A Wheels on T Hubs

A

a boner

Junior Member
Seems like it would/should be a common conversion if inexpensive wire wheels are wanted. I want to build a minimal speedster...T frame, T front end, A rear end. There is more than one way to skin a cat...any ideas? How can I use A wheels on the T front end? Are the T wood spoke wheel hubs cast or forged metal (welding question). How involved is a roller bearing to tapered bearing conversion? With computer printing, couldn’t a pattern for casting new hubs be within reach now? The new hubs could accommodate taper bearings and A wheels with the hub supporting the A wheels minus the brake drums.
Lots of question...anyone have answers?
- Thanks
 
I'm not positive on this procedure. ... but read that you can adapt the A hub to the t front spindle. You remove the brake drum from the hub. Then you place a spacer about 1 inch ? On the spindle. Then install the A hub.

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I will assume you have wood wheel hubs, There are adapters that will give you a Model A bolt pattern. You can put A hubs on the fronts are not a big job but the rears are ( I've only seen one car with A rear hubs) Keep in mind that A wheels mount to both the hub & drum for support. There is a outfit named McClaren that makes a wire wheel that mounts on a T wood hub. Very pricey but very nice and do not seem to have the problem that some wire wheels have of coming loose. I run adapters and A wheels on my speedster. Very happy with them. I have a pair of A front hubs and all the parts to adapt to T spindles for the next project.
 
Re attaching Model A hubs on the T front spindle, for the inner you would run out of usable surface for the bearing to ride on using 1" spacers. For the outer bearing, because the A hubs are shorter, the T threaded bearing will not work, nor will using the A bearing and having it just ride on the spindle threaded area, needs more support. My OP of the adapters sold, the person making them DOES not understand how the Model A wheel needs to be mounted and supported. Using the wheel spacers sold for Model A hubs when using as an example 16" Ford wheels, would get you more in the ball park. Yes I know many people buy them, but as sold I would not use them, not enough support where it is needed. There are ways to mount both the front and rear hubs, but requires a lot of work and machining along with understanding how it all needs to work together.
 
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