> Jim Rice wrote:
> > Aren't the solid rims from an MA or early MB?
> >
> > Now, the big issue. What is the value compared to combat rims? He and
> > I are looking to trade out for or towards a couple of sets of combat
> > rims.
Ron Fitzpatrick wrote:
> Jim,
> Here in northern calif, at the last Big Bear the solid rims sold for
> $125.oo ( the last day) and a good combat rims will sell for $45.oo
> -$50.oo. you are correct MA early MB and Bantam.
>
> Ron
Reply;
In the New England area, combat rims bring about $100 apiece if they need
the usual restoration. Excellent solid rims seem to be about the price, my
buddy, Ron
quoted. Possibly, a reflection of the condition of parts due to the
different weather. Combat rims which need nothing bring $250 or $300. I
am told (but have never looked into it), so I am only repeating this, that
the repro combat rims recently had a major price increase and are now $200
each. One thing to remember is that the price difference is not, entirely,
attributable to supply and demand. At least some, and maybe most of it, is
due to the fact that the combat rims can need a lot more work to restore
them
than a solid wheel. So a beat combat rim is worth less than a solid
but a mint one, in my opinion, is worth more. While the solid rims are
rarer, there are also far less Jeeps which need them and the ones you do
find can usually be salvaged, whereas with combat rims you may need (here
we go again) 8 or 10 to make a perfect set of 5.
The second thing is that while MA, GP, Bantam and early MB used solid rims,
so did a lot of other period and contemporary vehicles. Some were wider,
had different center hub diameters and different contours on the inside of
the wheel. Suzuki even made a 4wheeler during the 70s and early 80s which
had externally, very similar wheels and they bolt up.
The easiest, pretty sure, way to tell is to look for the Kelsey Hayes
marking and date (inside, near the valve stem hole, not stamped very deeply
so, usually rusted and illegible). The military wheels were 4 inches wide
but there is a listing for 4.5 inches wide, supposedly for slat grilles
with 6.50X16 tires. I've never seem these and if they did ever get
produced one would expect that they would be dated 1941.... 42 at the
latest.
I've had a West Coast purveyor of Jeep parts swear to me that he has a set
but they are dated 1945. I believe they are early CJ2A wheels.
Anyway, if you don't have any takers nearer to you. And if they are 4"
wide, "double drop" KH wheels in excellent condition (no egged-out bolt
holes, no pits, they run true, etc.), dated 1941, I'd be willing to trade
for combat rims
in some agreeable number and condition. I should be driving to Sante Fe in
mid September.
Now the last thing is... Why did they switch from solid to slotted (on
CJs)? I have heard folks say it's for brake cooling but anyone who has
driven a Jeep with 9" brakes knows that they don't stop the vehicle, so
there's no heat needing to be expelled. Todd and I were visiting friends
when they told us that it was to stabilize the Jeep in a crosswind. (Anyone
observing us would have thought we were in an incredulous look contest.) I
had always thought it was so that you could attach those little singlet
tire chains without having to use a full chain. Recently, however, someone
told me that it was because it was easier to manufacture a wheel which
would run true if it wasn't attached 360 degrees around it's perimeter.
More like a spoked wheel. This sounds reasonable until you look at both
and see that, solid or slotted, they are only attached by the same number
of rivets and at the same points.
Anyone have any ideas?
Regards,
JP
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