[Healeys] Spokes and Truing Wheels

gradea1 at charter.net gradea1 at charter.net
Mon May 3 13:16:28 MDT 2021


As a kid with no money, in the early '70, I thought it would be great
to have chrome wire wheels on the finished example of the A-H100 that
I had just disassembled. They would just look like Donald Healey's
show cars.
So, I took the wheels I had, picked up some additional used wheels,
including one new affordable one I located, and disassembled all of
them, breaking lots of spokes as I went along...until I eventually had
enough good spokes and nibs for 5 wheels. Remember this was the 1970s
so parts for these cars were nil and so was the money to buy new
chrome ones. The only affordable thing at that time was chrome
plating. I had 5 wheels and hubs and countless spokes and nibs
re-plated for $150!
I polished all the spokes and nibs in a hobby rock tumbler used to
shine beach rocks to gemlike appearance...took hours and days but not
$$. The chrome plater assured me he would "anneal" the spokes so as
not to get brittle in the process.
Forty-five years later they are on the car after spending hours
assembling and truing. Was all that worth the effort, that now you can
just order an Indian set from Moss for a grand? I don't know if a
labor of love counts in this case, but I get lots of positive comments
on the finished "affordable" product. Hank

	-----------------------------------------From: "Laurie Wilford" 
To: "gradea1 at charter.net", "Harold Manifold"
Cc: "healeys at autox.team.net"
Sent: Monday May 3 2021 11:20:06AM
Subject: RE: [Healeys] Spokes and Truing Wheels

 I have rebuilt and trued a number of wire wheels over the past thirty
years, starting with replacing spokes on my Made in India Dunlop
chrome 60 spoke set.  I broke so many spokes on those wheels that I
ended up purchasing spokes and nipples in bulk direct from Dayton. The
information I was given by them was that truing wheels to plus or
minus 0.030" was the best they could expect when building new wheels! 
 Laurie Wilford  
  Sent from my Galaxy  

 -------- Original message -------- From: Henry G Leach via Healeys 
Date: 2021-05-03 1:40 p.m. (GMT-05:00) To: 'Harold Manifold'  Cc:
"'healeys at autox.team.net'"  Subject: Re: [Healeys] Spokes and Truing
Wheels 
 Hi Harold- yes, I also used a dial gauge and that, unfortunately, is
too fine an instrument for the crude wheels that we have. It will
drive you crazy to try to "0" out the wheel. Looks like you got close
and could not effect a change. Me too. That is probably as good as it
will get. I think the eye is a better judge of the "quality" of the
wheel-if you see runout try to move it to be less. Of the five wheels
I did I rated them as the best-worse and used #5 for the spare,
putting the best on the fronts. They are very close to "good" as round
goes. A wonderful theory that in practical use has some forgiveness. 
 You could send them assembled, off to Hendricks Wheel service and
they may be able to do a tighter finish. Folks swear that their trued,
shaved, rebuilt wheels from them are the cats meow. 
 A couple of things I did in assembly: I used anti seize compound on
all the spoke threads-just enough to make so you could possibly undo
them later. Then at the other end, I used marine sealant on the hub
nubs to seal in grease and seal out water. May work for awhile. I also
ran a 2" duct tape seal over the nibs in the rim, in addition to the
rubber rim seal (which does not cover them well.) 
 The only secret sequence I found was when you tightened one nib, you
needed to go to the exact opposite nib to compensate for the "pull" on
the shape of the wheel. Remarkable how much they will distort. Fun
experience to do ONCE. Best of luck, Hank

	----------------------------------------- From: "Harold Manifold"
 To: "gradea1 at charter.net"
 Cc:
 Sent: Monday May 3 2021 8:44:09AM
 Subject: RE: [Healeys] Spokes and Truing Wheels

	Hank, 

	Thanks for the reply. Did you find any secret sequence for loosening
and tightening the spokes. I have a dial gauge and can find the high
spots and low spots but I seem to be able to just move them around. 

	I agree this will tedious no matter what. 

	Harold 

	FROM: gradea1 at charter.net
SENT: Sunday, May 2, 2021 6:21 PM
TO: Harold Manifold
CC: healeys at autox.team.net
SUBJECT: RE: [Healeys] Spokes and Truing Wheels  

	Harold- I made up this table with an axle hub mounted vertically and
a fixed post each side using two coffee stir sticks as markers or
guides. After lacing the wheel, rotate to first get rid of up/down
wobble and then tighten to keep wheel round-equally from each post.
(photos)  

	You are correct the spokes and nibs are 10-32, but the thread angle
is Whitworth (55 degrees-I believe) Use a British tap to clean up
threads. Don't use SAE.   

	Its a tedious task but I did all 5 wheels for my 100, and they run
perfect. Check a bicycle/motorcycle shop for procedure. Have fun, Hank


	----------------------------------------- 

	From: "Harold Manifold via Healeys"
 To: "healeys at autox.team.net"
 Cc:
 Sent: Sunday May 2 2021 4:35:21PM
 Subject: [Healeys] Spokes and Truing Wheels  

	Hello, 

	What is the thread size for the spokes and nipples It looks like
10-32 but a threading die doesn’t seem to fit. Also, does anyone
have a good procedure for truing wheels? I was told Out of Round first
then Wobble. I did the Out of Round on one wheel and could get to
0.050” but no better. 

	Harold   

	
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/healeys/attachments/20210503/befaf7d8/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: debut 9.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 166861 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/healeys/attachments/20210503/befaf7d8/attachment.jpe>


More information about the Healeys mailing list