I want to remove my tires/rims on 86 International so I can paint everything. I thought I read in another thread that there is much skill and practice needed to get them on right so they don't wobble. Could somebody offer any tips or tricks to accomplish this? Thanks.
The process I use is after the wheels and tires are mounted to the hub, as I start to tightn the bolts , I stand a object along side of the outer most tire and proceed to spin the wheel.... where the tire contacts the object i've stood alongside the tire, it tightn that nut closest to that point a bit,,, keep spinning and tightning the corresponding lug untill the tire runs true to the object, then tightn down to spec torque....gramps.
Thanks for your response Grandpa. Your method sounds pretty straight forward, I'm not quite sure about the torque specs though. I just figured on trying to get it running as true as possible and then using my 1-1/4 socket and 3/4 drive and give 'em a good tug. Drive a little bit and double check that they're still tight....
When removing the wedges i always like to leave the lug nut threaded on about one thread until the pressure has been released from the wedge. This stops the wedges from flying all over when you tap on it sideways to release it. When painting the hub assembly i find in best to put little or no paint on the surface where the wheel mates to the hub. Make sure there is no rust on this surface. The next step is chock the rest of the wheels, build up your air, and release brakes.When reinstalling it the inner wheel make sure the valve stem is centered between two spokes. Reinstall ring, and then outer dual (again pay attention to valve stem). Replace any Lug nuts that stuck to a stud, or are mushroomed. Good clean studs are necessary so replace any bad ones (heat and double nut to remove). Place wedges and half way tighten lug nuts sequentially like you would on a car. Then take a sledge hammer, stand it upright, handle up centered on the tire. Keep the head about a quarter inch away from the tire. Spin the tire around, and watch for spots where the tire gets close to the hammer head, tighten wedges in those spots. keep doing this until their is minimal radial runout. After you get it true make sure all of the nuts are tight. Make sure you re-check this tightness after 50 miles or so. This takes a little practice but isnt that big of a deal.
Ditto completely, would add this to this part, put a light coat of grease to this surface of hub, paint hub, wipe off grease, no paint there now.
Thanks GMC. Very thorough explanation of the process, and something I can understand and follow. Attention to the lugs and studs are something I may have overlooked not having much experience changing these out.
Just want to repeat what gmc said about taking off the tires. Loosen all your nuts but leave the nuts on the lug a turn or two. Take a hammer and tap on the wedges until they pop free- you'll know when they do because they'll bang out against the nuts. If you take the nuts all the way off and just grab the tires and wiggle, like you would with pilot or budd type wheels, the stuck wedges will suddenly fly loose, hitting you somewhere between your shins and waist (depends how tall you are). It will make you walk funny for a while. After the wedges bang loose, then you can take the nuts off the last turn and then remove the tires. A lot of guys don't like the Dayton type wheels, because of the re-tightening procedure to make them run straight. I actually prefer them to a budd, or even pilot wheels. If i'm on the side of the road with just a ratchet and breaker bar, I can have a set of Dayton's off with 5 lugs. A budd wheel, if you need the inside one (its always the inside one with my luck), you have to take 10 nuts, then one wheel off, then do 10 more for the inner stud/nuts. And one of them always doesn't come loose like it should. And the Daytons are actually stronger in my opinion, you're carrying the weight from the large center spoke, rather than the vertical steel or aluminum rim width.
The dayton wheels should be torqued to 250ft/lbs in a criss cross pattern. The hub and stud piloted wheels should each be torqued to 500+-50lbs
This seems like the best thread to ask my question: I snapped an axle stud and broke a drill bit trying to remove the stud. I now need to remove the spoke so I can get the drill removed at the machine shop (by EDM). I was able to remove the wheel and I know how to remove the axle, but I am not sure how to remove the spoke. There are 5 bolts that hold on the spoke from the brake drum, but the whole stud spins. I figured I would start asking instead of guessing. https://picasaweb.google.com/114486...=Gv1sRgCOzRufjl46iRMQ#5748542312931032658.jpg
The "spokes" are part of the hub, you have to take the axle bearing nut off and remove the entire hub. I have always removed the hub with the wheels still attached as that made it much easier to handle. You have to be very careful when removing the hub to not damage the oil seal on the back side. We jacked up the axle, placed a trash bag filled with grease under the tires, and lowered them back down until the tires were resting on the bag. Then remove the axle nut. This way the whole hub/tire set would slide straight off. You might think about replacing the brakes while you have it off if needed as the brake drum will come off with the hub/spokes. (this is the way I have seen it done anyway)
A wheel dolly makes it real easy to remove the tires, spoke and drum as one assembly with a good chance of not damaging the wheel seal. That is if you have the luxury of having one or can get your hands on one. Wheel dolly a ton of money if you buy one new. Auctions they can be had for less. I lucked out and got one from a distressed party on ebay for $150.00. Mine has paid for it self umteen times over in time and labor savings. Many times I just put new wheel seal in when having wheel off of truck. For $25.00 or so it is cheap insurance to just replace it and not risk a leak later. Asw far as separating the spoke from the brake drum, you will need the whole assembly off of the truck first so as to make it possible to get socket on bolt head in the drum.
I am not getting a clear picture in my head with regards to the Axle Bearing Nut. Will that expose itself after I remove the axle? or in this case (74' F-700) does the hub come off by the bolts on the back side of the assembly. Which would mean the brake line must be disconnected as well? I took the Axle off previously and don't recall anything on the inside that looked like it was holding on the hub. I've added a pic of the rear side of the assy.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/pho...RgN20rfFAXZWX2ozfcYKZQZlI?feat=directlink.jpg Hmmm, the link on the previous reply is not displaying for me. I'll try again.
Those bolts just hold the brake hardware on, you will not have to mess with them at all. Once the axle is removed you will see a big nut that holds the bearings together and thus the hub to the spindle. I attached an axle that i grabbed from google images (for a much lighter duty truck) that likely will be similar to what you will encounter. The nut is the ring with all the ribs in it, it unscrews with a special socket. There is a special way to retorque that axle nut that i am not aware of. I would suggest you make a new thread about this topic (now that you have 3 post you can do that) and get the needed guidance about how to do that so your bearings don't fail causing the hub to fall off down the road. Here is a basic guide on how to do this on a ford pick-up but it is very similar. http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/986298-how-to-replace-rear-wheel-hub-bearings.html
I removed the Axle and it exposed a 3 1/2" hub nut. This nut has minor cutouts in a few areas, does the nut require a socket or can it be hammered loose with a screw driver or chisel? Which is how it looks, but don't want to hammer on it if it may damage the hub or bearing. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/swV_iI-4jtXYB-EPOPcMnm0rfFAXZWX2ozfcYKZQZlI?feat=directlink
A chisel should work, I have seen it done that way. It might be easier to rent or buy a socket like this. I don't think they are the expensive. Remember to check the direction of the threads before you start pounding away on it.
Thanks DirtHauler & Greg, with a couple well placed blows on a chisel and large hammer the nut came off without much of a fight. There was a locking ring that pinned the second nut to the hub, and the second nut. I already had the tires off so I just got on top of the whole assembly and slid it off gently. The drum separated from the spokes easy enough. The bearings, brakes and seal look in good shape. I'll replace the seal if I can find one. It's hard to find anyone with parts for a 74' F-700 around here. Most of the chain stores don't have computer programs don't go that far back and very few still have the books. I'll Google the part numbers if I can find them. Now I just hope the EDM doesn't cost me an arm and a leg or otherwise I'm off to Birmingham AL to the large Truck junk yard. Thanks again you guys are great! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0dvt9_AO1NKBOg-fOFBH6G0rfFAXZWX2ozfcYKZQZlI?feat=directlink
Nice job man. If you can get one of the fancy seals that have two parts that slip on themselves its worth a few extra bucks.
I bought the sockets like the ones pictured in a previous post here. They only run between 20 to 25 bucks a piece depending on the size you need. Faster and easier that hammer and chisel. You can, in my opinion, get the nuts tightened better when putting it back together.
I took the spoke to my local machine shop and on the wall there is a sigh that says 'Minimum walk in orders $500 (Gulp) Well I fight the urge to leave and stayed to talk to Scott. He told me he could be flexible with the minimum (phewww). Well I drive around back and start telling them the story of breaking 5 drill bits and an easy out on this stud from hell and they can't help but ride me about the nice job I have done on it! Then Scott asks me what all the crap was in the back of my truck and I told him I have been volunteering with tornado clean-up (April 27th, 2011 F-5 hit our county). Well three guys worked two hours and they finally get it done. Couldn't remove the whole stud, but was able to get 7 good threads. I ask Scott what this is going to set me back and he said "12 Platinums". Holy Crap that made my day!!!
I am not familiar with how much a Platinums is but i hope it was a great price. (is that some kind of a beer reference?)
You better tell us what "12 Platinums" are there torquedoff. For $500.00 you could probably buy the whole spoke new all most. I remember the April 27, 2011 F-5 which hit you guys. I have a good friend who is a contractor in Irondale, Al which is very close to Birmingham. One of his guys lost mother-in-law and two sisters-in-laws in that one. My friend's yard and shop was spared from the storm. Hats off to you for helping in the volunteer effort to clean-up after the storm. People in situation like need and deserve all the help they can get. I had opportunity to help after disaster one time, did it no charge. Makes you feel good inside when it is done and the people really appreciate it. I gather that the "Platinums" fee from the machine shop maybe had something to do with the volunteer work. If that is the case and the "Platinums" fee is something like a "twelve pack" than that goes to show that there are still people around who will make sure that a "good deed can still go UNpunihsed."
Platinums refers to Bud Light Platinums so yes I got off real easy. I was gonna try another machine shop if they held to the $500 minimum. Having said that Scott was willing to machine a new pattern offset from the first if we didn't get the stud out. I mention that in case someone else reading the thread is out of options with broken studs. Greg sorry to hear about the deaths in Irondale. We have worked a three sites with fatalities, all heart breaking stories. And like you said, they need all the help they can get. Equally amazing are the surviver stories: We demolishoned the remainder of a home that only had two interior walls and a bathub remaining, the owner was in the bathub. I asked her how scared she was and she said it wasn't, she knew the Lord was gonna save her. Then she added ' but I did cry when they towed my old Dodge Truck'. She was a neat old lady. Have gotten to meet tons of great people volunteering. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3BvWU92N7or8wX7N5SF4mG0rfFAXZWX2ozfcYKZQZlI?feat=directlink Picture of one of our sites with fatality.
I have the same Dayton System on my Truck. I have 900 x 20 tires on split rim wheels. Tires are in great shape. But when I start to ask around about mounting a new tire for a spare. I get the guys at tire shop Crying about Split rims. Actually I will never load my truck to capacity, So I was thinking about going with a Tubeless rim that I can mount Tubeless tires on this truck. I have seen some newer truck have 20" Tubeless LT Tires on them. Since there are so many of us with Dayton System. Is there any option to get rid of the split rim. Or maybe they just have a lock ring on them. Can you give me any info on where I can get different wheels? H
Just get rid of the split rim and go tubeless. You will be much happier with them. You can pick up the rims from a salvage yard real easy.
Yair . . . Old thread here may be of interest to O/P. I must say that after many thousands of miles running these wheels on gravel roads I believe torqueing under such conditions a complete and utter waste of time . . . just tighten them true to the hammer with(say) a three quarter breaker bar and then after ten miles and again at fifty, more than likely you'll get a bit more every time . . . and check them next morning when they're cool . . . and again every chance you can . . . it used to be part of the job called "truck driving" as was fixing punctures and lashing tarps and loads with ropes. A torque wrench has its place but, in my opinion tightening what are known in the US as "Daytons" is not one of them . . . too many variables of rust and dust and different friction on the wedges. That style of wheel is the only type I've known on the drive or trailers and is a simple proven system that served me very well. Cheers.
Nice resurrect, Scrub. Hopefully Grandpa doesn't think I ripped him off with my post on the other thread. My dad and I ran spokes for about 15 years. Then we got stud-pilots and thought we were in heaven. When hub-pilots came out, everything was right in the world, EXCEPT for the price on outboard brake drums for stud-pilot wheels. SMH
Yair . . . Gotcha Shimmy1. I liked the simplicity, inner, spacer, outer . . . then lug it up and tighten. Cheers.
True enough, but with Budds you're never going to feel that little "whoops", and then that sinking feeling that your day just went to hell because you forgot to recheck the lugs for the tenth time.
If the Dayton rims are rust pitted at all where they contact the hub, throw the rim away and buy a new one, I'd never buy a used Dayton rim no matter how cheap they are, had a few blow off trailers, and one blow off when changing the tire and rim, luckily nobody was killed or even injured. They blow apart in the center of the rim, usually from rust where they contact the hub, and half the rim will blow off the trailer and the other half that is held on with the wedges will still be there on the hub. Be careful changing the tires if its been a while since they have been off, we usually deflate the tires to eliminate the explosion hazard of a rusted rim, once the air is out of the tire, they are harmless to deal with and can't blow up. Just thought I'd mention this to those not familiar with Dayton wheels. We use anti seize on the hubs so the rims don't rust on so badly, this works for the wheels spacer rings as well, only once have we had to remove the tires and torch the rims off in pieces to get them off, we gave up trying to remove the rims, a porta power and cylinder wouldn't get them off either. We try to rotate tires on all Dayton wheels ever few years, if for nothing else so if we have to remove them we can actually get them off with not much struggle. I keep forgetting to ask the dot if its true or not, but I've been told that Dayton rims have a date on them, and after 15 years, they are illegal to run and won't pass inspection no matter the condition they are in, anyone know if this is true or not?? Do as you wish, but I'd never buy a used Dayton rim, no matter how cheap they are, less than 100 bucks buys a new one, I'd never paint one either, I'd throw it away long before it needs painting.
I've never heard that one...but I do know there are dates on all mine. 7/26/96 sooooooooo that 15yrs is past.
If you can get ahold of the dot, call and ask them, and report back here if there is any truth to it if you would, not saying its the truth, only stating what I've been told by a few tire shops, but then again they sell new rims.
I think maybe you should clarify that a little. Just because it's a Dayton wheel doesn't mean that it has the big 'snap ring'. There are a lot of trucks and trailers running Dayton wheels with tubeless tires on them (no snap ring). The tubeless rims don't present any danger that I know of.
Snap ring has nothing to do with it, on a Dayton rim, it rides on the spoke of the hub, five or six spokes usually and where the rim and spoke meet, it tends to rust pit and weaken the rim, if you've ever taken the rims off and found rust pits on the rim, where they were mounted on the hubs, they have a tendency to come apart along the center line of the rim all the way around, with air in them, the rim can and has before blown apart. One rim half will be inside the tire and blown off the trailer, the other rim half will be clamped onto the spoke hub or if you have the wedge locks off, rusted to the hub after the other rim half blows off the trailer. On a budd wheel, the hub center in the rim and rim are one piece, bolts bolt the whole assembly to the hub, nothing in contact of pressure is anywhere near anything rusted thin or rust pitted that can weaken the rim anywhere. We've taken Dayton rims off before that were so rust pitted, once off, you could see where it was attached to the hub, after sand blasting the rims, holes were literally blown through the rim where the rim sat on the Dayton spoke hubs. All tire shops near me will after getting the rims off, check to feel or see for pitting on rims, if there is any visible, the rim will be thrown away and your forced to buy a new Dayton rim to mount back up, no matter how old the rim is. Not sure I described it well enough or not, but if not, let me know and I'll try again.
Randy88 I miss interpreted your post and evidently had my mind set on those stupid PITA snap rings. My bad!!!!
Trying to upload photo's, not sure what happened to some, maybe they'll show up soon. The first and second photo's are off the same truck, Dayton wheels and where my finger is at, is where it rusts bad enough to blow the rim in half after enough age. The third photo is of a rim we cut apart for another project and is what is left of it, I included it for the purpose of showing how the rim splits in half, there was another photo that got lost somewhere, not sure where it went, but it showed on the cut apart rim where instead of where I did cut it apart, where it actually blows apart. Forth photo is of a Dayton rim outside, not sure I uploaded it, but its there just the same, the last photo in that page shows where the spoke wedges are marked on the rim, nothing wrong with this rim, just all the rest were so rusty to show it all.
First photo on the second page shows where they blow apart over time and with enough rust. The last photo's are of the same rim, damaged in a collision and no need to cut apart before going to scrap, just haven't gotten around to hauling them to scrap yet, have a few of these laying around. You can see in the photo's what rust will do with the rim, this rim and a few more were tossed in the junk heap due to not being safe anymore, even if they weren't in a collision, they'd have gone to scrap, nobody would work on them anyhow, we deflate the tires to make them safe to take off. There were more photo's that never showed up, or have yet, all showed the amount of rust in the rim and also a newer rim with the date stamped in it, might try to upload that again, none of these junk rims the date could be read, anything needing sandblasting gets scrapped anyhow, we never sand blast and paint any rims ever. I used to have several Dayton rims that actually blew apart, had both halves for over a decade to show people what happens when they blow. We had one blow apart while taking it off the trailer, nobody got hurt and ever since we deflate them, another blew off a trailer years ago, blew so hard, going 40 mph it skidded the blown tire perfectly sideways on the road, flat spotted the tire to the cords as it slid across the pavement sideways, went out across the road and ended up about 300 feet perfectly sideways to where it came off the trailer out in a corn field, the other half of the rim was still held on the trailer with the wedge locks. Those were tube tires 15 inch with the lock ring turned into the trailer, the lock ring and rim portion were still on the trailer when I got stopped, never even loosened up the lock ring on the rim, when we took the rest of the rims off that trailer, and took the tires off the rims, you could see daylight through the rims via the rust holes, while on the trailer they looked fine. I've been told several stories over the years about when to take the Dayton rims off, one is by date, anything over 15 years is no longer dot allowed, another is when you can't read the date on the rim, you put new rims on, they won't pass dot inspection, another is if the rim is rusty and needs paint, they are considered junk. I've been told that where the wedge contacts the rim, if there is any rust pitting, no matter how the rim looks your supposed to change them for new, like I said earlier I have no idea what's true, or fiction or just a way to sell new rims, basically I don't care, no 90 dollar rim is worth an injury or life, I buy them about 6 at a time new and replace as needed. If it were not for the bent rim in the first few photo's of the second page, the junk yard would resell those rusty rims to someone to sand blast and repaint, the reason why I usually cut them up or cut enough out of the rim so nobody would ever repair them.
I had a few photo's of budd wheels on one of my trucks, don't know what happened to them, they didn't show up on here, but with budds, the center section where the bolts are help to eliminate the rust issue and add strength to the rim in the most critical point, in the first few photo's of the first page, where my finger is on the Dayton's, with budds, those are strengthened with the bolt plate that's welded to the rim all the way around or that's what I've been told by the rim dealer near me as an explanation to why budd's are not plagued with this problem. I might try to upload those again to show what I was trying to describe. Not sure if this helps but I thought photo's couldn't hurt.
Sure see what your saying Randy . That's on a " tubeless " Dayton . Correct ?
Yair . . . Good stuff Randy88. Are the rust issues due to salt on your winter roads? I don't remember any significant rusting or pitting on rims in our conditions. Cheers.
Never experienced this problem either Scrub . My Dayton wheeled equipment is all " tube type " wheels . Suspect this issue has something to do with the way the " tubeless " Dayton wheels were manufactured ? Don't know but it's odd .:beatsme
Yair . . . Gotcha td25c. I should have clarified I only ever knew split rims with tubes. I must say I never had any issues with lock rings or what all and had split rims fitted as an (unwilling by the dealer) option on my last couple of utes. (pick ups) When you are a couple of hundred miles from anywhere (to me) split rims, spare tubes and a tin of sticky patches beat hassles seating beads. Cheers.
The photo's are all of tubeless Dayton's, 22.5's, the one's we had that blew apart were tube type 15 inch on an older trailer we had, also had a tube type 20 inch blow apart as well in years past, came off the same trailer the current rusted rims are from, those rims are only about 15 years old or so, I think we put 22.5 rims on new when we pulled all the 20 inch tube with split rims off. As for why its so much worse in my area, I'm sure salting the roads have a major contribution to the problem along with gravel roads and all the road dust that sets in the groove and keeps building up in the rim where my finger is pointing in the first two photo's on the first page of pictures I uploaded. I'll have to find the pictures of the budd wheels I tried to upload, where my finger is pointing to in those first few photo's, with buds, there is a wheel center welded continuously around the rim, that ledge in the rim isn't there to literally get rust under and start to separate the metal and weaken it, that ledge is welded shut on the outside of the rim that's exposed to the elements. Dayton rims will literally rust onto the trailer if not taken off once in a while, the inner dual is the worst by far, where the rim makes contact with the back of the Dayton spoke hub, we've had to in the past, take the tire off, torch the rim apart to get it off the hub and put a new rim back on, we've used a porta power to shove the rims off before, putting it between the rim and trailer frame, also a 20 lb sledge and pound for hours on the rim itself and just before torching them off the trailer, we've heated the rims red hot in an attempt to get them off before, after taking the tires off of course. With quite a few trailers with Dayton's on, you sometimes forget just how long its been since some have been off, especially if the trailers are not pulled a lot of miles each year. We try to wash the Dayton rims up as often as possible but you never have them as clean as they should be. A few shops have told me in the past for others, they have given up getting the rims off of trailers and the owner had to put new hubs and rims on in order to replace a wheel before. I can believe that with enough time and rust involved. I personally like the Dayton system, for one I can change them anywhere as long as they have been off recently, so if I'm out back in someone's field or yard off the beaten path and have a flat, a simple breaker bar can get them off, budd wheels on the other hand, I've had a few in the past, we've taken the tires off in order to heat the lug bolts red hot and then even an inch impact won't get them off. One service guy on his truck has a screw air compressor and the largest impact I've ever seen, we get him to come to get those really tough lug nuts off the Budd wheels, he's told me quite often he just ends up twisting the studs off with his impact in order to get those SOB's off. With Dayton's we try to rotate tires ever couple years, if for nothing else just to get them off easily so if you ever have to change one, its a 10 minute job, not a two day job. Scrub, those split rims are dangerous, you can buy a bead cheata off ebay for the tubeless tires for under 60 bucks, best investment ever for seating beads on tubeless tires. As for having spares, I have enough rims and tires laying around we just grab another one to put on, you couldn't pay me enough to ever have a split rim on anything. In the past we used to run both 15 inch tube and also 20 inch tube tires, all the 15's were converted over to 17.5 tubeless and the 20's were converted to 22.5 tubeless, I haven't seen a tube tire in over a decade anywhere around here, there might be some I'm sure, guess those guys change them themselves is all I can say. As for tube tires, if you run them flat on a trailer, they'll start on fire if run very long, tubeless can be run for miles or day's flat and don't hurt anything, a major plus for tubeless tires, I've only ever had one tube tire actually light on fire before due to being flat, had enough melt off though, those were so hot we had to put a hose to them to cool them off, the rubber came off in chunks and the tube was turned to small rubber balls, that was close enough to lighting on fire for me. Not to mention with those split rims, the ring would eventually get knocked off and if on the inside side, knock and rattle around enough to blow the inner dual as well, some things I just don't miss at all.
Yair . . . Randy88. As you will realise this is all of interest to me but in a very academic way. I am long out of the trucking and machinery game. I am sure many others too really appreciate the time and effort you put into compiling posts and pictures. Detailed information such as contained in your posts above takes time to put together in such a readable and straight forward manner. Thanks again and Cheers.
x2..... I sure don't consider myself an expert in the trucking game nor do I consider myself a rookie. That being said, this is the first time I have heard of this type of wheel/rim failure. Again thanks Randy88 for the pics and tutorial.
Yes, thanks for the info Randy. I was completely unaware of the issue. For Scrub or others not familiar with road salt, it doesn't usually attack your average painted surface, there's three things that make those rims rust out. The weld makes the steel less resistant to corrosion and the paint may not stick as well to the weld either. The inside ring forms a crack that traps dirt, salt, water, rust and speeds up rusting. And the cast iron is different enough to make dissimilar metal corrosion where it touches. Those rims look as bad as a doubled or boxed frame on a Japanese truck after a while in the midwest.
Yair . . . Thanks for comments Delmer. I sometimes think how blessed we are here not to have to put up with and work around such issues. Cheers.
Delmer, thanks for the explanation about the dissimilar metals, I forgot that completely.
Scrub, it's easy, just don't drive from November until April. Haven't you spent a bit of time working on trawlers and such? We have it easy, no salt in the rivers or lakes, something Randy and I tend to forget, the oceans are SALTY.
Yair . . . Delmer. Interesting comment. I had never really thought about that . . . its little snippets about the different conditions under which we live our lives that make this forum such an interesting place. Back in the late fifties, when I first started messing with outboards, Mercury (over here) was considered a "freshwater" engine, as if left on a boat in warm water in the tropics they would tend to melt before your eyes. I liked them as the small ones were easy to fit with a megaphone exhaust with a minimum of butchery. However here in Queensland it took the marque many years to fix the problems and gain a reputation. Cheers.
Been reading this thread with interest. I run several cranes with Dayton's. I'm with Randy on the ease of changing Dayton's in the wilderness, compared with budd's. 5 nuts on a dayton and I've got inners and outers both. Budd's you do 10 and your only 1/2 way. I have 2 smaller cranes running tubeless dayton's. Third crane running 8- 11.00r20 rear tandems and 4-12.00r20 steers tube type (double steer axle). I'm heavy- probably 18,000 per axle steers and 44,000 per axle rear tandems with the tag up. I fight tires much more on the tube type, simply because I think they generate more heat than the smaller 2 cranes that run tubeless. Could just be that its heavier. I've never seen a rim cut loose like randy shows, but I could see how it could happen. We don't have the salt on the roads that he gets. I also have one rim in the corner of the shop, that is a cast one piece dayton tubeless, not welded. I've heard that the cast rim is not rated for the load that a welded steel one is, but have no proof. My most odd rims are on my 70 ton crane. They are like a budd, hub piloted, tube type. Nuts have a cone washer behind them, the tandems do not have a nut or cone on the inner, just a single outer nut with cone washer (like a axle cone). Rims front and rear have a hub pilot on them, rim fits tight to the hub. One tire/rim guy told me my rims don't exist . 14.00r20 36,000 up front, 58,000 rear without my tag axles down. If you look close- one nut is different. The tire man told be my stuff didn't exist when we brought him a factory nut and cone, (looking to replace a missing set) after just purchasing the crane. We replaced it with a pilot hub nut, made a cone for behind it by cutting the cone off a budd inner nut, then grinding it to match the factory cone. Tire man said someone cobbled it all up (suggested nothing on the crane was correct/factory), and firmly stated that all my tires would fall off going down the road. (hasn't yet).