Split Rim on 1958 Ford Mainline Ute

[mercman from oz]

A friend of mine was travelling home in his nice 1958 Ford Mainline Ute. heading home out on the highway, he was sitting on 60MPH when the car started to give signs that something was not right. He slowed down some, and continued on. However, the problem still existed. When he did a visual check, everything seemed OK and he continued on to his next overnight stop. Looking under the car, he saw that something was wrong with one of the front wheels? This is what he saw. The inside of the 16" wheel had split, but the tyre still remained inflated. He put the Spare Wheel on and continued on his journey with no further problems. All told, he traveled 2000 km round trip. What is the cause of this? Do these Ford Rims split very often?

[Dobie Gillis]

Radial tires? They can stress a rim due to increased lateral forces compared to the original bias ply tires. The rims were designed for bias ply tires. Use of radials usually doesn't cause an issue, but if the rim was weak in the split area that may be the cause.

[rotorwrench]

I can't tell for sure from the photograph but there appears to be a small pucker in the edge. It likely cracked whenever that happened and the crack grew from stress & fatigue. Any tire puts pressure there in turns but radial tires add a bit more leverage to the mix and therefore more pressure in a hard turn. Wheel rims can corrode in that area too from moisture seeping in so that doesn't help.

[paul2748]

May have been the way it was manufactured (weak spot) or the metal was thin in that spot but has held up over the years. After 60 some years gave up the ghost due to age.

[Daves55Sedan]

Originally Posted by Dobie Gillis

Radial tires? They can stress a rim due to increased lateral forces compared to the original bias ply tires. The rims were designed for bias ply tires. Use of radials usually doesn't cause an issue, but if the rim was weak in the split area that may be the cause.

But if you look at the picture, that's not a radial. It looks like an old 8.00 x 15 snow tire.
I have seen many of the '55/56 Ford wheels in various conditions and even the worst ones I have had in the past were never weak enough at that corner to split.
I've been running radials on my '55 car for over ten years mounted on the original wheels. The worst thing that ever happened was that a tire developed a small leak from turning a corner too fast and split the bead sealer so I had to de-mount the tire and re-seal it with fresh goop.
And look at the photo of that wheel. It looks like it hardly has any rust on it anywhere.
I am aware the tire mfrs call for wider wheels than we have if you want to use radials, but I've been getting away with using them for a whole lotta miles.
That wheel must have been a factory blooper.

[Lanny]

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mercman, curious if that tire was tubeless or does it have a tube in it ?









.

[willowbilly3]

Sorry I'm no help but I would love to see pictures of the 58 Ute, don't think I've ever seen one. thanks

[Ole Don]

Years ago, I had a 65 Ford Fairlane. One of the wheels split after I put on radial tires. It was not nearly as bad as that one, but I hammered it back into place, brazed it, and ran tubeless radials for years afterward.

[mercman from oz]

I just phoned the owner and he said that he was running Radial Tyres with Tubes.

[KULTULZ]

SAFETY RIM

Wheels were strengthened for radial tire applications.

[mercman from oz]

This picture from the cover of the Australian Sales Brochure shows what a 1958 Ford Mainline Ute looks like. It is a similar vehicle to the one that the Rim split on.

[mercman from oz]

willowbilly3 asked what a 58 Ford Mainline Ute looks like? Here is a picture of a similar vehicle to the one that had problems with the Rim. Basically, the body is a carry over from the 55/56 models, and Ford Australia added the Grille from the 1955 Canadian Meteor. All put together, it became our local 1958 Ford. No USA styled 57 or 58 Fords were ever sold in Australia. We just added different trim to the 55/56 bodies for 57 and 58.

[V8 Bob]

Originally Posted by KULTULZ

SAFETY RIM

Wheels were strengthened for radial tire applications.

The "safety" wheels first appeared around 1940, long before radial tires.
Wheels gained strength over the years simply because of increased vehicle weights and higher speeds.
I have never seen or heard of any radial-specific wheels during the bias/belted tire era up to the '70s.

[V8 Bob]

Originally Posted by Lanny

mercman, curious if that tire was tubeless or does it have a tube in it ?
.

Tubes simply contain air, and provide no additional strength, or stress, to a wheel.

[dmsfrr]

Originally Posted by mercman from oz

I just phoned the owner and he said that he was running Radial Tyres with Tubes.

Originally Posted by V8 Bob

Tubes simply contain air, and provide no additional strength, or stress, to a wheel.

Lanny was likely curious, as was I, how the Ute owner was able to continue driving when a tubeless wheel & tire combination should not have been able to hold air.
The tube successfully postponed what would have been a nearly immediate breakdown.

.

[KULTULZ]

Originally Posted by V8 Bob

The "safety" wheels first appeared around 1940, long before radial tires.[

Well, actually quite some time before that. When major auto manufacturers began using them is the main subject.

What I was trying to get across (not too well) is that the most likely reason the tire did not leave the rim is because it was most likely a safety-rim design.

Wheels gained strength over the years simply because of increased vehicle weights and higher speeds.

Yes, and including the more frequent use of radials.

I have never seen or heard of any radial-specific wheels during the bias/belted tire era up to the '70s.

Well, I have. A radial puts much more side stress on a rim bead that does a bias-ply.

Photos showing non-safety and safety rim design.

[KULTULZ]

Originally Posted by V8 Bob

Tubes simply contain air, and provide no additional strength, or stress, to a wheel.

Originally Posted by dmsfrr

Lanny was likely curious, as was I, how the Ute owner was able to continue driving when the wheel & tire should not have been able to hold air.


The tube successfully postponed what would have been a nearly immediate breakdown.

IMHO

(In My Honest Opinion)

Well, the tire bead did not leave the rim, most likely its being a safety-rim.

Had the tire bead left the wheel (as a result of a failed wheel bead), the tube (if so equipped) would simply have ballooned and been damaged. The actual wheel bead is what kept the tire on the wheel.

[mercman from oz]

Here is a picture of that Ford Rim with the Tyre removed.

[Daves55Sedan]

It's pretty clear to me based upon the photos of the damaged wheel, that it is an original 1949-1956 Ford 15 inch wheel and none of those wheels for cars had safety beads.
I have a pair of 15 inch wheels with the Ford bolt pattern that do have the safety bead, but they came off a 1970's full-size Ford car. Those wheels look completely different than the '49-56 wheels. I would bet there are a lot of people using them on their old Fords today that don't know they aren't the original wheels since the measurement from the outer face of the brake drum to the wheel beads is identical to the old wheels, thus they are interchangeable in the sense that you can achieve a good wheel alignment using them if you had to mix and match some of the '70's wheels with the original wheels.
Notice how the back face of the damaged wheel looks great (except for the damaged bead) in the top photos he posted, but in the photo above, the inside area of the bead appears to have major corrosion (probably from wire brushing during too many tire changes). It's un-avoidable unless you get new tires every time and have low-mileage commute's.
Once apon a time, I had all the wheels on the car and the Courier sandblasted, then acid-etched before primering hoping that the extra measure to prevent rust at the tire bead would protect the wheel from weakening due to corrosion. I had thought about epoxy-paint coating at least the bead area, but feared that it would chip during tire changes and cause problem with sealing the tire to the wheel. What can ya do ?