dunlop one. Alas, it's an almost-dead industry and no-one has the skills or patience to re-lace / re-true them nowadays.

Even getting them balanced is near enough impossible, I had to make my own adapter to fit my wires onto the balancing machine. Makes a big difference when you do it right though!

ttfn,
--
Olly
Oliver Stephenson

Cheers Bill / Olly

I will have a gander.

Olly, I'm lucky, the local Tyre centre are realy good. They balance my wires with no problems, and day before yesterday did my allignment. They could not fit some of the equipment due to the spinners but brought out their rulers and sorted it.

Dave
D M Tetlow

MWS at Slough are worth talking to:
http://www.mwsint.com/RepairRestore.asp
Steve Postins

This thread was discussed on 15/05/2008

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