MTFCA Forum

does anyone have a drawing for the adapters to put a wire wheels on t wood hubs.
will aluminum work ? philip

Hi Phillip,
The bolt pattern is self explanatory, you can get detailed pics of adaptors on ebay. Yes some adaptors are made of aluminum. The cost of
wire wheel hubs is about the same price as the adaptors $600-800 If you have a small drum rear end you have to re-drill the drum & space
the wheel out so it will not collide with the drum & cover the drum if you want to install outside brakes. Not with the adaptors Now days the
cost of wheel studs & aluminum will run at least half of that + labor or your labor. I have seen some short cut adaptors fail on the road don't
remember ever seeing the ones sold by the venders fail.
Craig.

I have a Set of A wire to T hubs I am not going to use.
Here is their pic from where I purchased them from ebay last year.

i have everything but the outside diameter i can wait until i get the wheels but if someone can measure one
i can order the metal. philip

Hi Philip,
My adapters are 7 5/8" but 8" would be better to support the wheel.
Craig.

I see a lot of $$ being spent to adapt Improperly supported (maybe dangerously) less attractive A wheels to a T.
Doesnt make sense. IMO.

i currently have 21 inch wood wheels and the rims are bent and wobbly. new rims are 2000
old ones i find are all bent. i bought 5 28 29 wheels for 500 i think it will improve my ride
quality. philip

There are many posts about the support of the A wheels on the adaptors. The A wheel is designed to be supported on
the bolt face ring & the outer part of the wheel on the brake drum. So using the wheel adaptors will mount the A
wheels in the same way that the T wire wheels are supported on the stock hub. The A wheels are stronger than T
wheels so just how dangerous are T wire wheels? I find T wheels broken as often as A wheels but not as often as wood
wheels. Yes you will have 20 more bolts to check. But I find most never check there wheels anyway un till they break
or come off! T wire wheels & hubs cost a lot. If you have a small drum rear end you will have to use a spacer or
adaptor to install RM or other outside brakes if you desire or have a Aux. transmission. JMHO
Craig.

Craig Leach wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 16, 2023 2:33 pm

There are many posts about the support of the A wheels on the adaptors. The A wheel is designed to be supported on
the bolt face ring & the outer part of the wheel on the brake drum. So using the wheel adaptors will mount the A
wheels in the same way that the T wire wheels are supported on the stock hub. The A wheels are stronger than T
wheels so just how dangerous are T wire wheels? I find T wheels broken as often as A wheels but not as often as wood
wheels. Yes you will have 20 more bolts to check. But I find most never check there wheels anyway un till they break
or come off! T wire wheels & hubs cost a lot. If you have a small drum rear end you will have to use a spacer or
adaptor to install RM or other outside brakes if you desire or have a Aux. transmission. JMHO
Craig.

Actually model T wires are center supported on the hub taper, not just the studs Squeezed to the hub. Thats the difference with adapted wheels.

I get your point about R/M brakes & small drums. If building a speedster,(& driver T's) I use a big drum rear end & no R/M brakes.

Complete sets of 27 W/W's can be had as low as $800 - $1000 @ swap meets, at least on the left coast.
How much do you really save adapting A wheels?
An then you have A wheels. The difference stands out to me.

Anyway, just my personal view.

if i used t wires i would need t wire hubs or some adapter. i will make my own adapters

Craig Leach wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 16, 2023 2:33 pm

There are many posts about the support of the A wheels on the adaptors. The A wheel is designed to be supported on
the bolt face ring & the outer part of the wheel on the brake drum. So using the wheel adaptors will mount the A
wheels in the same way that the T wire wheels are supported on the stock hub. JMHO
Craig.

When the A wheel is spaced away from the hub flange by the thickness of the adapter, is the nose of the wheel hub still being supported by the axle hub... or is it now sitting too far outboard to engage with it?

"So using the wheel adaptors will mount the A wheels in the same way that the T wire wheels are supported on the stock hub."

How could that be true, since the T wire wheels are supported by T wire wheel hubs, while the A wheels are moved outboard by the adapters and are on T wood wheel hubs?

i agree it is not a perfect solution but for now it will hopefully give me round wheels that dont wobble.

Philip wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 16, 2023 3:06 pm

i agree it is not a perfect solution but for now it will hopefully give me round wheels that dont wobble.

My father was an expert at truing up bent and warped split rims. I know, that doesn't help you... but it does suggest that those rims you've got can be straightened.

Just a bit of info on adapters for wire wheels. Am believer that Ford engineered the front wire wheels for lateral support with the correct mating hubs.

Model T front hub with long snout and the mating taper 'Dixie cup' like cone of the T wire wheels.
And Model A front hub with brakes, for the Model A wire wheels for contact at the drum and and snout of that hub.


Examined causally this Model T in the foreground on tour a few years ago, my grey touring with red Model T wheels and front hubs in the background.

What I thought was missing oiler for the spindle bolt on this T, was surprised and told the owner, he has a problem.


Closer examination showed his wheels to be Model A with spacers, on the Model T spindle. IMO, suspect the lateral load is too great with offset of the wheel and the lack of support at the end of a wood wheel hub.

The king pin bolt head and about 1" or so below was gone, vibrated away. Only the threaded lower end of the king pin remained in the spindle body, which fortunately could be removed easily for fix.
Lucky to find this out, and brief road repair was made by the owner fitting a longer bolt found at hardware store up the street until proper king pin could be fitted.

Engineer carefully changes, most instances hard to improve on Henry's design.

Looking at the close up of the A wheels on the T he’s using the spring anti vibration old accessory to “tighten things up in the front end” ! Nice paint job but front end needs attention under the paint? I have to say though my cars aren’t perfect either. Just wanted to bring out the accessory “ tightener upper” in the photo.

There are a few "death traps" out there. Its a good idea to snoop around fellow tour cars for your health & the owner's.
I once caught a spindle arm tie rod bolt unscrewed on its last thread & the rest of the front end hardware loose with no cotter pins.
In this case it was mechanical ignorance by a guy driving an inherited car from grandpa.
Thats where previously done safety inspections @ national tours were so valuable. Even a well seasoned T driver can miss something.

I have not had experience with A wheels on a T. However, I have had experience with wheels supported only by the bolts. I had a Model A with later Ford disk wheels mounted. The bolt pattern was the same and there was no adaptor. Just the wheels bolted to the hub. I was a teen at that time, so did some stupid things. My friend had a 31 Pontiac and we raced side by side going as fast as each of our cars would go. Neither could pass the other. Probably going about 70 MPH. Later that day, I parked diagonally in front of the local pharmacy. There was a man sitting on a nearby bus bench. He yelled at me, "Your front wheel is falling off!" I looked and it was cracked all the way around the bolts and leaning over. I jacked up the front wheel and it did fall off!
So be sure that the support part of the wheel hub is supported, not just the bolts.
Norm

Well guys I may have stepped in something here. If the T wire wheels are suppose to be supported on the end of the
hub I would surmise that I have never found any hubs or wheels that make that noticeable. If they are suppose to then
all I have come in contact with where to worn to be safe. This would make putting T wires on anything but large drum
& wire wheel hubs as unsafe as A wheels on adaptors. As far as cost ( the reason I went with A wires was that they
where much cheaper than T wires.) The two sets of adaptors I have where $450 & $275 New. The most I have ever paid
for a A wheel is $30. Yes they don't look as good as T wires but then T wires don't look as good as Buffalos. And you can't
tell the difference going down the road which is what I prefer to do with mine.
Dan good catch. I seem to find those things on every tour. Ts with loose or broken parts, 1/4 -1/2 turn of play in the
steering, broken springs,. I once found a T with a steering dampener that prevented the steering from going more than
1/2 turn to the right. Norm key word "raced" had that happen to my 66 Mustang. But then I had been racing.
Craig.

I have 2 each for sale on the classified parts $120.00 with shipping. You would be lucking to find just the material (USA made) for that price today not to include the hardware.

Just Sayin'

Hank

Any Ford 21" welded spoke wire wheel will eventually crack around the lug bolt holes if the hub does not support the wheel shell out near the outer bearing. Unsupported, the area around the lugs is constantly being flexed and will develop fatigue cracks. Further, although powdercoating a wheel looks good and is inexpensive, it tends to hide cracks when they do develop .

Henry I would have bought them but your add says model t wood to wire
I need model t wood to model a wire

I saw your reply and re-read your ad. Me bad.., and a temporary laps.

Hank

It's all good I will get them straight