Pics, ideas of convertin 38" wheels for a WC
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Topic: Pics, ideas of convertin 38" wheels for a WC
Posted By: ChuckLuedtkeSEWI
Subject: Pics, ideas of convertin 38" wheels for a WC
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 1:49pm
Was wondering if anyone has any pictures they would like to share of their rims that they converted to work on the 6 bolt rear WC hub. I bought a set of wheels/tires that didn't come with any centers. I am debating of doing a couple things with them. I could just make a flat round plate and weld it to the rim and have the bolt pattern made in the middle to fit the WC pattern. If I did that which I think many other people have done, what thickness should I make my center out of? Is 1/4" plate sufficient? My other idea that I thought of driving home with them today is making four mounting points and putting a set of WD/WD45 eight bolt wheel centers in the middle and the mounts would pick up the four locations of the eccentrics. Then if I wanted to switch them for the WC, I was going to take another set of WD centers and cut out the center section and replace it with a new center that had the WC bolt pattern on it. That way these tires could be used both ways. My only concern is if making a bracket in four different locations that would pick up the eccentric locations would be strong enough when they are offset further out for a 38" rim. Any ideas are welcome. Really getting geared up to go to 38" rubber to have a better footprint like most of the competition.
------------- 1955 WD45 diesel 203322 was my dad's tractor, 1966 D15 23530, 1961 HD3 Crawler 1918, 1966 D17 IV 83495, 1937 WC 41255, 1962 D19 6221
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Replies:
Posted By: GBACBFan
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 2:38pm
I'm not a puller, and this may not be the best idea. I would take the full center out of a 36" wheel, measure the diameter of the center vs the inside diameter of the 38" rim. If the difference was 2", for example (38"-36"=2", one inch on each side) I would buy two pieces of steel 1"x2"xthe diameter of the inside of the rim, have them rolled at any industrial sheet metal shop, stitch weld them into the rims, and stitch weld the 36" centers into this new rim "spacer". (The thickness of the steel used would depend on the difference in the 36" wheel center and the inside of the 38" rim) I would estimate the cost for steel, rolling, and welding to be south of 150 bucks.
Just a thought. Maybe not a good one, but something to think about.
------------- "The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine." - Mark Twain
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Posted By: Gerald J.
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 4:10pm
To put 42" rims on my 4020, I found rims with tabs inside. 8 tabs. The wheel centers made for wedge mounted rims have 12 holes equally spaced. I made four plates per wheel out of half inch plate with the outside beveled to fit in the rim and to span two tabs, then each plate spanned three bolts on the original wheel center. So far it has worked fine and the narrow rims run truer than the originals did with the wedge mounts.

This is the best picture of them that I have. The key was that the outer face of the wheel center was machined flat at the bolt holes, so the plates fit well.
Other step up rims had a deep drop in the middle for the wedges or a circular flange welded inside the rim to do what my 4 plates do, but those were mostly for going to 38" rims on 34" rim centers, and going to 42 was a pricey custom rim. And I was able to do most of the machining of the plates.
The conical shapes of factor wheel centers give better lateral stability and a great range of tire spacings by allowing the tires to be closer than the ends of the axles and the drop boxes. Or wider by reversing the rims. A flat wheel center would bend sideways easier.
Gerald J.
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Posted By: BrianC,Ont
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 5:11pm
Chuck, I was just telling Dustin and his dad this morning that I want to build an unstyled WC with 38s on it. I would like to go with spoke wheels, front and back. I will have to make some fender brackets.
------------- 35WC on steel, B with belly mower, D17 puller, D15 Series II puller, D15 Series II with loader, 608 Lawn Tractor
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Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 7:15pm
I'd advise against the 38" flat discs only with only 1/4" thickness. There's a reason why most wheel centers aren't flat......they would bend too easily if flat, so to keep them from bending they need to be very thick, which adds weight and expense of material. At a minimum you'd need to add some gussets from the rim inwards to strengthen and keep the 1/4" flat discs from bending.
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Posted By: ChuckLuedtkeSEWI
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 7:56pm
That would be an option Dr. Allis that I thought about. Whatever plate I got if I went that route, I would get a square piece and then use a plasma cutter to make a circle, so I would have the four corners to make gussets out of. I also did some tentative measuring this afternoon and a WD wheel center is 23" and the wheels I have are 35" so that would be the pieces on each side would only be 6 1/2" or so, so that wouldn't be too long. I was thinking I have some eccentrics around that I could use to attach them to, but I don't know if they are cast iron or cast steel. Didn't get that far. If they're cast steel, I could just use a set of them and attach my brackets to that, and then use the wheel centers for the middle which are plenty concave and stought. Either way, I got two tires to dismount so I can start fabbing on the rims. I do have four centers here so all I will have to do is get some heavy flat stock and then modify one set for the WC's bolt pattern. I do have to check to see how it will fit around the final drive, but I think that will be ok.
------------- 1955 WD45 diesel 203322 was my dad's tractor, 1966 D15 23530, 1961 HD3 Crawler 1918, 1966 D17 IV 83495, 1937 WC 41255, 1962 D19 6221
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Posted By: Allis Fields
Date Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 9:27pm
I was told that the factory press steel centers 24" in about 38 or 39 could be cut out and welded to a 38" press steel rim.
------------- Allis orange blooded by family. Allis Diehard by choice
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Posted By: Larry(OH)
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2011 at 9:25am
Ill get a pic of my 38's I bought from Jeremy in Waterloo IL a few years ago. They took the stock 6bolt center and welded into the 38" center. I have a 6 lug 38" wheel
------------- '40 WC puller,'50 WD puller,'50 M puller '65 770 Ollie
*ALLIS EXPRESS contact*
I can explain it to you, BUT I cannot understand it for you!!
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Posted By: ChuckLuedtkeSEWI
Date Posted: 20 Mar 2011 at 11:49am
Larry, that would be great. Thanks.
------------- 1955 WD45 diesel 203322 was my dad's tractor, 1966 D15 23530, 1961 HD3 Crawler 1918, 1966 D17 IV 83495, 1937 WC 41255, 1962 D19 6221
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Posted By: JayIN
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 2:32pm
I would like to see that, too.
------------- sometimes I walk out to my shop and look around and think "Who's the idiot that owns this place?"
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Posted By: Ken(MI)
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 4:36pm
Here are a couple sets I've built using the standard WC cast center, I cut the centers to reduce weight and welded spider adaptors in the lower set and bolted spiders with loop rims in the upper set, these are 36" wheels, but I have built 38's the same way. Upper rim weighs about the same as a pressed steel 38" wheel.
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Posted By: ChuckLuedtkeSEWI
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 4:47pm
Ken, that looks really sweet!! Can you show some closer pics and explain how you do that?
------------- 1955 WD45 diesel 203322 was my dad's tractor, 1966 D15 23530, 1961 HD3 Crawler 1918, 1966 D17 IV 83495, 1937 WC 41255, 1962 D19 6221
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Posted By: Gary in da UP
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 6:24pm
Ah, the infamous "doily" wheels. Remember when Gramma would crochet doilies for the tables and chair backs? I think Ken crochets those from steel wool. Ha Ha Ha
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Posted By: MikeB (SD)
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 7:47pm
How much power are you guy's making that you need to go to 38" rims?
Also what about the speed? A WC must be almost 5mph at 1800 RPM's.
I'm pretty sure my 14.9x28's will hold 75 horse.
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Posted By: norm[ind]
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 7:57pm
you can also buy 36" wheel fom a f-20 or 30 and it will bolt to the hub they done ok too when we were pulling
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Posted By: Larry(OH)
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 8:32pm
hopefully, hers are a few pics. If it dont go, Ill get to photobucket, then to here
------------- '40 WC puller,'50 WD puller,'50 M puller '65 770 Ollie
*ALLIS EXPRESS contact*
I can explain it to you, BUT I cannot understand it for you!!
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Posted By: ChuckLuedtkeSEWI
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 8:40pm
Larry, is that a dished rim center in a 9 bolt 38" center? I think I found a set of 38" centers I can use as well, and that idea may work for getting me rolling. Thanks for posting.
------------- 1955 WD45 diesel 203322 was my dad's tractor, 1966 D15 23530, 1961 HD3 Crawler 1918, 1966 D17 IV 83495, 1937 WC 41255, 1962 D19 6221
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Posted By: Larry(OH)
Date Posted: 21 Mar 2011 at 8:43pm
here are a few more pics
------------- '40 WC puller,'50 WD puller,'50 M puller '65 770 Ollie
*ALLIS EXPRESS contact*
I can explain it to you, BUT I cannot understand it for you!!
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Posted By: Rawleigh
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2011 at 10:57am
A word of caution: Do not weld rims with the tires on them!! Welding centers may or may not be OK, but welding rims with the tire one, even with the bead broken can kill you! Google it and watch the videos. The tires can explode quickly from a chemical reaction triggered by the heat. You may already know this, but it bears repeating just in case.
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Posted By: ChuckLuedtkeSEWI
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2011 at 5:53pm
Very good point. I wasn't planning on welding on the rims with the tires on due to the fact that the tube is pressed tight up to the rim and too much heat might burn the tube so I was going to remove the tires from the rims. This should be fun as I usually do them when they're on the tractor, but now they are on the ground so there should be some bad words used here and there.
------------- 1955 WD45 diesel 203322 was my dad's tractor, 1966 D15 23530, 1961 HD3 Crawler 1918, 1966 D17 IV 83495, 1937 WC 41255, 1962 D19 6221
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Posted By: ALinIL
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2011 at 6:00pm
Chuck, Here is another approach that was used on a WD.
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Posted By: Gary in da UP
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2011 at 6:19pm
I like the fact that tractor has a fire extinguisher mounted on it. Just a good idea, whether pulling, working or on a tractor cruise.
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