wheel problem

[Guest dirt farmer]

This question is for those forum readers who have had experiance with artillary wheels on nickle-era cars. My ongoing restoration on a 1923 six-cylinder Packard has been stopped for some time now for lack of wheel parts. Ads in the Packard club publications have not produced what I need. I believe that these same rims (and felloes?) were used on various other car makes of the same era. I need to know what other makes of autos used these rims so I can use that info. in a further parts search. I will be attending fall Hershey and would appreciate any "heads up" I can get re. parts that may be comming to the meet.

I presently have all of the hubs, four fellows, and three rims. I have no centering rings and no attaching hardware. The rim system, I believe, is Firestone type "E". They take a 32X4 tire. Alternately, a set of four twelve-spoke wheels of another type might work for me. I have to re-spoke anyway.

I welcome any advice on this subject from the guys who have "been there".

[Guest f-aschwanden]

Hello

Here are some datasheets from the National Wheel & Rim Association Catalog 1927. There are cars from Allen to Essex and Grant to White Light Truck with the same Firestone Type "E" rim 32x4". Hope you find the parts.

[Guest dirt farmer]

Many thanks to the gentleman who sent the copy of the 1927 wheel catalogue. I will now post ads in other forums using this info.

If anyone is interested, this is the REST of the story. My car was an assembledge of parts when I bought it, the previous owner having bought it as a backet case. The car had been partially disassembled in the 1950's. The then-owner had replaced the body wood and had respoked the wheels. He was obviosly a woodworker. He was NOT a mechanic, however, and the job stopped at that point. The car sat in a farm shed until his death a half century later.

As you can see by the picture, the car was on wood wheels, even though the Sport Touring, I believe, originally came with steel wheels. The rims and fellows, I suspect, are from a larger Canadian made car such as a McLaughlan Buick. Our Canadian cars favoured 20" wheras in the U.S. 21" were more popular. The bottom line is that the 20" variety allowed the use of ordinary truck tires in a time when the 24" ones were not available. What I did not know, (and I suspect that he did not either) is that 20" cannot be used on this model of car. The rims will not clear the brake parts. I found a thick wrapping of shim stock wound around the axle tapers: not a good fix.

Locally I found a partial set of 24" artillaries off a '24 Packard six. I have four felloes and three rims, but I have no centering rings and no attaching hardware at all. It is fortunate that I have a friend who can re-spoke for me, but he cannot proceed until I am sure that I can find the right parts. There is still a wild card in play here in that if I cannot find them I may be forced to convert both rims and felloes to another type. This will never be a concours car so I could probably live with the compromise. Come to think of it, the use of wood wheels on this particular car is already a compromise.

[paulrhd29nz]

While walking around a farm nere where I live, I found a wagon with a late 20's Packard front axle under it. Its all there. They have welded a gusset to the large backing plates to keep the wheels strait. It has solid disc 20" wheels with parapit shaft style machanical brakes. I think the dics where 8 lug.

Let me know if it could help you.

Paul

[Guest dirt farmer]

Paul

Re. the Packard front axle. You've got me thinking. On the plus side, there was a sport touring for sale at Hershey last (?) year that had been converted to later eight bolt wire-wheeled axles. The unoriginality of it didn't seem to affect the asking price and I must admit that it looked good. Another plus would be that I have a brand new set of 20" tires and tubes in the shed, purchased before the realization that my 20" artillaries would not clear the brake hardware.

Now for the minus side. My '23 has only rear wheel brakes. To convert it to front brakes would involve a lot of changes involving components all the way back as far as the transmission pedal mounts. To use that later axle sans brakes or to re-fit the spindles to my '23 axle seems the best option.

The next minus is that the 20" size is unusable to me on the rear even if I could find a set that match the ones on your trailer. I would need to find an entire rear-end to make any conversion because I have the external brake system. Even that would probably involve a lot of modifications.

I am Canadian also- southern Ontario. If there is away to get your particulars I would like them. If a matching later rear end shows up then your front end will become an item of more immediate interest.

If anyone reading this is to have been in the "been there done that" position with this situation I would welcome any and all input.