MTFCA Forum

Problem 1 is my 21 inch rim lock is now broken off see picture. What should I do to fix this? Problem 2 is that all my 21 inch rims are galvanized and the rim locks are frozen in place and no longer turn. I might be able to file down the soft zinc and get them to turn again but suggestions are welcome.

Why did Ford make the split rims to begin with? It seems like such a hassle for what purpose?

Re-rivet it back together & they're split to accommodate tire installation & removal.

Ford was following the lead of Chev and others with split rims to take straight sided tyres, which required lower pressures and thus a softer ride. The rims had to be split to fit these. These were also likely to be cheaper to make than solid rims requiring lock rings like the TT's. Later, well based rims took over, like the 27 T wire wheels.

Allan from down under.

The Canadians had a better idea for the joint clip. Two pieces, one riveted each side of the joint, interlocked and a separate pin was fitted to make the joint. there were no moving parts to freeze. They look much like T door hinges, the two halves pinned together just like the hinges.

Allan from down under.

Once the tire is installed and inflated it would self lock anyway esp when installed on the wheel because the tire and tube would be pushing inward.

For the broken one it has been suggested to just weld the broken piece back on and not use the split rim feature. I've never had rims like this will that work when putting the tire on? Just use regular tire irons and horse it on like a 30 x 3.5 non-split?

On 21 inch tires you must collapse the rims, These tires have wire in the beads and will not stretch like the clincher tires do.

Jim is correct. The wires in the tyre bead will not stretch. The 21" diameter is fixed and getting it to go over an effective 22+" of the outside of the rim will not work. I once tried fitting a 23" straight sided tyre onto a beaded edge rim. Absolutely no-go. If you must try, please make a video for us all to enjoy!

Allan from down under.

All the remaining rims wheel locks are all frozen with zinc. I've tried Dremeling off at the edges but nothing so far. How loose are these supposed to be? Does the lock pivot on the peg or is the peg supposed to pivot also? Any ideas for unfreezing this are welcome. Zinc melting point is 'low' at 'only' 419 C so I am thinking about getting it hot with a propane torch and attempt to work it around with pliers to loosen it up. No tire on at that point of course.

Gentle heat, cool off and a good soak of light oil or WD40. Then gently start to tap it either direction with a small hammer. Use patience and it should loosen up. You might have to use a thin dremel wheel if it comes down to it.

Here are a few photos of the split rims on my Canadian Tudor. These have the hinge-style lock that Allan mentions.

Once the tired is inflated and the rim is fitted to the wheel I don't think the pin is that important.

I heated it to arbitrary what I thought was hot enough with a propane torch and tapped the lock with a hammer, nothing so far...

We are good now. The lock budged so I started wiggling it, spray oil, more wiggling, spray oil repeat until it works now. BUT! Do I have to have the Y-shaped rim spreader tool? When I put the tire on and inflated it the bead did not hold in one spot and the rim did not expand to locking position. -- IV

The spreader tool is not essential but it makes it a lot easier. It's designed to pull the rim in to fit the tyre & tube and also to push the rim back out. I think I used a bottle jack and a piece of timber cut to the curve of the rim before I acquired the rim tool.

It might be worth putting an ad in the classifieds to see if someone would sell you one. I'm sure there are a few guys with more than one of these.

I just finished 2 hours of misery with a scissor jack and blocks of wood trying to get the lock and the ends to align. I had it ok with a slight mis-alignment but it was out of round enough so the wheel would not go in. Back to the drawing board which made it worse. Multiple broken screw driver tips and utter frustration. A spreader has to be a better than this.

John E. Guitar wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 25, 2021 2:03 am

The spreader tool is not essential but it makes it a lot easier. It's designed to pull the rim in to fit the tyre & tube and also to push the rim back out. I think I used a bottle jack and a piece of timber cut to the curve of the rim before I acquired the rim tool.

It might be worth putting an ad in the classifieds to see if someone would sell you one. I'm sure there are a few guys with more than one of these.

pressure at just two points opposite one another will surely result in an egg shaped rim. The two half circles of timber mentioned in Johnny's post would help stop this. Note that the rim spreader pulls at 3 points, not just two.
From the looks of the rim joint the rim could have had some attention prior to the galvanising. The ends need a good 'tidy up' so that each side is at least the same shape. Just as all panels should be fitted before painting, so should the rims be worked on before plating. Too late for that now, but any replacements could be done this way.

Hope this helps. Allan from down under.

As a safety precaution - I would NOT completely air up the tire on any split rim without it being secured to the wheel or cage - I've witnessed a rim lock failure during inflation !

JT sent me this: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/105316.html

So I have some good wheels now but I still have one rim with the broken rim lock. Is there a way to fix the broken lock?

Allen--You may be correct about a better idea except for on reason. The rim you are talking about is a Kelsey. Very popular in Canada. However you cannot use a Kelsey rim on a Ford/Hayes. The latch on the Kelsey will not go over and inside the Ford/Hayes wheel. Dick C.

You may be right about the fit Dick. I was suggesting that with the Canadian style latch, there were no moving parts to be locked up by the galvanising.
Our 21" Kelsey wheels have the same straight up outer edge of the felloe as the US Ford rims, so they should fit all felloes other than those with a rolled in outer edge. Do any US 21" wheels have the rolled edge?
Allan from down under.

Ignacio, So you are down to having to fix one more rim in order to have a rolling chassis with tires. The last rim has the broken rivit at latch in frist picture? Before you replace the rivit make sure the latch is flat. The picture shows that the edge of the latch has been bent down at the rim up turn, most likely from a prior owner's errant hammer blow. This is probably why you have had such a hard time with that latch. Make sure that the latch can turn on the new rivit and you should be ok. You have come a long way with your project and it is looking good, more T parts saved from scrap.

If you are running 21” split rims you should look into one of these.
viewtopic.php?t=521
Works with out bending the rim. Dan

So the top of the lock pivot looks like it is 1/2 inch and where it goes through the rim it is 3/8 inch. It might be possible to drill something in the center of the stump in the rim and thread it in to act like a new pivot?

The part in the rim won't be thick enough to take many threads. You could weld a piece of round stock to broken part in rim and drill a hole in the latch for round stock to pass through. Keep as short as possable and drill a hole in round stock for a split pin to retain latch.

Ignacio, Got this little hack saw that worked great removing any galvanizing build up on my rim locks. Able to cut between the lock and rim area to get all mine moving. A single larger hack saw blade gets into some of the area's as well and a small little chisel to knock out the build up. Hope this helps.

I got this @ one of our plumbing supply stores, its a PASCO tiny tim hacksaw #4290, hey I didn't come up with the name