Hello, everyone,
I'm new around here and have soaked up quite a bit of information, but I'm still stymied on a project I am working on. I hope someone can shed some (productive) light on the situation. Scrap it, get a new trailer, and switch to lugs have all crossed my mind, but I'm not ready to give up just yet.
I'll try to add images as I go along, but they might end up all together at the end. We'll see how that goes.
OK, I've acquired an old aluminum boat (pre-1953) that was sitting on this (even older?) Montgomery Ward trailer:
It may be hard to see but the wheels are integral hubs and the hub is quite long relative to available wheels today. I didn't find this out until I gave the wheels to buddy to clean up and he called me back and said these wheels are shot. Too much rust and won't hold air. Get some new wheels.
So, I orded the closest thing I could find from eastern marine. I was warned the new hub length would need 4 1/8" spindle and thought "Ha, I've got that plus some."
The new wheels came with bearings and races and a grease seal. Before putting everything together, I slid the wheel onto my spindle with this result:
Here is what it looks like if I move the wheel out to where it would need to be with the dust cover on:
What I'd like to do is put some sort of spacer there, but I don't know what might work. A stack of washers? Something welded? (which I cannot do myself) The thing that makes me take pause here, aside from simple ignorance, is the recess where the grease seal would sit against the axle:
Could that seal sit flush against something like a spacer? I'm guessing that recess is there for a reason, but can I work around it?
I'm open to any suggestions. Here is a summary of where I've been on this project: old wheels not an option due to rust; cannot find newer wheels that fit perfectly. Have not been able to locate an option to switch to lugs due to spindle length AND the fact that the spindle itself is only 3/4"....yes 3/4" straight. I could have had many more options with 1" but no, it is 3/4". Did I mention I had difficulty finding options that fit a straight 3/4" spindle? Now I need to fill in that space with something. Whaddya think?
Thank you
I'm new around here and have soaked up quite a bit of information, but I'm still stymied on a project I am working on. I hope someone can shed some (productive) light on the situation. Scrap it, get a new trailer, and switch to lugs have all crossed my mind, but I'm not ready to give up just yet.
I'll try to add images as I go along, but they might end up all together at the end. We'll see how that goes.
OK, I've acquired an old aluminum boat (pre-1953) that was sitting on this (even older?) Montgomery Ward trailer:
It may be hard to see but the wheels are integral hubs and the hub is quite long relative to available wheels today. I didn't find this out until I gave the wheels to buddy to clean up and he called me back and said these wheels are shot. Too much rust and won't hold air. Get some new wheels.
So, I orded the closest thing I could find from eastern marine. I was warned the new hub length would need 4 1/8" spindle and thought "Ha, I've got that plus some."
The new wheels came with bearings and races and a grease seal. Before putting everything together, I slid the wheel onto my spindle with this result:
Here is what it looks like if I move the wheel out to where it would need to be with the dust cover on:
What I'd like to do is put some sort of spacer there, but I don't know what might work. A stack of washers? Something welded? (which I cannot do myself) The thing that makes me take pause here, aside from simple ignorance, is the recess where the grease seal would sit against the axle:
Could that seal sit flush against something like a spacer? I'm guessing that recess is there for a reason, but can I work around it?
I'm open to any suggestions. Here is a summary of where I've been on this project: old wheels not an option due to rust; cannot find newer wheels that fit perfectly. Have not been able to locate an option to switch to lugs due to spindle length AND the fact that the spindle itself is only 3/4"....yes 3/4" straight. I could have had many more options with 1" but no, it is 3/4". Did I mention I had difficulty finding options that fit a straight 3/4" spindle? Now I need to fill in that space with something. Whaddya think?
Thank you
