Jump to content

Wood wheels, axle and engine questions


Recommended Posts

The 1920 touring I am getting at some point had the whole front axle replaced with one that had more drop (around 2+ inches) along with the spindles and 21" disk wheels. I have what I think is the correct axle and spindles for wood wheels. What year did the axle change?

Is anyone running wood 21" on teens or 20's cars? I have all the wood wheel hubs, spindles and parts to put them on this car, but plan on using Ford felloes and rims as they are are more abundant, esp in my parts supplies. I ran the numbers and would see less then 5MPH drop at 2000 RPM.

With the front axle that now is in place, the correct wheels would not fit, the 21" disks on the car now are already close to the fenders. I am pretty sure the spindles for the disk are different anyway.

Engine questions: Coming with the car is what I think an early engine. I don't see a casting date in the normal place and the pad where the number is stamped is rather short, under approx 1-1/2 inches with just enough room for maybe 4 or 5 digits. I tried cleaning the pad off to see the number but could not read what was there. (Photos to come later). It has the aluminum bell housing. Does any of this give a date range that the engine was made? The distributor is mounted to a shelf that might have been able to hold a magneto as needed and uses the larger cap. The engine had been used as a stationary power unit had has a pulley attached to the rear.

After I get everything home and go through the extra parts the excess will be sold. This will include rims, wheels, motors, windshield parts etc. The car has the Hassler springs on the back, missing the fronts, I may sell them, don't know on that yet.

Someone may suggest I need the Master Parts List. At this point for the amount of parts I am dealing with, don't think it would pan out along with some information that I have read on it, might not be a lot of help anyway.

Thanks for any help and information.

Mark

Edited by Mark Gregush (see edit history)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Best to post photos. Then many of us can compare to our early cars. the engine number is on a raised pad just above the carb. If you go to the Dodge brothers web pages you can see  what date range the engine was manufactured. Engine numbers dont match the frame number (typically off by 50K or so). Frame number will be on the frame cross member (top) in front of the front seat. Most early bell housings were aluminum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Mark Gregush said:

The 1920 touring I am getting at some point had the whole front axle replaced with one that had more drop (around 2+ inches) along with the spindles and 21" disk wheels. I have what I think is the correct axle and spindles for wood wheels. What year did the axle change?

Is anyone running wood 21" on teens or 20's cars? I have all the wood wheel hubs, spindles and parts to put them on this car, but plan on using Ford felloes and rims as they are are more abundant, esp in my parts supplies. I ran the numbers and would see less then 5MPH drop at 2000 RPM.

With the front axle that now is in place, the correct wheels would not fit, the 21" disks on the car now are already close to the fenders. I am pretty sure the spindles for the disk are different anyway.

Engine questions: Coming with the car is what I think an early engine. I don't see a casting date in the normal place and the pad where the number is stamped is rather short, under approx 1-1/2 inches with just enough room for maybe 4 or 5 digits. I tried cleaning the pad off to see the number but could not read what was there. (Photos to come later). It has the aluminum bell housing. Does any of this give a date range that the engine was made? The distributor is mounted to a shelf that might have been able to hold a magneto as needed and uses the larger cap. The engine had been used as a stationary power unit had has a pulley attached to the rear.

After I get everything home and go through the extra parts the excess will be sold. This will include rims, wheels, motors, windshield parts etc. The car has the Hassler springs on the back, missing the fronts, I may sell them, don't know on that yet.

Someone may suggest I need the Master Parts List. At this point for the amount of parts I am dealing with, don't think it would pan out along with some information that I have read on it, might not be a lot of help anyway.

Thanks for any help and information.

Mark

I had the disc wheels on my 27 and change them to the wooden spoke wheels with no real issues. Is there anything you want me to measure to compare it to yours. 

749038A9-88BA-4393-8AAC-C897388831BD.jpeg

D4D98FD0-DEEE-4E85-A981-FDF01315EFA3.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guess I should have stated mine is an early 1920 touring.

The front axle and spindles were swapped out and am going to put what should be the correct axle/spindles back under the car. The axle I will be installing had the early 1920 back wood felloe wheels installed on it so will something to compare to. I also have a pair of rear hubs.  The front of the car now sits way too low, not just because it has 21s on it but because it has the wrong front axle, 2+ inch more drop then the other one. If I just put the larger wood felloe front wheels on, I think the tire would be rubbing at every little bump and might loose a bit of turning radius with that extra 2+ inch drop the axle has now that is under it. As it is, the 21 disk will have to stay under the car for now so it can be moved as needed, so will check the spindles they are mounted on now to compare and swap around as needed. The steel felloe front wheels that came with the car are a size in between the 33 and 21s but have no tires or rims to fit them. The 25" rims I got, some fit the larger wood felloe wheels others not sure. I have several rims and spare tire holder with the pad as shown, some that have just a tube to fit in valve stem hole (wood felloe wheels?) and a couple that are like the first but have had a tube welded on to fit the wood felloe wheels sort of anyway.

mattml430, like it in the colors it is painted in now.

Photos of engine to come as soon as I get the spare engine(s) home and do a little more clean up on the pad.

DSCN0332.JPG

DSCN0463.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A '24-'27 axle will bolt (more or less) in and is indeed more dropped than the early ones. Wood wheel vs disc wheel spindles are the same but 25-27 has a larger inner bearing on the spindle than earlier spindles. My early '22 has '27 wood wheels. I had a shrink fit steel sleeve made to adapt to the later 21" wood wheel hubs.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great info, thanks much. Someone on one of the Dodge Facebook pages said he didn't like the look(21"), but that's cool. I am very use to being around Model T's and A's so might not look too bad to me, comparing it to what I am use to.

DSCN0333.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mark, not to mention the cost difference between a 5.25x21 tire, tube and flap compared to 32x4 (24") or even more so for 25"! I used Firestones on mine. Good heavy constructed tires. The 3 sizes are nearly identical in diameter, just that the 21" doesn't have that original "skinny" look. We use our early '22 Screenside on many camping trips with T's and A's on gravel, rock and dirt roads and cow trails and places where even cows would trip and fall so the 5.25x21 hold up much better. BTW, too many people run the 4.50x21 Model T-A sized tires on DB's and they are too small. Run 5.25x21.

Edited by dwollam (see edit history)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a guy up in the Vancouver area that does re-spoking so at least I would not have to pay shipping both ways. Good point on the wider 21's, I think the 21's on it now are the T/A size.

Re engine question. I just found out last night the engine I was asking about is December 1916. One of the guys on Facebook pointed me to where the number could be found. Went out at Midnight to look and found it.

 

DSCN0533.JPG

DSCN0534.JPG

DSCN0536.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...