31 Bud Wheels

[RLaurin]

I was reading in the AA restoreres manual that to restore Bud wheels you can weld up the tube stem hole and cut a new one if it is rusted out real bad. They also talk about using a compound called R.S.P. Quik-Poly from T. Distributing in Missouri which I am unable to find anywhere. My question is this, is this a used practice still today and is it safe? Should I be looking for good rims. I know they are almost impossible to find good rims anywhere but I want to be safe driving down the road. How bad can a rim be before I should be concerned about using it? I guess I would ask the same question about the snap rings as well. How bad is to bad?

[rollingsculpture]

no one ever answered this question and i am in the same spot , any help guys? i know knuck rewelded his and i would love to see before and after pics his advice was dont reweld the snap rings,not sure why?? are these special metal that cant be heated , ive had pretty good luck with the wheels i have rebuilt by welding up the pits and missing spots in the valve stem area but im not sure if i would trust them on the road since they may have thin spots that may crack out under wear. so whats the scoop!!

[steve s.]

I also have had trouble finding wheels that were not rusted apart. I have welded several wheels and had no trouble with them since. I even have two wheels I made by drilling out the rivets to remove the Ford pattern center section which I then welded into good rims that were also made by Budd, but had a different center (Chevy, I think ). These wheels are on my dump truck that I still use around the farm, and they have carried a lot of weight, although they have never gone too fast. Welding around valve stem holes is completely ok in my book.
I've never welded a lock ring, but it doesn't sound like a great idea, unless you were desperate . But for something less than a show truck I would not hesitate to weld ford centers into other rims, even modern tubeless type. There are a lot of 19.5 and 20 inch radials available. this would be a quick way to get rubber under a truck for moving around the garage or property.

Steve.

[Neil Wilson]

I believe that the lock rings are spring steel. So, welding them would eliminate the spring in them. That is about the only reason I can think of for not welding them. The rivets which hole the center to the rim are countersunk. When the inside of the rim gets heavly rust pitted the counter sunk of the rivet is sometimes almost gone. So, it might be a good idea to check this out and replace any bad rivets.

I took a '29 AA wheel apart (had a bad center). The rim could be used for a '30/'31 wheel but the rivet holes are in the wrong place. So, the rivet holes would have to be welded shut and new hold drilled. Also, the stem hole is round and most likely in the wrong location. So, this hole would need to be welded shut and an oblong hole made to match the '30/'31 center. The '29 wheel (in good condition) are easier to find (at least from my experience). Most AA'ers with '29's want to use the '28 steel spoke wheel.

[rollingsculpture]

can the 29 bud wheels be used for the 30-31 years also?

[Neil Wilson]

'29 AA wheels can not be used for the '30/'31 AA's

[rollingsculpture]

ok so rem trucks are 30s both with 29 182 a cabs ? i see they both have 5 hole wheels not six . and tool hawk has the 29 with 6 holes that are correct for 29 . right?

[REM]

That is a correct observation.
Also the 6 hole '29 wheels will not work as duals. The later 5 hole wheels were designed to be used as duals although on some applications they are used on the rear as singles.

[rollingsculpture]

so if the six hole 29,s cant be used as duals than what do you do? and does that mean the dual wheel didn't begin until 1930? how does that work out?

[Neil Wilson]

January 1930 is when Ford offered the dual wheel option. It sounds like your truck was converted from a worm drive axle to the bevel gear axle. So, two spare wheels would be required and two lug wrenches.

If you want your truck original, then the axle needs to be converted back to a worm drive. If you want the bevel gear axle, then I suggest that you convert the front axle to a '30/'31. Consequently, the '30/'31 wheels work on the front. The front spring on the '29 is not as wide as the '30/'31 front spring. You would need to use '30/'31 shackels with spacers on the spring side to take up the difference in length. Otherwise, you would have the change the front cross member to a '30/'31.

Of course, you can just leave your truck as is and use different wheels (front and back).

[REM]

The first dual rear wheels were in Jan. '30 with the introduction of the new bevel gear rear axle and the 30 style wheels.