Today: Removal of tires and wheels, obtain used wheel for spare tire, prep wheels for paint, chrome hubcaps.
Chrome hubcaps?! On a trailer? Oh yeah. They really used to do some fun stuff back in the day, huh?
We have a 1940's (I think - my title calls it a 1960's home-built) Spen trailer we got in Alaska, which I recently got "preserv-o-mod-ed" shown
here (yeah, you'll have to wait until July 1 to see the Photobucket pictures, because I'm such a popular fella and all), and it didn't include hub-caps. Many do! And they say Spen! I mean cool stuff.
Spen hubcapsBut Tow-Mater now - he may be based on a rusty tow truck, but he does have some pride. We think his chrome hubcaps will really set off well, his new shoes - just a few days out now.
But before you get pretty, you gotta do the dirty work. Here's where we're starting.
Popped off of the wheels, but no polishing yet.
And here's one I just started hitting with the steel wool.
Yup, looks like that might polish up right fine! A bit more rust spots on the inside with the hints of pitting starting, but not bad at all on the outside.
And here they are cleaned up with steel wool, then some polishing with an automotive tin of stuff called Never Dull. I was introduced to that awesome stuff (even for plastic chrome) from DDIL (that's dear dad in law). He also introduced me to the flipped axle thing we'll talk about soon.
Now let's get them stowed away until later.
Oh yeah, we got the axle off too, but let's do this in order.
Here's one side. Dirty sure, but seeing what we have down in here, I'm even more convinced this trailer was parked early in his life. Just not much evidence of use, just weathering.
The wheels are 5 on 4 1/2". (That means 5 lugs on a 4.5" diameter made up by the centerline of the lug pattern). My Jeep, and the old Ford 1/2 tons, are 5 on 5 1/2". Chevy 1/2 tons are 6 lug. 3/4 tons are 8 lug, etc. The only 5 on 4 1/2 I'm familiar with is DW's Jeep Cherokee. And the rim width is 5".
So these got a good scrubbin' with ye-ole-wire brush. And washed with lacquer thinner and the whole she-bang you know. Note the nubs for hubcap retention.
I say that, because of course some vehicles were not designed to have hubcaps (my Willys Jeep for instance).
Here's a set of wheels I will eventually get painted and put on Lil' Willy, with new rubber. Right now though, he's still trying to wear out his military non-directional treads (NDTs) on 15" rims, only one of which is original with no hubcap nubs. The other four have nubs and are from a later hub-capped Jeep (maybe a 70's CJ).
These others are 16" by 5" (many were 4.5") and have the 5 on 5 1/2".
Once I had the wheels prepped for paint, I primed them with Rustoleum Rust Reformer. I think it is the same stuff (in essence) as another brand I've used, and loved just as much, called Rust Converter. Rustoleum also makes a bottle of it you can brush and roll on. The worst place I've used it was the Willys driver side floor pan, a notorious rusty area with corrosion and built in air-conditioning. But after scrapping and brushing all the loose stuff, if you paint it with the converter/restorer stuff, it leaves a primer type surface, but more importantly, converts the remaining surface rust chemically into something else. I have no idea what it is (the label will tell you if you are real curious, or Rustoleum customer Tech line number on the can - yeah I've used it and they are awesome!), but it works great!
I also located a used rim for the spare - $10 (that's it on the right in the above photo). It's not exactly the same, but very close. It is 4 1/2" wide (compared to the trailer's 5"). But it is, of course, a 15" with 5 on 4 1/2". The back spacing is also 1/4" lesser (probably split in half due to the 1/2" lesser width). Backspacing is the depth of where the wheel width sits in relation to the hub flange - what the wheel bolts to.
So out back on the bumper, the spare tire and wheel will be just a little smaller, lighter, more compact up into the trailer wall, by fractions.
I found this stamp, so I think this spare wheel is for a General Motors passenger car application.
No, the spare won't get the same treatment in the way of a tire, as what we'll see for Tow-Mater's main shoes.
That's the spare at the far end. If you look close, you can tell it is 1/2" narrower, and the center of the wheel supports (between lug holes) are just a bit sharper shouldered than the originals. And those are about the only visual differences.
All primed and ready for paint. No, not yet. It's a surprise.
