Technical 1935 Ford wire wheels on later Ford drum clearance issue

So I purchased the Speedway spacers and they work perfectly on the front drums which are the early style 5 X 5.5" drum (1940-1945). However, even with the spacer, the outer back rim of the center hub on the '35 Ford wire is just hitting the balancing weights that are welded onto the later '46-'48 drums I am using on the rear. That makes the wheel not sit flush and it therefore "wobbles". Anybody have a solution from their experiences with this issue? I really don't want to run a billet wheel adapter because I don't want to space the wheels THAT far from the drum. I also don't want to go hunting around for a good pair of early ('40-'45) drums because it took me long enough to find the later ('46-'48) drums and they are in really good shape.

Solutions?

Thanks,

Andy

 

I had the same problem.
Solution: Remove the weights on the drum, OR, get new drums

 

On the later drums you have to remove the weights in order to use early Ford wire wheels. No way around it.

 

how do you remove said weights?

 

Die grinder with a cutoff wheel works good for me.

 

does it throw the balance of the drum off any?

 

Seems to me it would be just like loosing a wheel weight. The cure would be to have your tires spin balanced on the car.
The Wizzard

 

A bit of history, possibly useful depending on capabilities in balancing: In wire wheel V8 days, Ford bolted the wheels to their drums and balanced them thus before putting drums onto chassis on the assembly line.

 

Just can't imagine that to be true, Bruce. Surely the axles were fully built up as a sub assembly before being bolted to the frame.



Any evidence of it?

Mart.

 

I believe it's in the '34 service bulletins. Will try to find. Diego was there in early '33, I think?

 

You could come close by marking the drum where the weights came off (ok the spots will show and mark it) and then weigh the weights you knocked off and put a like amount of weight on the wheel in a corresponding spot to make up for it. I doubt that anyone could get the hub and wheel on their spin balancer as and assembly but that would be ideal. The other is to have it spun balanced on the car as mentioned before.

 

I'm thinking of just knocking off the weights as described in responses here and using dynabeads in the tubes to balance the whole shebang.

Andy

 

Could always get really high tech and cut them off, bolt the wheels on and take it for a drive and see. If it shakes, move the wheel 1 bolt hole at a time till it's good.

 

That isn't going to come even close to working if the wheels were perfectly balanced off the car. Ponder it a bit and you will figure it out.

Spin balancing on the car works and I have done it thousands of times when I was working in a dealership. There I would balance the tires off the car on a spin balancer and then fine tune the balance on the car with a strobe balancer. Sounds like a lot of extra work but my comebacks for vibration were less than 1%.

 

Would it be ok to put a few 1/2 flat washers on the studs the same thickness as the weights and then bolt on your wheel?

 

Why not just static balance the drums?
You could accomplish this with a piece of plywood, or foam, a good level and a bucket of water.

 

Just take the weights of from were they are and put them back on the drum where they will clear. Gary

 

I cleaved them off, no problems to speak of yet. Some guys JB weld them further out directly from where they were....I reckon it makes them feel safer.

 

just drill the spot welds that hold the weights don't go into the drum centre then hammer and chisel the waits off clean up with grinder problem fixed ,trust me

 

other way is to use 35 rear drums

 

On Ford balancing procedures...Ford definitely called for wire front wheels to be balanced ON drum as a service procedure, and by implication likely did so on the assembly line. Dealers had prcedures (very laborius) to balance on the car, and later a fixture that eliminated all the cleaning and re-lubing. Still trying to find the DeAngelis book that probably documents the assembly phase... pretty sure it was from about 1934.
Anyway, balancing the assembly seems like a good idea, especially on drums with ariginal balance removed.

 

I have a on the car balancer but use it only to balance the wheels. I would remove the weights and rebalance the drums using a bubble balance. The centers are steel as the weights were welded on to start with. Make new weights and move them in to clear the lip and weld them on. Rear balance is not as critical anyway.

 

I'm using balancing beads in my 1 ton dually with excellent results

 

I have used DynaBeads for years, with excellent results.