1925 Dodge Bros. Touring Car - Wooden Wheels

[@greyhairedphantom4038]

Dodge Brothers. As a young guy I remember reading the ID plate on an ancient Dodge......"DODGE BROTHERS OF AMERICA" I have always remembered that as I thought it showed a companies pride in product and country!

[@robsshed]

Family pride and pride of workmanship as well. They were a quality car of the era. RT.

[@martinstewart5205]

Welcome back 👍🇮🇪

[@robsshed]

Been a bit busy lately. We have a lot of recorded footage, just not much time to edit it. We are doing our best to get it to you guy's as quickly as we can. Thanks for the feedback it is good knowing that people appreciate what we are doing. RT.

[@craig7343]

Great work Rob at least there's no rust to worrie about lol. 👍👍

[@robsshed]

I am glad of that. RT.

[@vintagesirvivor]

I'm having issues with the wooden spokes on one of the wheels my 1930 Hudson. The wheel is the same configuration as your 1925 Dodge wheel. That being that the tenon of the wood spokes fit into a steel rim. As opposed to the other method where the tenon of the wood spoke fits into a two piece half circle of wood that is then pressed into a steel rim. The style that we have has an inherent flaw. That being that all the spokes are pressed into the steel rim all at once gradually. The tenon on the spoke must enter the hole in the rim at an angle with this method. Therefore the spoke tenon must be a smaller diameter than the opening in the steel. Over decades of rotational torque, this gap increases. I have tried 3 times to fill that gap in each spoke with epoxy, but it only lasts for a couple hundred miles. The other issue is that the opening for the valve stem allows water to get into the area between the wheel steel rim and the steel rim that holds the tire. This can create rust around the spoke opening as well as create deterioration in the Hickory tenon over time. I believe I have come up with a more suitable solution which will make the wheel stronger. At least in theory. The thing is, once I start if it doesn't work, the spokes are destroyed. The wood tenons on my spokes are 75/128" diameter. They should have been much larger in diameter. I am going to drill out the tenon, one spoke, at a time. Then by using a gig that I have designed that fits into the opening in the steel rim designed to keep a drill positioned so it drills a hole down into the spoke about an inch, following the axis of the spoke as perfect as possible. I have made up specially designed stud, so to say that resembles a 5/16" bolt. Except that the head is deeper than a standard bolt, and there are no threads on the shaft section. The design of my steel rim is that there is a shoulder at each spoke hole that is 5/16" deep. That shoulder appears to be pressed into shape when the steel rim was red hot. This is to my benefit, so the custom stud will seat into the opening so that the head will be tight the full depth of that 5/16" shoulder. Then I will be mig weld the studs into place. Checking and double checking to make sure that the wheel is spinning true as I go through the process with each of the 10 spokes. Originally the strength of the spoke was in that (less than 1/2" diameter) tenon. But with my method not only is the sheer strength resistance stronger because it is now steel instead of wood. But I am reducing the diameter to 5/16". This 5/16" hole drilled down the centre of the spoke allows close to 1" of wood on each side of the oval spoke and almost 3/4" on each side of the width of the spoke. There really isn't any sheer strength required on the width sides of the spoke unless the wheel is impacted from the side. But even so, I'll have a lot more thickness of wood on the width than originally after the mortise is created in the spoke.

[@raygrech9813]

Interesting detail on how the wheels were put together. Will you need to give the rims the "heat treatment" to reassemble them? It's always fascinating to watch your videos Rob.

[@robsshed]

Hi Ray, I don't think that it will be necessary second time around. The other wheels don't look like they were heated as much, and given that they were assembled almost 100 years ago they should just fit back together. Anyway I will show you what happens. I want to paint the rim fellows and centers before assembly. I will be changing the front hubs so we need to do some machining of the spokes as well. I will include that in a future video. RT.

[@austinwagoncompany]

Do you have the next video for this somewhere? I've not found it.

[@planetkaziah]

Great work! We have a set from a 24 Dodge Bro's. Do you have a video on disassembling these wheels? We currently have all the bolts and such removed and can't quite figure out how to get them apart from there.

[@robsshed]

G,day mate. If we look at a rear wheel l will explain how to get it apart. I assume you have the brake drum removed, if not it will knock off with a piece of soft wood and a hammer after the bolts are removed. Now look carefully at the spokes at the hub, they have a slight taper from the hub flange to the brake drum face. One spoke faces one way the next is the other. If you support the inside of the hub you can start to hammer the spokes down the hub. Naturally you will use a soft wood drift and a hammer, and hammer a spoke which will drive down and out of the taper created be the adjacent spokes. Only move the spokes a small amount at a time , and work every second spoke. Once you have a few moved the tension on the rim will be reduced, and the spokes will come out. Remember that you basically have a 100 year old wheel that is not suppost to come apart, treat it with respect. Prior to any removal you must number your spokes and reference them to the rim. Originally the wheel was assembled and then machined for the hub. Incorrect reassembly will result in a wheel that won't align correctly. Front wheels will dismantle the opposite way.(towards the hubcap) Hope this helps. Cheers Rob.

[@nathantodd7433]

Nice

[@robsshed]

👍

[@jamesballock1768]

Nope, wood spokes for car wheels is all I saw you work on,not wheels.