Swapping Wheels

[Robin97396]

There's a lot on craigslist too, but mostly 10 lug and 8 lug. It's hard to find a steel wheel with 6 lugs that will match the other bus wheels.

About the time I get aluminum wheels for this bus is when I'll find my unicorn bus.

[Rameses]

Stupid eBay app. Let me try again...

[Rameses]

aluminum wheels 22.5 | eBay

See if that one works.

Originally Posted by Robin97396

There's a lot on craigslist too, but mostly 10 lug and 8 lug. It's hard to find a steel wheel with 6 lugs that will match the other bus wheels.

About the time I get aluminum wheels for this bus is when I'll find my unicorn bus.

I didn't realize TC1000s had 6 lug wheels. What diameter are they?

[Robin97396]

I've got 245 70R 19.5s. Wow, these tires don't have very much bead touching the rim. The rim measures barely over 20".

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Rameses

aluminum wheels 22.5 | eBay

See if that one works.







I didn't realize TC1000s had 6 lug wheels. What diameter are they?

that works. I'll see if the seller has any ball seat stud types.

[Rameses]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

I've got 245 70R 19.5s. Wow, these tires don't have very much bead touching the rim. The rim measures barely over 20".

There isn't a huge difference in diameter, but the way the tire's bead rolls under, there's still a whole lot of rubber in contact with the rim. If there were much more overlap in the diameters, you wouldn't be able to get the tire on and off the rim.

[nighttrain79]

Originally Posted by Rameses

Can you post a picture of a valve stem on one of your rear wheels for us, please?

Here are some more pics...

[Robin97396]

Very true.

I had the pleasure of changing dump truck tires in a rock pit when I was younger, to the tune of about 30 hand changed and mounted tires a day. That's educational, because now I know better than to ever do that type job again.

[Rameses]

Originally Posted by nighttrain79

Here are some more pics...

Your rear wheels aren't tubeless. They're the same as the front wheels.

[nighttrain79]

ok, so is the split ring on the inside of the dualies, not visible from outer wheel?

[Rameses]

Originally Posted by nighttrain79

ok, so is the split ring on the inside of the dualies, not visible from outer wheel?

Yep. The wheel has to be oriented that way in order for the lugs to have something to bite against.

[nighttrain79]

Is it even worth trying to find tires for the current setup? I am assuming if I have a flat on the road there is no way a service truck can do anything with these wheels and I would be facing a tow to get tire repairs. While I am doing the conversion it makes no sense to mess with the wheels but I really need to figure out the best / affordable upgrade so I can start to hunt for used parts, if possible.

I attached a conversion chart, can you guys take a look and help me decide what I need?

[Rameses]

If you're going to switch to one piece rims, I wouldn't put another dime into the tire/wheel setup that's currently on it.

Any money that you put into new tubes, 20" tires, etc, is money that could be put toward buying some 22.5 Dayton wheels, and rubber to wrap them in.

The pdf that you attached... I think you'd have a hard time finding the skinny wheels to mount tires that're the same exterior dimensions as the ones you're currently running. I'd be surprised if you don't have enough room to step up one tire size and mount some 10R22.5s. While the 7.5" wide wheels for those tires aren't a dime a dozen like the 8.25s, they're still far more common than the 6.75s. If you have enough room to go from a 38" tall tire to a 40", and add about two inches of width to the inside of the front tires, and two inches to the inside of the rear inside, and outside of the rear outside tires, you could go with a 295/75 22.5. Those use the much more common 8.25" wide wheel but still have the same 40" height of the 10R22.5.

[dan-fox]

Originally Posted by cowlitzcoach

The only real downside IMHO that Dayton spoke wheels have is tire balancing machines are not set up to spin balance them. You will need to either get the tires/wheels balanced on the vehicle or use some sort of balancing product that goes into the tire when it is mounted up.

Aah! This is the first mention I've seen of getting truck tires balanced; I had been wondering. So much for my plans to change tires like a real man, right on the side of the road.

OTOH, that's exactly what service trucks do. Is it the common way of it to blow a tire, have it replaced right then and there, and get it balanced sometime in the next couple of days? I expect an out-of-balance condition would be proportionately less noticeable on a nine ton bus than a passenger vehicle, but no less harmful to the life of your wheel bearings.

[cadillackid]

I often hear tire shops say that they balance the fronts and not the rears on busses and trucks...

on my DEV bus they used a Bead-product in the tire... I have no idea if it worked or not.. my steering wheel doesnt shake much..
-Christopher

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by dan-fox

Aah! This is the first mention I've seen of getting truck tires balanced; I had been wondering. So much for my plans to change tires like a real man, right on the side of the road.

OTOH, that's exactly what service trucks do. Is it the common way of it to blow a tire, have it replaced right then and there, and get it balanced sometime in the next couple of days? I expect an out-of-balance condition would be proportionately less noticeable on a nine ton bus than a passenger vehicle, but no less harmful to the life of your wheel bearings.

A lot of folks don't even bother balancing them.
I did, and don't really notice any difference in ride, but maybe its a bit smoother. Sucker rides out on the highway nice.

[dan-fox]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

I often hear tire shops say that they balance the fronts and not the rears on busses and trucks...

on my DEV bus they used a Bead-product in the tire... I have no idea if it worked or not.. my steering wheel doesnt shake much..
-Christopher

I've heard good things about the balancing beads but I haven't had a chance to experiment with them.

[cowlitzcoach]

I have been driving, working, and owning buses for over 40 years now.

We have ALWAYS balanced tires on our buses including drive tires and tag axles tires.

While a car or light truck tire might take less than 2 or 3 ozs. to balance things out it isn't unusual for a truck/bus tire to take 8 to 16 ozs. to balance things out. Over the life of the tire that could really bounce a lot!

Many times remounting the tire can reduce the amount of balancing weights from over 8 ozs to almost nothing by putting the heavy side of the tire opposite from the heavy side of the wheel.

If you drive a lot of miles the last thing you want is to feel the front wheels bouncing through the steering wheel. That can become extremely fatiguing over a long haul.

Putting the tire and wheel on a spin balancer can also highlight how round the tire might be and how straight the wheel might be. I once refused a tire because it as so obviously out of round when they spun it on the spin balancer. Which is something that can NOT be done with a Dayton spoke wheel.

[cadillackid]

with dayton spoke wheels if the shop doesnt get them on Absolutely true then it manifests itself as a feel of an out-of-round tire or balance issue..

I took my DEV bus back to the shop twice till a guy there (old-timer) knew exactly how to perfectly mount Daytons... made all the difference in the world.

I know there is a tire out of balance on the RedByrd.. i can feel it at certain speeds..

I also had another intermittent Vibration.. that at first i thought was the support / carrier bearing... turns out it was probably the front U-joint.. the carrier bearing rubber was all but rotted and nasty so I assumed the bearing bad too.. took it apart to find that the bearing was good, and a U-joint actually is bad. decided to replace the whole carrier bearing assembly anyway.. the Vibe on that was a higher frequency than a tire.. im guessing with the worn U joint it was causing the driveshaft to jiggle a lot more in the rotted carrier bearing rubber.. will see tomorrow.. I dropped the shaft off at a local guy down the street from me rather than wrestle with what looked like really old U-joint stuck i nthe shaft.. and a bearing that I likely dont have a jaw puller long enough.

after that I should be able to better diagnose my occasional tire shake..
-Christopher