ARE YOUR WHEELS TIGHT?

[joel gopan]

CCKW and Chevrolet 4X4 Owners may want to look at your wheels periodicly, a simple indicator of a loose Wheel Nut is a trail of rust radiating away from the nut, loose rivits on the chassis can be spoted the same way.
Joel

[dr deuce]

Also look at where the wheels center attaches to the rim that actually holds the tire. It is riveted on and they rot under these 'fingers'. If you see the 'finger' starting to lift away from the rim, get rid of it! The rot is usually worse under the finger and goes right thru the rim and weakens it. The air pressure inside the tire can adn does occasionally make the rim wider in that area. I know of 2 cases and luckly neither resulted in the loss of the ring.....

Steve AKA Dr Deuce

[armydriver]

I went out and checked all of my wheels today. Thanks guys.

[joel gopan]

The rust damage is found more often on CCKWs/Chevrolet 4X4 trucks that had Civilian use, than those that were used by solely the military, the exception being that Navy surplus CCKWs tended to rust earlier than the Army and USAF ones. In civilian use, lack of PM and road salt were the reason. I always blast and prime my wheels inside and out before mounting tires to control corrosion. Years ago when I was responsible for Lab testing and analyzing steel products, I participated in a NTSB study on Truck Wheel Failures.

Joel

[dr deuce]

I have a place that does my wheels (blasting) for a better $$ than my time to do it. I have used a number of different prinmer paints over the years and I do inside and out too. I regularly run tests with different paints and especially primers outside to see how they stand up to the elements. Because the OD paint is not moisture/water proof, whatever is under it must be.

I prime and paint inside and out, but two problems are associated with them:

1. You cannot gaurantee that water/moisture will not get under the fingers and rot the ring of the wheel out as I explained earlier and
2. when you assemble the wheel, paint will be removed from the locking surfaces.

Rear tires from my experience will last about 25-30k miles. That is a long time between tire removal and inspections and that assumes that you replace them and don't migrate them to a trailer or someplace where they may never get changed again and will be mounted (in your life) forever.

I have started to put a little motor oil into the locking areas after I assemble the wheels to try to prevent rusting of the locking surfaces that have had the paint scrapped off during assy.

I have about 150 CCKW/chev wheels and tires and mark my words, if you live in an area of the country/get your wheels from an area where cars rot out, your biggest long term rusting/rotting problem with your CCKW/Chev will be wheels. And they don't just rust/rot, they get dangerous!

If you compare a CCKW/chev wheel to an M35 or even post WW2 civy Budd wheel, you will note that the later wheels are made from much thicker metal which translates to more time at a given rust/rot rate.


Steve AKA Dr Deuce

[joel gopan]

M-Series Wheels are "apples and Oranges" to the CCKW Wheel, they are of a different design, and use a different style split lock ring instead of the solid lock ring, as the larger and wider 900X20 tire made that necessary. I I do not agree with using oil on the lock ring, that is dangerous as the fit of the lock ring to the wheel depends on its gripping the wheel with a minimum of contact surface because of the nature of solid lock rings. The paint will still be scraped off during wheel assembly, and there is a chance the oil will contribute to the breakdown of the rubber tire , flap or inner tube. After 60 years there is some erosion of metal and the oil is just plain suicide.My wheels do not shoe evidence of ongoing corrosion where I blasted it from the ares between the hand holes. The primer and paint appear to be holding up, if not it would be evident. I shudder when I think of anything done to reduce friction on the locking surface of one piece lockrings. There is no first aid for being hit by one. Next time you readers have a wheel apart, look at the edges where the Lock Ring seats, you will agree.
Joel

[dr deuce]

Your wheels will rust on the surface that is suppose to hold them together. There is no paint there after assy. You already have 60+ years of rust and metal erosion there. I am not converned about a little oil there. I am VERY concerned about too little metal left there!

They were not made to last 60+ years.

Like I said, wheels will be your most serious problem long term with these trucks.

I have never had a wheel ring come off. I have had one wheel that was rotted get wider when inflated because of rot under the fingers that was not obvious. Scared the begerbers out of me and to boot, it was a 5 bolt Budd (Ford used them) wheel on one of the Bomb Trailers!

As the disclaimer on the web site states, each individual must evaluate the advice offered here to determine the safety and value of it.


Steve AKA Dr Deuce

[joel gopan]

Steve, wheels can kill, and oil is a lubricant that reduces friction. I know of no proceedure in the TMs that suggest lubing lock rings. TM 9-1870-1 dated Feb 1955 replaces WWII TM31-200, April 1943 Maintenance and Care pf Pneumatic Tires and Rubber Treads. Both manuals have warnings against the use of oil.
Joel

[dr deuce]

SAFETY 1st

I put 6 new Denman tires on the cargo deuce this year. To try the light oil on the ring plan, I only did this on the 4 new ones on the back that were on the outside (ring in) so that any failure would not harm anyone else.

This is the same way I inflate the tires after mounting: On the truck ring in.

These trucks were never designed to last 60 years. It was not part of the specification. These 4 tires will be on that truck for about 10 years the way I drive and then will migrate to trailers until totally decrepid in another 10-20 years.

The locking ring area deteriotation due to rust is a big problem. With the forces involved trying to push the ring off all the time, the amount of metal and the quality of that metal (pitting etc) is very important. There is no way to pop the ring on without taking most of the paint off the locking areas. Even if they were plated, you would scrape the paint off mounting the ring.

Oil on the tires may bother them after a long time. I am sure all of us have seen the front tires and wheels coated on some of these trucks with a slurry of GO and grease from front knuck seal or WB seal failures. I actually look for those wheels as they are usually much better preserved then dry ones.

Unless you have a set of 10 NOS wheels on your truck today, you are living with dangerous wheels right now! You should not drive/own this truck with anything less! Everyone who has such a truck say so....

Silence: I thought so....

So now that we have established that you are driving a very dangerous truck with 2 bombs waiting to go off in the front, what do you do about it?

I put the best wheels (locking ring area rust wise) on the front of my trucks and the lesser ones on the rear.

If one of these rings comes off and 'hurts someone' while out in public, we may ALL be in trouble!

What do the military manuals say about the locking rings after 60 years?
They don't say anything. They did not plan for this. We are in virgin teritory...

Again, if you have 10 NOS wheels, and not 'good looking' locking ring area wheels disregard this note. For everyone else THINK!


Steve AKA Dr Deuce

[joel gopan]

I guess I have been lucky, as I have been able to find wheels off CCKWs that had gov't use only, and been buying wheels from dealers that have dug around warehouses to find wheels that they had in storage for 50 years. Oil is dangerous on lock rings, more so on corroded ones that have lost some of the locking area. The wheels are not made with the same metallurgy as a fender, and do not corrode as fast, what kills wheels is sitting underinflated for years with water building up inside of them, the old rotten tires tend to act as a wick as rust builds up on the bead and lock ring. for I have mounted a lot of freshly painted CCKW wheels and find that a minimum of paint is scraped from the lock ring(You can see 100% of the locking surface before the tire is inflated). The CCKW has the most dangerous lock ring used on the 2 1/2 ton 6X6. Those used on the M Series are of a different design where the split lock ring grips tighter as the tire is inflated. They are designed for 9" Wide tires tho.
Joel