VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 28 wheel restoration question

Hi all, I have a ”˜28 Capitol LO one-ton truck in early stages of restoration. The wood spokes on the wheels are in excellent shape, but in order to properly clean and restore, i’d really like to remove the drums from the rear wheels. I have no intention of doing a full disassembly (pulling hubs and spokes), but would like the clean up the drums and gain access to the backs of the spokes. First, would you advise agains removing the drum? And Second, the ends of the bolts holding the drum in place look to have been punched or crudely cut, so while the nuts will back out a couple of turns easily, they start cutting into threads the further i unscrew... I’m worried i’ll destroy the threads and will need to replace the bolts. Maybe that’s okay... but thought i would check in with the seasoned vets before i go any further. Thanks!

Hi CapitalB, welcome!

No issues removing the brake drums, the ends of the original bolts were peened as an old school way to prevent the nuts from working loose. The easiest way to remove these nuts is to use an angle grinder to grind off the peened end of the bolt down to the nut itself and then spray them with your favorite penetrating oil (I'd recommend PB Blaster) and let it soak for a couple days. If you're lucky, the nuts will loosen without too much trouble. If they're stubborn, you can try using an impact wrench or carefully use a torch to heat the nut/bolt to get it to loosen. Worst case scenario you may end up snapping some of the bolts getting them off but that's not a big deal, I would personally recommend replacing them anyways. If memory serves me correct, they're 7/16" carriage bolts. I'd recommend using grade 5, grade 8 or stainless steel replacements (available through McMaster-Carr if your local hardware store doesn't carry them) and use locknuts vs. peening the bolts when you put it back together.

Once you get that done, I'd recommend spraying the wheels down with Purple Power or your favorite degreaser, let it sit for a day or two and scrub the hell out of them using scotch brite pads. Once you've knocked of as much grease and grime as you can with that, sand and brush them until they're nice and clean.

After that, I'd recommend carefully inspecting the spokes looking for any cracks or gaps. Assuming that the overall structure of the wheel is tight and does not have any obvious structural problems, clean out any of these cracks and work a high quality water proof wood glue into these cracks. Once you've done that, hand sand the spokes until you have removed any dried glue, remaining grime, finish etc.

Now it's time to oil the hickory spokes. I highly recommend using RAW linseed oil to start with, cover the spokes with the oil until it won't absorb any more. Come back the next day and do it again, and again until the spokes will not take any more oil. The reason I recommend using raw linseed oil to start with is that it will soak deeply into the dry old hickory much better than boiled linseed oil which will polymerize limiting how deeply it can penetrate.

Once you have done all of that, wait a week and decide how you want to finish the spokes. You have three main options 1) Oil them with BOILED linseed oil (it will polymerize/dry to protect the wood and prevent them from drying out). 2) Varnish them with a high quality SPAR urethane (for use outdoors, resists UV rays and cracking) lastly you could paint them if you really want to.

When I did my wheels, I used a Spar Urethane varnish and they turned out pretty good. Below is a picture of one of my rear wheels after restoring next to a front wheel before I restored it:



And this is what they look like now after completion:



-Tyler

WOW. Thanks so much for the thorough response. Can’t wait to get back on the wheels. I like the idea of grinding down the threads. Nuts turn freely at first, so sounds like a good solution and i should be able to re-use the originals bolts and nuts if desired.

BTW - great rig, and love the look of the wheels. Did you get that tone on the spokes just from the linseed oil and varnish combo? And curious to know if you did zinc coating or if your retainers and ring are painted.

Thanks again!

Bob

Hi Bob,

Not a problem! Yes, the color of the spokes are how they came out with just linseed oil and varnish, no stain or or anything else was used. My rims and retainers are just painted, I ended up using Van Sickle Tractor and Implement paint for everything since it was cheap and available off the shelf for future touch ups. The other thing I've seen some guys do is to have the rims and retainers powder coated.

Keep us updated on your progress!

-Tyler