1928 AA spoke split rims.

LukeCutler

LukeCutler

Member
I recently mounted my own tires on my original split spoke rims for my 28 AA, having heard horror stories about split rims all my life I was hesitant to do so, but after tearing them apart my self and seeing how the worked I decided I'd try it.

I tried to research it online, but didn't come up with too much, the information I did find was for much different wheels than I had.

Getting the tires, tubes, and liners all together and on the rims was not too difficult, and after the first 2 wheels my Dad and I had pretty well figured out how to get the locking rings back on.

We did not have a cage to air up the tires in, so we wrapped them with log chains just in case one of them came apart, and he bought an air chuck that clamped on the valve stem so we could stand back at the air hose shut off at the wall and air up the tires. We got them all back together with no issues, and now the front wheels are back on the truck, and the back ones are ready to go back on after we get our rear brakes so we can put the rear hubs back on.

It was a learning experience, and certainly not something I would want to do every day, but I'm glad I got them back together, and glad to have the original wheels on it, even though that is one of the few things that are original to it, it certainly is a mix of a lot of different parts, lol.
 

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I'm glad that you were able to get them mounted without incident. I put the flaps, tubes, tires and locking rings on my wheels and then took them to a tire shop that had a cage and had them put air in them. Waaaaaay safer! My uncle now gone was mounting one as a young man and it came apart. Broke his jaw in several places along with some facial bones. Took out every one of his teeth too. He was very lucky to have survived.
 
Spoke wheels on an AA really look great.... dresses up a heavy duty hauler with some class and elegance. Nice truck!!!
 
I found some AA wires for my brother's doodlebug a few years ago and blasted, painted them and installed new firestones for his birthday. I think they look great.
 

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1crosscut said:
I'm glad that you were able to get them mounted without incident. I put the flaps, tubes, tires and locking rings on my wheels and then took them to a tire shop that had a cage and had them put air in them. Waaaaaay safer! My uncle now gone was mounting one as a young man and it came apart. Broke his jaw in several places along with some facial bones. Took out every one of his teeth too. He was very lucky to have survived.
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Ive always wondered this senario:

Lets say I did what crosscut did and mount the tires flaps tubes etc then take them somewhere to get air in them. In the terrible event it blows apart and destroys their tire cage (cuz it will) who is liable? Am I since I mounted them? Or are they as they should have double checked the lockring and such before airing?

Just one of those weird scenarios ive played out in my head. I asked a tire shop once and they couldnt give me an answer as they havent had that scenario before nor have they dealt with tube type split ring rims...

But Luke i am glad you got them on and it sounds like you did it the safest way possible at home! Looking good!
 
Several years ago I mounted 700-20 tires on my 28 Packard, split rim wheels by facing them out toward my backyard while pumping them up to 40#. Worked just fine.
 
split rims are very dangerous, i lost dad 10 years ago to one, the cradle failed and blew apart and killed him instantly
 
Back in the 80's and 90's we got a lot of 16.5" split rims in the shops I worked in. I never did like airing them up. I saw one let loose just after a co-worker stood up straight. It hit the ceiling in the shop hard and scared us all pretty good.
 
John Duden said:
split rims are very dangerous, i lost dad 10 years ago to one, the cradle failed and blew apart and killed him instantly
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John, I am sorry to hear that, that is exactly the kind of things I have heard about split rims all my life, and what made me nervous to mount them my self. I also believe that at least in my case being scared of something makes me be a lot more careful, and makes me try to do things a safely as possible, we were probably 15 feet from the tires while airing them up.

I have also learned that there are different types of split rims, I don't know which are more dangerous, most things you read say they are all dangerous, at least when initially airing them up. I believe the the split retaining ring rims are safe after they are aired up and mounted, according to what I have read.
 
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