1940 Ford Deluxe

I've mounted all the tires on the new wheels, then dropped them off at a local tire shop for balancing. When I picked them up later, they told me that all four wheels were warped... two were slightly warped, one moderately, and the fourth one was badly warped.

I mounted them on the rear axle... one at a time... put an indicator on them and checked the runout both axially and radially...

20231009_082659.jpg

... I can't seem to find any serious warping on any of them... one wheel had a radial runout of about 0.040". Otherwise, they were all between 0.015" and 0.030".

I'll get them installed and torqued and go for a drive and see if I get any vibrations... but I think they will be ok.

-Bear
 
The new machines use cones so bolt pattern does not matter.

But given their sensitivity, a rim with not much runout would be picked up easily, that is a large amount of weight offset.

Bubble or spin on the car like the old days...

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk
 
682bear said:
I've mounted all the tires on the new wheels, then dropped them off at a local tire shop for balancing. When I picked them up later, they told me that all four wheels were warped... two were slightly warped, one moderately, and the fourth one was badly warped.

I mounted them on the rear axle... one at a time... put an indicator on them and checked the runout both axially and radially...

View attachment 462269

... I can't seem to find any serious warping on any of them... one wheel had a radial runout of about 0.040". Otherwise, they were all between 0.015" and 0.030".

I'll get them installed and torqued and go for a drive and see if I get any vibrations... but I think they will be ok.

-Bear
Click to expand...

It takes a bit of effort but check the inside of the wheel like you did the outside.
 
OTmachine said:
They possibly tried to spin balance them. May have not had that bolt pattern . I have an old bubble type static balancer that I use.
Click to expand...
Those are actually surprisingly accurate. Used to use one at a shop I worked at many years ago, pretty simple machine to use. The dynamic ones are a smidge better, but I'm guessing it's more about "speed" than anything else. the digital dynamic balancers remove most of the thought from the process. Just mount the wheel, let it spin and then do what the display tells you to do.

But I really like the simplicity (and portability) of the balancing ones. Brings back some memories too. I wish I could find a used one.....
 
I've been keeping my eyes open for a bubble balancer for a couple of years...

Around here, when they come up for sale, they are either in bad condition or too pricey for me.

-Bear
 
682bear said:
... I can't seem to find any serious warping on any of them... one wheel had a radial runout of about 0.040". Otherwise, they were all between 0.015" and 0.030".

I'll get them installed and torqued and go for a drive and see if I get any vibrations... but I think they will be ok.

-Bear
Click to expand...


Your radial measurements don't alarm me. There isn't anything there that should have gotten a production tire guy's attention. The lateral runout, you don't mention the amount, so I assume it wasn't tremendous. My eyebrow raises up more over "I wonder if those wheels didn't seat well on the balancer".

Lateral runout (wobble) won't bother you in any way at all, whatsoever. Unless you can see it while you're driving. It won't shake, vibrate, or give any annoyances.

If you check your wheel hubs, it's very common on older cars to find 10, 20 thousandths of radial descrepency there too. You stack tolerances to bring a wheel into closer axial position.
great white said:
The dynamic ones are a smidge better, but I'm guessing it's more about "speed" than anything else.
Click to expand...

They're more about modern cars and modern bearing designs. Solid axles and tapered roller bearings didn't give two dumps about the wheel being balanced both inside and out. Ball bearings very much live a longer, happier life if you do that extra step.

It's funny, the digital (and analog) dynamic balancer, the new style tire machines... They're SLOW compared to the older designs. And require some basic understanding of stuff to get them to work. It might have taken a little longer to learn to flip the shims around on an old tire changer quickly and efficiently, but even still, they'd turn out tires two to one over the modern style. But they relied on the rim being tough, stiff enough to carry some stress. Modern wheels won't take it. Plus the alloys, you don't want pressure from the bar on the edge of those. The bubble balancer, same thing. Show the new kid how to set two weights and slide it to level... With no experience he'll get tires out two to one over the modern ones.

The reason behind the new machines is the service department's ongoing battle to keep up with cost savings (and lately, weight savings) in the original building of the vehicles... It's not because they're faster. They are more precise, and in the case of the tire changer, they're more gentle, as is required.
 
great white said:
Those are actually surprisingly accurate. Used to use one at a shop I worked at many years ago, pretty simple machine to use. The dynamic ones are a smidge better, but I'm guessing it's more about "speed" than anything else. the digital dynamic balancers remove most of the thought from the process. Just mount the wheel, let it spin and then do what the display tells you to do.

But I really like the simplicity (and portability) of the balancing ones. Brings back some memories too. I wish I could find a used one.....
Click to expand...
Bought mine, a Weaver, for $20 US, 30 years ago. Had to replace the bubble with a countertop Bullseye Bubble set in plaster. Works Great!
 
I have the radiator out of the '40... the engine runs cool enough as long as the car is moving, but tends to begin heating up when idling... I'm trying to improve that.

I constructed a couple of contraptions out of pvc to replace the radiator... just for the purpose of being able to pump water through the system without having the radiator in.

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I filled the system with water and a mild detergent and ran the engine just until the temperature gauge rose a little. I left the thermostats out while I'm tinkering with it.

At idle, there is almost no coolant flow on either side... I would say that the volume is maybe half what a drinking straw would flow. Throttle it up some and it quickly starts flowing well. I think this may be why it wants to heat up at idle.

I'll get the water pumps off later this week, hopefully, and see what they look like. I have a replacement set of pumps to install.

-Bear
 
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