OT Tool Gloat - Pic

[CCWKen]

Ken,

As a matter of interest, have you ever bothered balancing wood spoked wheels with detachable rims and integral hubs, e.g. Model T, Chev 4 etc? If so, how do you go about it? I suppose you could get a rough trial and error static balance on a front wheel with the wheel mounted on the car, but I can't think off hand how you could balance a taper mounted back wheel without an expensive dynamic balancer which can balance wheels in place on the vehicle.

I have respoked quite a number of wooden wheels, but because of the low road speeds of the vehicles involved, wheel balance is not a real problem, so I have never bothered trying to balance them. I've often wondered if there is a reasonably easy way to do it though.

franco

Good question Franco. I posed such a question last night on the MTFCA site. I have a Model T and was wondering if it was worth making adapters for the wheels. The answers so far indicate the need is there but the problem is where/how to install weights. I don't think the demountables would be a problem other than maintaining orientation. The problem is with the wood fellow and clincher wheels. A new design weight would be needed. That or ugly spoke weights. If you have any ideas, I'd be interested. My T has demountables so a modified standard weight might work. I'll have to look at it to be sure though.

[franco]

Ken,

Thanks for the reply. I don't have any immediate answers, but will think about it further. The idea suggested by one of the MTFCA posters of using stick on weights on the inside of the felloe under the detachable rim sounds reasonable from a cosmetic point of view. I'll check that forum out again in a couple of days to see if there are any other useful responses. I have a 27 Chevvy, which I think would benefit from balancing at least the front wheels. If you do come up with an adapter, I'd be interested to see a photo.


Regards,

franco.