Farmall A rear wheels on Cub?

[ccaissie]

My 61 Cub project suffers from calcium-rotted rear rims. The tires, wheel centers and weights are good. I've weld-repaired rims before, but these are truly junk.

I have access to a pair of A wheel centers and rims with mediocre tires and weights, and I recall a photo of one of the guru's Cub with A wheels. He said there was some modification, but they looked good.

I don't have the A wheels here to measure, so I'm asking about the scope of the modification. Do I modify the wheel itself or the rim bolt mounts, or both? I want to preserve the ability to adjust spacing.

The Cub tires are 8.3-24, on 7" rims. The A tires are 9.5-24 on 8" rims.

I'd like to mount the complete A wheels or rims on the Cub right now, and later mount the 8.3 Cub tires on the A rims, if you think they'll work on the 8" rims.

Did the Cub guru have to dismount the tires in making the A rim mod? I'm fearing extensive welding and burning rubber...in which case I'll just do it all at once...

Colin

[ScottyD'sdad]

DO NOT WELD on a rim, with a mounted tire. They can explode, very quickly. Heat causes a rapid increase in the pressure!

Ed

[Jim Becker]

The center disks will not interchange from an A to a Cub, not even close.

The bolt circle of the A and Cub rims is slightly different. So you would need to do so modification to make rims from one fit the other, probably stretching the bolt holes in the center disk.

The lugs on an A rim have more offset than on a Cub rim. Rather than 3 choices of track, there are 4. (In theory, as the narrowest settings would run into the fenders.) The actual widths available with the wrong rims would be half way between the original settings. Rather than 40, 44, 48 . . . they will be 42, 46, 50 . . . Depending on what you do with the tractor, this may not matter to you.

The bottom line is that you can probably putter with them and make the rims fit and the results may be satisfactory for your use. If I was doing it, I'd try something else. If the lugs on the rusted out rims are still good, I'd look into getting new bare rims and attaching the original lugs. The new rims need to be THE SAME WIDTH as the originals for the lugs to align properly.

[ccaissie]

Thank you Jim. Will look over this affair more closely.

New Cub rims would seem to be the ideal solution, but where can I get them inexpensively? They seem high....so I'm trying to work around that, but sometimes ya just hafta spend $.

C

[ccaissie]

DO NOT WELD on a rim, with a mounted tire. They can explode, very quickly. Heat causes a rapid increase in the pressure!

Ed

Yep, that's why I asked. Thought maybe there was an easy spot weld procedure on the lug. Looks like there's other issues, too.

C

[Barnyard]

Thank you Jim. Will look over this affair more closely.

New Cub rims would seem to be the ideal solution, but where can I get them inexpensively? They seem high....so I'm trying to work around that, but sometimes ya just hafta spend $.

C

Why not contact JP for a good set of used rims, or post a want ad in the Vine?

[ccaissie]

kinda new here, who's JP?

[Barnyard]

kinda new here, who's JP?

Sorry, I saw that you have been a member for five years, I just assumed you knew JP is one of our sponsors. His link is at the bottom of every page of the forum.

[Jim Becker]

I haven't seen bare 7-24 for any less than $90 (Steiner's). You may be able to find a local source that would be competitive after you include shipping. Decent used rims with Cub lugs will probably run you nearly as much.

[ScottyD'sdad]

TM tractor, one of our sponsors, $121.33 each.

Ed

[BigBill]

The wheel centers of a fcub can be made to fit the farmall A rims. You need to grind the outer dimension of the cub rim centers to fit the narrower inside dimension of the farmall A rims. I'm doing it to run the 11.2 ags with 10" farmall A rims on farmall cub rim centers.

[Matt Kirsch]

Good used rear rims are one of those hot commodities that EVERYBODY seems to always be looking for. If you have a time table you might be better off just investing in the new ones.

[ccaissie]

The wheel centers of a fcub can be made to fit the farmall A rims. You need to grind the outer dimension of the cub rim centers to fit the narrower inside dimension of the farmall A rims. I'm doing it to run the 11.2 ags with 10" farmall A rims on farmall cub rim centers.

If you grind them to fit, I expect you can still use them to fit Cub rims at a later date?
How much needs to come off, approximately?

Any other issues? seems like a workable situation..

C

[Jim Becker]

If you grind them to fit, I expect you can still use them to fit Cub rims at a later date?
How much needs to come off, approximately?

Any other issues? seems like a workable situation..

C

If you do this, the centers will no longer be in contact with the Cub rim lugs. Consequently, the tractor will be only hanging from the bolts. People already have occasional trouble with loose wheel bolts. I would expect this to make the problem worse.