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MG TD TF 1500 - Wire Wheel Hammer

I need to replace my old worn-out hammer.
The hide plug is almost gone. I have tried to remove it without success? So which is the best way to go to remove and tighten my knock offs - when out on the road.

Lead 4lb hammer?
Copper/copper 2lb hammer?
Copper/hide 2lb hammer?

In the past I have only used a 2lb Copper/hide hammer which I keep in the tool box.
I use the long leaver tool if doing work in the garage. Though it helps to put a piece of leather in there to protect the chrome somewhat.

What is your experience?

Rod
Rod Jones

My weapon of choice is a heavy rubber headed hammer purchased from a "Go LO Store". Bit bulky in the TF tool box however it does fit in with a tool roll and small hydraulic jack.

No signs of blemishes on my new chrome knock offs and wheels are tightened correctly.

Graeme
G Evans

I use a pure lead hammer. Put new knock offs on the mgb back in 2006 and there isn't a mark on them. The wheels get removed, cleaned and replaced before every show it goes to. The TF gets the same. PJ
Paul S Jennings

I bought a copper/hide hammer years ago for my new MGB knock offs. Bad choice as it nicked up the chrome pretty quick. The hide plug came loose right off the git go as well. I got a lead hammer for the new TF knock off and it works a treat as they say. Highly recommend one.

A further thought..The knock offs we replaced on the TC here last winter were steel. The replacements (and all of the ones I've been around) are brass. I'm thinking the copper/hide might be suitable for the steel but certainly not the brass.

Were the original knock offs on the TF steel or brass?
MG LaVerne

The knockoffs I took off the car looked quite old and were beat up real bad, beyond restoration. They are Brass also. PJ
Paul S Jennings

I bought a 6 lb lead hammer from these guys:

http://www.americanhammer.com/

It is the same one that is pictured on their homepage. They have a recast program-- mess it up over time and they'll recast it for you for a small cost.

I don't have knock-offs on my MGs; I use it on my E-type. Only thing I've found that will budge the things without damaging them. Even a plastic dead-blow I tried wouldn't shift them without flattening the ears.
David Littlefield

I've always had a machinist friend just use a piece of steel pipe, make a mold, put the pipe in the middle and pour in molten lead. You can always adjust the mold and handle to different lengths and weights to fit the situation.
Cheers...Barry
C B Ryley

Thanks
I guess my next hammer will be a lead one :)
Appreciate the heads up.

Rod
Rod Jones

I've had British cars with wire wheels for many years. I've had this "bead loaded" rubber hammer for 20 years or so. Never mars the chrome and always does the job. Not sure if they are available anymore, but I wanted to mention the rubber hammer.
I have a copper hammer in the tool box, but do not use it. "For show".

Tom
'54 TF

T Norby

Lead is easy to melt, you can cast your own hammer.
Divers do that all the time for their belt weights.
As a kid we cast balance weights for our model airplanes from old water pipes (yes, they were lead in those days!)
My brain still works ok (most of the time;-)
Rgds
Mike
Mike Fritsch

What ever breed of hammer you utilise remember to raise the wheel/s off the ground prior to attacking them.
Damage to spokes can be the result if you dont.

Graeme
G Evans

Hi guys,
I always use a copper hammer BUT I recently learnt that the problem is sometimes the knockoffs! I have been driving my road TC since I was 16 (I'm now 62) and have always belted the wheels on really tightly with a copper hammer. The front knockoffs have not marked at all and the backs have the same slight marking they had in 1968. (I suspect caused by a steel hammer). I recently bought a pair of new knockoffs for the rear and as I hammered, I saw the chrome surface take on a different pattern with every blow! They are as soft as butter! Unless my original front knockoffs had been stellited and rechromed before my dad bought the car in 1963, it points to an extreme difference in hardness. I am not sure of the origin of the new knockoffs as I bought them from a friend. I must ask him. See image of old fronts.
Bob Schapel

R L Schapel

Bob, as I mentioned above, the TC I had here last winter had steel knock offs. The new replacements were brass.

MG LaVerne

For 25 years I have experimented with every type of hammer and wrench I could get my hands on. The best I have used by far, are the faux lead hammers as sold by Moss and others. They will not leave so much as a scratch on you knockoffs no matter what they are made of.

Graeme, the reason for raising the wheel off the ground is not for the spokes, it is to relieve pressure between the knockoff taper and the outer taper of the wheel hub. Obviously you will install the wheel and hand tighten the knockoff while in the air. Once this is done there will never be enough wheel movement to damage the spokes from lateral flex. And if there was a bit of movement, the tires would flex long before the spokes! The wheels flex quite a bit on their own during robust cornering anyway. But tightening the knockoff with the weight of the car on the ground may prevent the knockoff from fully tightening, and in a worst case can prevent the wheel from sitting completely flat against the rear hub taper. Not good!

Remember, don't over-tighten the knockoffs or you risk damaging the inner wheel hub tapers!
Steve S

This is what I use

No scratches whatsoever and I have not lost a single wheel yet.

FIts between the sat back and the boot wall. so always at hand.

Rgd, Mike

Mike Fritsch

I just dug out the carton of 11 old knockoffs in the shed. 10 were obviously steel because they have rusty patches and 1 could be either steel or brass as the chrome is still intact. They were accumulated as old TC bits. Did the factory change to brass later for TFs? Immediately post WW2 things were done cheaply due to shortages. Perhaps steel was the cheap early post war option and they went to brass later. Or perhaps it is only repro units which are brass. Someone must know the answer to MG LaVerne's question?
Bob Schapel
R L Schapel

Mike

I bought one of those for my MGB. Made of plywood. It broke on the first use. I use a home cast lead hammer. Use a juice can and fill it with lead. Drill a hole in it for my handle and put a screw through the lead into the handle.

The Early MGB knockoffs are brass. I used a dremmel with a sanding drum to smooth out the marks made by some prior owner and had them re-chromed.

Kind of surprised no one has come up with a metal socket shaped like a knockoff lined with rubber with a long handle on it.
Bruce Cunha

Bruce, you may like this if you can stomach the $300 price tag.

http://knockoffspinnertool.com/two_eared_spinners_42mm_-_52mm
Steve S

I guess the wood wrench would work ok with the early fine threads, but their not worth spit on the later course threads!I destroyed two on the 72 B, actually split apart. That's when I went to the pure lead hammer and never regretted it. I still have a new wood Moss wrench in the original packaging on the shelf. It'll never get used! Might make a good conversational lamp base. Grin. PJ
Paul S Jennings

The old knock ons on my TF and TC are steel including the spare wheel knock ons. The new ones are brass and on some of them the ears are not nicely radiused in section like the old ones. The good thing about steel ones is that the damage can be repaired by welding unless the face with the engraving is badly scratched as well.
Max Irvine

Bruce
Moss do sell a large wrench for Knock offs but it will damage the chrome if you don't pad it with something. (Leather?)
I use it in the garage only as it is a big tool.
On the road, I will be using a lead hammer going forward. The copper/hide one had just about shot its bolt after 40 years.
Thanks for the direction guys.

Rod
Rod Jones

Attached is a picture of the tools I use to tighten/loosen knock-offs on my TC and TF. I've tried copper/lead hammers and as long as there was metal in the hammers they would ding the knock-off. I've never used a leather hammer only because they never seemed heavy enough and you beat the heck out of the leather.
The hardwood I use is 6 inches long and 2 inches thick. I glued and screwed two 1 inch thick blocks together. The hammer weighs 4 lbs., 6 ozs.
I tighten the knock-off so it is snug when the wheel is off the ground and then make sure it's tight when the wheel is on the ground - just like you do for lug nuts. The only thing you need to be careful of is not to over tighten the knock-off because you could damage the splined wheel hub. Works for me and have never had a problem.
Mark Stolzenburg
Chesterfield, Missouri
TF 8263 (Currently the Christmas Display at the Kemp Auto Museum)

Mark Stolzenburg

I've been using a dead-blow hammer, the plastic type filled with lead shot. It seems to give them a good whack without marring the chrome. Anyone see any problem?
JE Carroll

I don't see a problem, so long as it gets it tight enough.
Steve Simmons

Steve. That is close to what I was thinking of. Hefty price, but a better Mouse Trap? Possibly.

Interesting, in that the lead hammer looks like my juice can one.
Bruce Cunha

This thread was discussed between 02/12/2014 and 15/12/2014

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