Trucking Lore: Different types of truck wheels

Still see the old split rims in Vermont on the old trucks a lot. I know a guy who owned a tire shop that got knocked cuckoo by one. Ruined his business.

 

Those are split rims. Inner went flat on a deer shed. The adapter that the outer bolts to shattered. I don't know how we would change them if the weren't split rims. Tires are about 900 lbs each, so are the rims.

 

Real Split rims were made by Firestone and were the dangerous ones. They were never made in anything bigger then a 20”. There were two halves of the wheel clipped together in the drop center. Solid Beads, No lock rings. They were the “widow makers” i have one in my collection. All other tube type wheels were lock ring. Both Budd disc and Dayton Demountable types. There were two piece lock ring wheels which were usually built by Goodyear. Or 3 piece lock ring wheels which were the Firestone and Alcoa type.

 

Back when you ordered Petes new and you ordered Disc wheels you had your choice of Goodyear and Firestone for the tires and they came with their steel wheels. The hand holes were visibly different. I have both kinds in my collection. Alcoas generally meant you were getting Firestones new.

 

These are the Firestone made “widow makers” true split rim. See were the two halves go together were the hub or brake drum would be. Any corrosion made them impossible to click back together causing the booms of legends. 50-50 chance of it holding together while airing up. Lock rings were 99% safe if a cave man didn't work with them.

 

Although Budd wheels and pilot hubs look the same they are different and not interchangeable.

 

When I first started driving for Monson Trucking in Duluth, MN we ran Dayton's and were issued a spare tire, bottle jack and lug wrench. We never wasted a day at the truck stop trying to get a tire changed, we just changed them ourselves and switched the blowout for a new spare at one of the Monson terminals.

 

Nobody runs spoke wheels anymore. Pretty much obsolete. Even the big heavy haul oilfield trucks are pretty much all hub pilot aluminum these days.

No real advantage to spoke wheels over hub pilot. Too heavy, PITA to do brakes, ugly, have to be trued up every time you tighten one lug etc.