| Author |
Message |
Sean Welsh (Sean) (64.81.73.194)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 4:46 pm: | |
Folks,
As many here know, I am converting a Neoplan. This particular coach was built in Germany prior to the start of US production, and, consequently, has German running gear. The drive axle is a Mercedes and the steel wheels all the way around are of a type normally referred to as a "MAN" wheel (hub piloted).
I'm trying to fit aluminum wheels to this coach, for three reasons: appearance, easy access to the valve stems (currently, the hub caps have to come off to check tire pressure), and reduction in unsprung (and overall) weight.
Both Alcoa and Accuride offer aluminum wheels in european dimensions (335mm bolt circle, 281mm hub bore). The problem I'm having is with the drivers. The lands (hub pilots) are only about 7/8" deep on the drive axle. To put dual aluminums on, you need at least 1.06" (per both Alcoa and Accuride), otherwise the land will not engage the outer wheel at all.
The normal soulution to this is to simply use a steel wheel on the inner, with an aluminum outer. So far, so good.
However, without changing out all the studs, the only way to engage enough threads on the stud is to go with a special retrofit wheel with larger (32 mm) bolt holes and use a flanged nut with a shoulder to run inside of the larger holes.
The problem with this is that the shoulder of the flanged nut will bottom out on the surface of the inner steel wheel (which has 22mm holes) before the flange properly engages the outer wheel.
I can see a handful of possible solutions, none of which is pretty. One is to machine out the holes on the steel inners to 32mm. Another is to machine off enough of the shoulder on the special nuts so that it does not bottom out (this may be necessary even if the bolt holes on the steels are large enough). Another alternative is to find longer studs that will fit this axle (no luck so far).
I am seeking suggestions on any and all possible alternatives to solve this problem. I am especially interested in hearing from anyone who has done this before...
-Sean |
FAST FRED (4.245.230.70)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 5:20 pm: | |
Bad roads/potholes break studs with some regularity.
When one is gone 3 need to be replaced .
When more than one goes ALL must be replaced.
I would replace the studs with OTS (off the shelf) EZ to obtain US standard studs , and strive to make US OTS a standard for anything you need to do.
OPINION only,
FAST FRED |
Sean Welsh (Sean) (64.81.73.194)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 03, 2004 - 2:28 am: | |
Fred,
If I could change the studs out to US spec units I would do it in a heartbeat. Everyone I have spoken to about this has indicated that the studs are not interchangeable.
The Euro-spec wheels require M22 studs. Is that a standard US size?
-Sean |
FAST FRED (4.245.191.139)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 03, 2004 - 5:50 am: | |
Just as there are bakeries and pizza shops that specialize ,
get thee to the stud guy SPECIALIST and ask what he would do .
Probably the hubs can be machined to fit the US studs .
Metric is getting common even in US coaches , so a simple cure could be on the RIGHT shelf.
FAST FRED |
Phil Dumpster (24.16.243.37)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 04, 2004 - 4:18 am: | |
You have to use longer studs with the aluminum wheels. This means having all of your existing studs replaced.
New Flyer low floor busses use the same setup as is on your coach. You might be able to get the proper studs from New Flyer parts. See www.newflyer.com for details, and while you're at it have a close look at one of our (Seattle's) new diesel-electric hybrid articulated busses. Beautiful site, isn't it? At three quarter million dollars (US) each, they should look good.
And note it's rearmost axle. Look familiar? |
Sean Welsh (Sean) (64.81.73.194)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 04, 2004 - 5:34 pm: | |
Phil,
Thanks for the reference.
I poked around New Flyer's site -- looks like they are using Meritor axles, while I have a Mercedes. What makes you say this is the same setup? I didn't think Meritor had anything with parts that interchaged with Mercedes.
-Sean |
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