A buddy and I took his freshly laced Houk wire wheels to have them trued by a wire wheel specialist (mostly motorcycles and modern stuff). His first question that we couldn't answer was "What is the offset of the rim from the back face of the center?".
By chance do any of you know what that offset is and where/how it is measured? The only documentation we have found is an article written for Houk wheels for a Stanley and they were larger (34") wheels. The ones my buddy has are for a normal 30 x 3 1/2 clincher.
Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.
Walt
Not Houk, but some 50 spoke Rudge Whitworths I salvaged the hub shells out of were 5/16" from back edge of rim OUTBOARD to back face of hub shell. The rim was the usual 30 X 3 1/2 clincher and was 2 13/16" outside to outside.
Another way of saying it would be the back of the rim was 5/16" back of the hub shell face
On these, that dimension is closer to 5/8" - that is the way I had John McLaren set it up:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/311924.html?1347670652
Agian, neither of these are Houks
John -
Thank You -
If I understand correctly, if the wheel was laid on a flat surface, the center would be on the surface and the rim would be raised 5/8" above the surface?
The notes we saw for the larger Houk wheels for the Stanley would have been the rim on the flat surface with the back face of the center raised up 3/4".
What you did sounds like it would have better triangular lateral support while the wheels for the Stanley have the inner spokes almost straight with the spokes at the outer end of the hub being angled back (if that makes any sense). I really wish I knew what the heck I was doing with these.
I don't have a measurement for you but am sure someone out there can measure their spare wheel. Point I want to make is get the right Houk wheel measured. Do you have #3 size (very close to Dayton pin drives) OR do you have an adapted set of #4 from an Overland or other car? The offset measurement form a Dayton wheel would be close enough on the #3.
Walt - your question is a "No" - if the rim was touching the surface, the surface of the center would be raised 5/8" - at least on the one in the thread I linked to.
The back spokes are fairly flat. Changing this around alters TRACK or how far apart the the centers of the left and right wheels would be on a given installation, which may not be at all important.
John,
OK, that makes what John did very similar to what I saw for the wheels on the Stanley.
We are quite sure these wheels were originally made for a larger car. While they are the classic 6 pin drive the hubs are larger and heavier than would be found with a Buffalo or other era wire wheel. The hubs have all been modified for a Model T so they were certainly for some other (probably larger) car originally.
i.just.took.a.close.look.at.the.spokes.on.my.number.4.houks,.and.the.inner.row.is.straight.line,.rim.to.hub.to.rim...
sounds.like.the.ones.you.have.are.number4.also...