Following the New London to New Brighton Run earlier this month, my wife and I traveled to Ann Arbor where we stored the truck, trailer and Model K. We moved everything to Ann Arbor in anticipation of participating in the Lansing to Dearborn Run followed by the Old Car Festival. After dropping off the truck and trailer, my wife and I flew home.

I will on Saturday morning be returning to the Dearborn area, and my first mission after retrieving my truck and trailer is to replace all four tires on the K (too much car, not enough tire) with a different brand tire. And while I have changed them by myself in the past, having a second pair of hands connected to a strong back makes the task more pleasant.

So, if you are in the Dearborn area, and have no plans yet for Saturday (mid to late morning until ?), and or are interested in checking out up close and personal a Model K, and are willing to lend a hand with my tire project, please send me a private message.

I wish I could help. Rob and I made a pretty good pit crew in Buffalo. We never even needed tire irons. I hope you have more success with the new brand of tire.

Eric:

Yes indeed the pit crew that assembled out of thin air in Buffalo was first class! Thanks to you and others, we made quick work of changing the tires.

Thanks for the help.

I too hope the "new" tires are up to the task!

Timothy

PM sent

To ride along on the post…sorry I can’t help the poster…

I’ve tried raising “Tom Miller – mostly in Dearborn” through PM without success…

What I was looking for is contact information and the story goes like this.

My son is spending a lot of time out in Dearborn right now, he’s a 37 y/o motor-head and also owns a ’26 Coupe along with lots of other toys. He knew wrench sizes from the time he was three and could fetch them correctly even when asked to fetch a given size.

He literally cut his teeth working on T’s with me as we use to use the back seat of the ’25 Fordor as his baby bouncy rocker to get him to nap on his cranky afternoons (and give me a chance for a drive/ride.)

He is spending time in Dearborn as he is building a new dealership on Michigan Ave near Telegraph. When he gets done this one, the next one is in Macomb, so he is going to be tied to the area for a while. He was a sponsor for the recent Dearborn Days, and proudly texted me a picture of his first ever and new annual membership to the HF along with pix of being driven in the T-100 cars. (He also told me the young drivers at HF were taught to shift totally different than I taught him...snicker, haha...he says they just dump the clutch and adjust nothing! )

Other than work, work, work, he has nothing to do other than hotel and the HF (the second part is not a bad deal I guess). He's not moving to MI, or better said planning on moving to MI, just build hem and move on to more in other states.

He’s looking to tie up with a local club or local guys but I don’t know who to have him call. Can someone PM me? I'd really appreciate it.

Allen

I received the PM you sent and have made contact as suggested.

Another individual may also be able to assist.

So....it appears that this matter is well covered.

Thanks for sending the PM.

Cheers,

Timothy

Tim, I'm on my way, with spares.

Unfortunately, I won't arrive until Monday. See you then.

Eric, we need your tire changing abilities. Maybe the new Maxwell is ready for a Dearborn to Lansing tour.

Tim, if your still following, how did the tire changing go? Did you find any "new friends"? If so, are they still friends after fighting 34x4 clinchers?

See you in a day or two,
Rob

George,

I sent you Tom's contact info.

Thanks Royce, I did not have the second one. I'll give it a try.

If you are not too busy on Tuesday, visit Stahl's Auto Museum in Chesterfield Township. Worth the visit

Yesterday three very kind individuals, Jeff Kern, Tom Voltz, and Dan Walters assisted me with changing (yet again) the tires on my Model K.

Without them, the task would have been MUCH, MUCH more difficult.

Jeff had other commitments and wasn't able to stay to the bitter end. After we installed the last tire Dan left to tend to a family matter (granddaughter's birthday).

Tom and I took the K across the street to Sear's auto Center to bring the final pressure per tire up from 50 to 65lbs. From there we added some fuel and took off for a ride on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Dearborn.

Tim,

My Dykes manual recommends minimum tire pressure for 34 X 4 tires should be 70 PSI. You will have rapid wear and lots of flats if the tire pressure is too low.

I googled it and found it digitized here in chart 236A:
http://books.google.com/books?id=BtYbqYNbg0QC&q=clincher#v=snippet&q=clincher&f= false

Tim,
Thanks for the opportunity of letting me help you change your tires on your Model K and have a close up inspection of this fabulous vehicle. I had a good time and really enjoyed our tour of Dearborn and Hines Park. The Model K Ford has long been a favorite of mine since first seeing a 6-40 Roadster at The Old Car Festival back in the late 70's. I am truly impressed at this cars performance and ridding capabilities. The car rides as smooth as a modern car; and it is amazing how slow you can travel in high gear without chugging, yet have the power to smoothly pick up speed again. Saturday was truly a fantastic day for me.

Royce:

I appreciate your input. Tire pressure, however, has not been the source of the issues.

In addition to the 70 psi that you have referenced, I am aware of references suggesting that 34x4 tires should be inflated to 80 psi. I made the decision to stick at 65 psi which is what the tire vendor recommends so as to insure that they have no excuse for not standing behind their product.

To make a long story short, during my many conversations with the tire vendor they acknowledged that they were aware of a design defect in this (and maybe other) tires they sell but that they had corrected the defect and assured me that they were sending me the new design tires. I took them at their word.

Interestingly enough, I noticed yesterday that two of the latest shipment of tires were significantly different than the others they have been sending me. The area directly behind the groove connecting the tire and the bead on the newest tires is at least three times thicker than the previous bunch of tires.

So it appears, notwithstanding my many conversations with the tire vendor, and their assurances that they were not sending me any of the old design tires, it appears that I have at least 10 of them.

I also have four of the newer, thicker wall, tires on the car. It will be interesting to see what happens now.

Tuesday I'll be contacting that tire vendor and engage in what I hope does not turn into an interesting conversation.

Timothy

Rob, Dearborn to Lansing and he OCF are definitely on my list of things to do, just not this year. I'm kind of tapped out on free time right now.

Tim:

I am curious about how the "possible fix" for the leaky radiator we talked about a while back has worked out for you?

David:

The Sodium Silicate worked OK to a point as a temporary solution. It was not, however, possible to find a happy balance. When there was enough SS in the system to resolve the leaks, the car would run hot if you allowed it to idle, much like one might expect from some Model T's.

Last fall, nearly a year ago, I took the radiator to what I refer to as an old time radiator shop. The two fellows that own the business have a lot a experience and we not afraid to tackle the task of repairing an old radiator.

The radiator was repaired and I picked it up last Spring, installed it, and have driven the car hundreds of miles free of any radiator issues.

Timothy