Rehabilitating HMMWV Wheels

[bshupe]

I just got my sets of HMMWV wheels and I am looking for some pointers on getting them road ready.

I need new valve stems for most of them so I think I will just replace all. I dont have a source though.

I think I should just replace the o-rings but if there is a good solution for lubricating them and giving them a longer life I would like to hear it.

The wheels are black and I think I would like to paint them to match the truck and it seems like I could just clean them up real good and paint but I dont want to do it a bunch of times as paint peels off either. Has anyone painted their wheels w/o a bunch of sanding prep etc? How did it go?

I cant decide about painting the wheel bolts. I think the whole wheel painted as a unit is more authentic looking but bolts unpainted is a little cleaner but is also sparkly which is unacceptable so I am leaning towards painting. Has anyone come up with an effective mask to not get paint all over the tires while painting?

Thanks for any input!

 

[doghead]

What rims did you get? There are several versions. What tires do you plan to use with them? They are not all compatible.

 

[1ton cucv k5 turbo]

go to trailfabworthy.com as they have the Orings, Valve stems, etc for your wheels. Doghead is correct, ensure you know exactly what type of H1's you have...
As not all are the same or compatible...

i believe you can can just simple grease, the same as you would use to pack wheel bearings for o ring lubication. as when i broke down my wheels.. that stuff was everywhere from with inside the rims.

As far as painting goes, and your budget, you could just have them powdered coated, or media blasted, than painted. the coating that originally comes on the wheels is very durable and difficult to remove. i would recommend removing the tires completely and the o ring for painting. rattle can them with paint from copart.

 

[steelsoldiers]

hummerpartsguy.com has the OEM wheel parts. David is reasonably priced and a nice guy to boot.

Use tire soap or a strong soapy water made with Dawn for assembly. The soapy water is also good for finding leaks.

There is grease all over the inside of the tires because the military slathers it on there for the runflats. That's the worst part about getting used tires. I just got 5 that were dripping with old GAA. I'll have it smeared up to my elbows trying to wipe them out.

 

[bshupe]

Thanks Guys!

The wheels I have are the 12 bolt variety.... supposedly the current model but now your questions have me wondering if I actually know what they are. I have one of them with me at work so I will snap a photo later and upload.

The tires I have are all HMMWV take-offs from JBLM. 4 are the older style like most people have and 4 are the newer style being used on the up-armored HMMWV. I dont have the tires with me so I cant get the actual models at this moment. If you click on the link in my siggy "Build Thread" there is a photo of the tires in there.

Thanks for the info on cleaning and lubing. I will give that a try first and see how it goes. The seals dont look too bad but I dont want to have a road failure either.

I do need bolts and stems so I will look up the sources you mentioned and see what I can work out.

The tires all looked very clean inside so maybe someone else cleaned them out already?

 

[steelsoldiers]

Personally, I wouldn't try to reuse the o-rings. They tend to take a "set" after being assembled and will more than likely leak once reassembled. If you are assembling them yourself, that's a lot of wrenching with 48 nuts and 2 torque steps to find out your o-rings won't hold. New ones are cheap insurance.

According to the TM, all tires with rubber runflats should have lubricating gel spread along the crown of the tire during assembly. I don't know what the gel is made of, but I know for a fact a lot of them were assembled with GAA. Your tires must have been cleaned out.

 

[bshupe]

Again, more great information. Thanks!

I was noticing the tires in your avatar and those are what half the ones I bought are like and the other half are the newer/HD version.

I will go for new o-rings then. They dont cost that much. Certainly not as much as one or more flats somewhere would cost in time, money and sanity.

Here are a couple of photos of the wheels in the event a visual on them would help identify there type. I am not planning on running any run-flat devices for now. I may eventually put them in inventory for when the balloon goes up but besides that I might run the PVC bead locks for good measure. I will be sure to add some additional reserve of lube to the BOV kit for putting the run flats in. lol

HERE is the tire photo.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Your wheels look good. They are standard 12-bolt rims meant for 37x12.50R16.50 radial tires like the ones in my avatar. The newer Baja TAs will also work fine on them. The Baja's can be found in D or E load range for the ECV HMMWVs. I am using Load Range D TAs with Load Range E 24-bolt wheels. My truck will be less than 7000 lbs so the E tires would be overkill but I may upgrade at some point.

Make sure you clean the oring groove obsessively as any little grit or rust area could cause a leak. The military runflat/beadlocks are heavy and a PITA to install. They also make the wheels difficult to balance. I am using a set of PVC beadlocks from Trailworthy Fab to lock my rubber in place. They have been pretty easy to deal with so far.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Your wheels look good. They are standard 12-bolt rims meant for 37x12.50R16.50 radial tires like the ones in my avatar. The newer Baja TAs will also work fine on them. The Baja's can be found in D or E load range for the ECV HMMWVs. I am using Load Range D TAs with Load Range E 24-bolt wheels. My truck will be less than 7000 lbs so the E tires would be overkill but I may upgrade at some point.

Make sure you clean the oring groove obsessively as any little grit or rust area could cause a leak. The military runflat/beadlocks are heavy and a PITA to install. They also make the wheels difficult to balance. I am using a set of PVC beadlocks from Trailworthy Fab to lock my rubber in place. They have been pretty easy to deal with so far.

 

[bshupe]

Thanks for that confirmation.

I took one over to my machine shop buddy and I think we will be welding the valve stem hole closed or mostly closed and then will drill it out for a standard rubber/snap-in schrader valve. It is a little bit annoying that the hole is just slightly longer than 1/2" and the rubber valves are all just slightly under. I think the combination of those two things equals too much of a difference to just ream out the whole an go with it.

My 1031 currently sits at 7300# but once the contact box, genset and compressor are out it will also be well below 7000# so I could also go with load D tires. Perhaps when these ones I have wear out I will downgrade. If the take-offs are still available I will likely go that direction. $75/tire is just not something I can not take advantage of.

I will definitely get the wheels as clean as I possibly can before assembly. I am mixed on the bead locks. I dont really need them, the added weight or cost.

Happy Easter!

 

[ryan77]

Put the o rings in the freezer over night to shrink them a little! The o rings are a little to big and will pop out! I put the o ring in and put the nuts on the wheel and slowly tightened the bolts one side at a time and popped the o ring back in the groove with my hand slowly going around the wheel to make sure the o ring was seated in the groove. Then i used ether to pop the tire out or you can have a tire shop set the bead for u. The valve stems i got of ebay for $20.00 bucks each using the nsn in the search.

 

[bshupe]

I will use the freezer trick for sure. After you freeze and seat them do they pretty much stay put after that?

Ive not heard of using ether for a tire install. Maybe Ill wait till the fourth to try that one. What I have done in the past with larger tires is to put a cargo strap around the circumference of the tire and tighten it up. This doesnt seat the tire all the way but it gets it close enough that air pressure applied will finish seating it. I learned this from a tire shop a long time ago. Most of them use a pneumatic version of the same thing now if the tire is giving them trouble.

Thanks again for the tips and help!

 

[ryan77]

I tried the strap trick i used to do it when i worked at Pep Boys in High school it wouldnt work on mine probably because mine were stacked 10 high in a pile and squashed.

 

[ABN173]

I'm getting ready to do the same exact thing, ordering the new red O-rings in the next couple of days. My wheels are pretty good two are brad new and two are good. The tires are decent with 90% tread though one has a ding on the side wall I may have to find another wheel/tire and make the questionable one a spare.

-Dale

 

[bshupe]

I found a very nice metal stem that will fit the wheels and not be in the way on the inside for about $6 each. Im going to weld the factory hole shut and then drill a round hole in the same spot. Should work great.

 

[Warren Lovell]

Red o-ring for 24 bolt wheel is NSN NUMBER
5331014171043 RCSK17877 "O-RING, WHEELS ASM"
This info was provided by Hummer Parts Guy and verified through a military exploded drawing with part numbers.
Attached is the PDF for the 24 bolt wheel with all the part numbers. Enjoy!

 

[dstang97]

Funny you had to put them into the freezer. Mine were to short and had to stretch them.

 

[tvguy]

Funny you had to put them into the freezer. Mine were to short and had to stretch them.

X2

 

[1ton cucv k5 turbo]

X2

X 3..... lol

 

[quickfarms]

X 3..... lol

X4