Bent split rim 1927 Whippet

[crazycars]

After many successful split rim (1920s) tire mountings in the past, I somehow managed to attack this one with a little too much vigor and distorted it to the point where it won't fit on the wheel anymore. Have any of you heard of someone that is able to straighten an antique split rim?

Yes, pretty discouraging!    Also, if anyone knows of a Whippet split rim for sale, I'd sure appreciate hearing about it. Thank you!

[Larry Schramm]

6 minutes ago, crazycars said:

After many successful split rim (1920s) tire mountings in the past, I somehow managed to attack this one with a little too much vigor and distorted it to the point where it won't fit on the wheel anymore. Have any of you heard of someone that is able to straighten an antique split rim?

Yes, pretty discouraging!    Also, if anyone knows of a Whippet split rim for sale, I'd sure appreciate hearing about it. Thank you!

 

Go here for some help.

 

 

[wayne sheldon]

I have seen Whippet rims 19 inch size, I think there were other sizes as well. Whippet rims I have seen were very similar to the 1926/'27 Ford model T split rims. They are fairly lightweight rims, easily tweaked wrong ways, and not too difficult to straighten as long as they are not rusted too much.

What I do for the Ford rims, is get a nice large enough piece of cardboard. Use a made-up compass to draw nearly perfect circles to match the inside and outside of the rim. That makes it easy to see exactly where the rim is wowed out, or otherwise has too much or too little curve. Go slow and be careful bending the rim. Use bits of wood to cushion the rim over whatever you are using to bend the rim. You want gentle adjustments. I use my car trailer as a bending anvil. Between the tiedown ratchets (heavy duty ones), ramps, and tongue, I can almost always find something that will allow me to get the tweak I need.

Rims can also get twists in them. Simple twists can usually be easily seen by laying the rim flat on smooth flat concrete. Be creative clamping or locking the rim in places that allow you to bend or twist as needed. Well clamped, a big wrench (even a big Stillson wrench!) can be used to twist it back to straight round! Again, go slow, and keep checking the rim against your circles.

When done, the ends of the split should line up nearly perfect without any pressure holding them in place.

Model T, and I imagine Whippet, rims are easy to do. Larger cars? not so much. I recently straightened a rim for my 1927 Paige 6-45 sedan. For it, I made a sheet steel template to gauge the roundness. It was more precise than cardboard. That rim, I had to use the torch and shrink stretched metal to get back to round. The silly part about it was, that it really didn't look bad. It just would NOT seat properly and go onto the wheel. The car doesn't run, all I needed was to replace an ancient tire with a newer one to roll it round the garage. After fighting the silly thing for a few hours, trying to coax it onto the wheel, I finally gave in and straightened it. It took me less than an hour to make the template and get everything set up. And then it took me about thirty minutes (including heat to shrink a stretched section!) to do the straightening. After which it all went together perfectly, just like it was supposed to.

The Paige rim was not the worst one I have done. Some years back, I straightened one for my friend's 1925 Lincoln! That one was tough! But it still only took about an hour to do.

[DFeeney]

I would post this on the Willys Overland page.  I think there are a lot of good rims out there.