Well if the photos there are of the most worn wheel, you may be in luck. The wear I see is on the center, the flange looks pretty good. It may be a trick of the photo, but I also see a very thick wheel tread, compared to a stamped steel wheel. You may be just fine - at least by NARCOA standards. I would defer to NARCOA standards because - say what you will about the critter, it is roughly comparable to an A-8 type speeder.

I'm the lucky soul restoring our "little" motorcar. The wheels are some form of locomotive tire, say a leading or trailing truck tire. Each weighs about 162lbs and they are solid, not stamped.The center was cut out of the truck wheel and either it was an exact match or the inside of the steel tire was turned to allow a slight interference fit and then it was riveted into the tire. The motorcar overall weighs in the neighbor hood of 10,000 to 12,000lbs. So she's a monster by comparison. The original frame was built on a 30's era ford 1 1/2 ton truck frame. When it was rebuilt a new frame was fabricated using 2"x4" channel iron and 3/4" plate steel but still utilizing the large truck drivetrain. The rear differential with the wheels removed still comes in at 726lbs. So about our only option is to replace the wheels with a similar tire or have the surface welded up, turned and profiled, and possibly have the wheel stress relieved either by cryo or a similar process. It will be used on private property so there shouldn't be an issue there.

Have you thought about calculating the minimum tire thickness for the weight and seeing if there's adequate meat for the tires to be reprofiled into a useable if not perfect profile?

dave

2 of the wheels could definitely be turned and profiled as is. The other 2 have adequate meat on the tread but the flange is worn thin to a point you couldn't get the profile right and what you would have left would be so thin you'd have the possibility of the flange cracking.

Hope Harry Nichols can come through with his source, then. Probably your best option, and recycles the existing construction.

Or, call George Sapp out in California and order a couple cans of his Can-O-Flange.

dave

They've all been reasonable ideas, like any restore funds become the issue. It would be terrific to just order up 4 new tires and place the wheel centers inside. Daydreams at best.

I stopped by the Shreveport machine shop today (Saturday, Feb. 6th) afternoon. Naturally, no one was there. I did get the name, address and a current phone number. The shop is near the airport north of Shreveport, off LA. Hwy #1.

P & M Machine Works
726 Finn St.
Shreveport, LA.
Phone 318-425-3521.

I have not ascertained the company still welds up wheels, but the machine they had invented, rotated a wheel slowly while the arc laid a continuous bead back and forth, including the flange. When the regulator and Speed Swing wheels we had became worn, I just sent them to P&M and we received good wheels. UP, BN, SF and SP was using this shop years ago and may still do so.