Kelsey Hays wheels on A

western77

western77

Senior Member
I went to put a set of Kelsey hays bent spoked wheels on the back of my A and they would not fit. I have Mikes cast iron drums on the back. There was about 3/16s interferance with the drum. Is the pressed steel drum that much smaller? I always thought that Kelsey hays 16 inch wheels were interchangeable. What do you guys do to make them fit? Thanks.
 
This is the interference. The brake drum measures 10 inches. The inside of the wheel at the smallest spot, the spoke head, measures 9.875 on the top set of spokes and 9.825 on the bottom set of spokes. This will not let me install the wheels. These brake drums are cast iron and could be a little bit larger in diameter than the stock pressed steel, I do not know.
 
Western,
If you have a friend with a Model A, see if they fit on his car??? I never heard of a mis-fit, using the 16" Kelseys on stock mechanical drums.
Chief said that EVERYBODY & THEIR DOGS, were making 16" '35 style wire wheels, to keep up with the GREAT demand. A lots were even used for trailers, etc. I'm sure there might have some MIS-FITS manufactured.
Bill W.
 
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western77 said:
This is the interference. The brake drum measures 10 inches. The inside of the wheel at the smallest spot, the spoke head, measures 9.875 on the top set of spokes and 9.825 on the bottom set of spokes. This will not let me install the wheels. These brake drums are cast iron and could be a little bit larger in diameter than the stock pressed steel, I do not know.
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I'm with Jim B and his thoughts on your situation ! My wheels are same same and I've had them on Ford V8 drums , on Model A drums and presently on Lincoln drums. Can you show us a picture of the inside diam, etc of you drum /wheel problem :confused:
 
PURELY A "THOUGHT"---Could it be a discrepancy in the O.D. of the drum & if so, could it "possibly" be turned on the outside of the drum, to make it fit?
NOT RECOMMENDING THIS, just "thinking" of what's causing them NOT to fit, as this seems to be an UNUSUAL problem. "Maybe" it's caused by some TOO TALL of welds on the spokes?????
Bill W.
 
Jim Brierley said:
Kelsey made wheels for other cars, maybe you have some of them???
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I think this is most likely your problem. There are a lot of Kelsey Hayes wire wheels with 5 1/2 by 5 bolt patterns that look just like those made for Ford but aren't. KH wheels were used on A LOT of 1930s era cars as OE equiptment.
 
western77 said:
I went to put a set of Kelsey hays bent spoked wheels on the back of my A and they would not fit. I have Mikes cast iron drums on the back. There was about 3/16s interferance with the drum. Is the pressed steel drum that much smaller? I always thought that Kelsey hays 16 inch wheels were interchangeable. What do you guys do to make them fit? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I have the same situation, cast drums and Kelsey wheels. I took a little off the spoke nubs and was able to mount the wheels. I have run tubeless like this for 10 years with no trouble.
Rainmaker Ron
 
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