Upgrading a 1925 with 1926 Wire Wheels

[J1MGOLDEN]

Has anyone installed 1926 wire wheel hubs on a 1925 Model T.

Will the difference in brake drum size make things difficult?

[speedytinc]

I have a set on a 23. Its a big drum rux.
I highly recommend this way & you have the equivalent of rocky mountain brakes that work in both directions.

If you stay with the small drum axle, you will need to build a set of small drum WW hubs.
That entails redrilling a small drum To adapt to a rear WW hub. I have seen wood wheel hubs adapted, but the wheel doesnt nest into the hub like the correct hub will.
See the wanted section.

[Dan Hatch]

I sold the only set of 25 small drum wire wheel hubs I have ever seen while back. So they were made.
There is a Service Bulletin in late 25 that shows a 25 Roadster in a showroom wiry a small drum rear end with wire wheels.
The early hubs don’t look like the 26/27 hubs.
Your easiest way is to made a set by drilling small drum to fit a wire wheel hub.

[TRDxB2]

Has anyone installed 1926 wire wheel hubs on a 1925 Model T.

Will the difference in brake drum size make things difficult?

Choices involving time & money
1. Get a 1926/27 large drum rear axle housing, brake set and rebuild it with your exiting axles, bearings & differential etc
2. By a set of Wire Wheel Adapters & sell your 1926 hubs (wood wheels & tires) to offset the costs
currently listed Nice pair of front wire wheel hubs. No welded studs. Threads look great. Price is $300 for the pair plus domestic
estimate Rear set of hubs $200 -300+ depending on drum condition
3. Make a set of adapters

[DHort]

James

Is anyone making brake drums right now? Check with a vendor. I was able to ask the maker of my drums to drill the correct holes in my drums so they fit a wire wheel hub. If they do not want to drill the holes, ask them to ship you a drum without holes and do it yourself. Then attach the smaller drums to your hubs. Problem solved.
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[Original Smith]

Leave it alone! You can't beat a good solid Hickory wheel!

[Mark Gregush]

James

Is anyone making brake drums right now? Check with a vendor. I was able to ask the maker of my drums to drill the correct holes in my drums so they fit a wire wheel hub. If they do not want to drill the holes, ask them to ship you a drum without holes and do it yourself. Then attach the smaller drums to your hubs. Problem solved.
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That partly was my suggestion on his ad in the classifieds.

[J1MGOLDEN]

The main problem is someone else made the change and added Rocky Mountain Brakes.

With the main wheel casting broken apart and no place to find one, the easiest fix was to switch to Ford's original wheel hubs.

[J1MGOLDEN]

There appears to be no easy complete fix!

[speedytinc]

Not sure what you had that failed, but there was clearly a poor adaption done.
Adapting a wood wheel hub is not the way to go, as I mentioned earlier & your picture clearly shows.
Wire wheel hubs are machined with a taper that tightly mate to the inside of the wheel.
The lug nuts hold the wheel on but the hub center supports & centers the wheel.
You cant bolt a wire wheel against the R/M drum.
Now you have zero wheel support & the wheel is fatiguing the drum. That must be what happened here.
My previous post suggestion didn't consider small drum R/M brakes needing to be used.(you left out that critical bit of info)
Larry may have accidentally given you the best advise. Wood wheels.
Or my idea of a big drum rear end.

You are lucky you were not going to fast & no one was hurt.

[J1MGOLDEN]

What I have learned is there is no easy fix, but it is not difficult to do!

There were no 1925 Ts made or offered with wire wheels.

The 1926 Model Year started about 3 August 1925, but no cars with wire wheels were sold until after 1 January 1926 and they were only available on Closed Cars from the factory.

They could be purchased as an accessory on the open cars.

I also learned there is an easy fix to install the wire wheels on 1925 Ts.

Thank you, Kevin!

These notes are from Bruce's Big Black Book:

Wire Wheels

Wire wheels were an option (after the early production cars in
1925) until very late 1926 when black wire wheels became
standard on the Fordor, and later on the Coupe and Tudor, at
some assembly plants. Optional colors available in wire wheels
were red, straw, and two shades of green.

Welded wire wheels were offered as an option, apparently
beginning in January 1926 according to factory letters to the
branches. The standard wire wheel color was black, but
colors were available as dealer-installed options.

[Dan Hatch]

Here is an early thread, one of many on this subject.
https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/7 ... 1494463070

[Norman Kling]

The easiest and perhaps less costly, but surely the safest way to convert would be to sell the car with the small drums and buy a 26 or 27 with wire wheels. Problem solved!
Norm