solid front wheel material

[JustaRacer]

Thanks JustaRacer

Any suitable rims at your work?

Nope.  There are aircraft junkyards, but I've never been to one.  I know that the military normally makes you cut up airplane parts after sale.

Time for you to start calling used aircraft part places and taking notes.  Ask for other places they know of, and any P/N's that might work.

[sawdawg]

I made some solid wheels for my streamliner using some 6 series aluminum, they are 13.5 inches in diameter and four inches wide. The aluminum only was over $800 dollars plus machining. There are several teams using solid wheels I had to make them because SCTA was putting a speed limit on my previous rubber wheels. They were the 5x5 inch donut wheels that used to be used on dragsters. They tended to build up heat after three miles and chunk or explode. I'm converting my streamliner to a lakester now and the solid wheels are for sale if they might work for you. They mount on angela type spindles which are also for sale.

[Stainless1]

FastL, watch Ebay for wheels, none will be usable as is, most will probably need modification for your use.  Never try to put an aircraft tire on a one piece wheel.  Watch government surplus sales.  You may have to buy a lot of stuff but it will be cheap.
Acft wrecking yard... try Alamo Aircraft in San Antonio.  There is probably a similar place near Ogden Utah, Warner Robbins Georgia and any other government repair depot.  New tires must be mounted on a wheel within 3 years of manufacture or they go to surplus.  Wheels are time change items.  Just because a part has "timed out" for an airplane does not make it unusable for your purposes.  Tires and wheels are sized the same, a 4.4x18 tire fits on a 4.4x18 wheel, wheel will be a 10 inch.  You will likely find a lot more 20x4.4 than 18, that one has a 12 inch wheel.  See the pattern yet.
The search takes time. 

[JustaRacer]

...  Watch government surplus sales.  You may have to buy a lot of stuff but it will be cheap. ...

Make sure you read the fine print before bidding on a lot.  Due to ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), the US gov't is putting "must be destroyed prior to leaving" on most parts of weapons systems, such as aircraft.

Here's the Gov't site:  http://www.govliquidation.com/

You might notice that there are very few aircraft parts anymore.  Unless it was a "dual use" part number, the aircraft parts are sold in bulk scrap, and must be destroyed.

Note this example:

http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=5944638&convertTo=USD

These are wrecked jet engines.  However:

All scrap under this contract requires mutilation by the buyer prior to removal if allowed by the base or the mutilation must be witnessed and certified by DOD personnel at another facility. Title to the material does not transfer to buyer until scrap has been mutilated. Buyer agrees to allow USG personnel to witness destruction. Mutilation for purposes of our contractual obligation is defined as physically altering an item so that it is no longer suitable for its intended purpose and cannot be reconditioned

[Stainless1]

Usually just want it de-mil'd, they figured out a while back that a lot of scrap was being sold back to them as usable.  They don't want to buy wrecked jet turbine blades back.    
In my old job I helped the gov run down a bunch of bad fuel pumps that were removed and scrapped 20 years earlier... before another airplane exploded in flight... yep they had bought them back and were putting them on airplanes.

[fastlammy]

I made some solid wheels for my streamliner using some 6 series aluminum, they are 13.5 inches in diameter and four inches wide. The aluminum only was over $800 dollars plus machining. There are several teams using solid wheels I had to make them because SCTA was putting a speed limit on my previous rubber wheels. They were the 5x5 inch donut wheels that used to be used on dragsters. They tended to build up heat after three miles and chunk or explode. I'm converting my streamliner to a lakester now and the solid wheels are for sale if they might work for you. They mount on angela type spindles which are also for sale.

Thanks for that ill keep.it mind.

[fastlammy]

Just a quick message, to thoughs that have been interested in this thread, managed to pick up 2 aircraft rims , and some used tires to help with the planning stages of my build.still undecided what to do on the front rim side of things, and as ive been lucky enough to get hold 2 rims im woundering wether i should just run the same front and back?as ive relized running a solid rim will limit my ability test the bike(on a beach maybe, but wouldnt be able to put it on a runway with a solid front rim)

[Jon]

Cool, you planning on starting a build diary?

The amount of assistance I've been given on mine is pretty humbling and worthwhile, my bike will be better from it.

Cheers
jon

[fastlammy]

Hi jon

yes i will do but not quite yet,if your offer is still there for that spreedsheet info i,ll take you up on it
cheers Nicholai

[Speed Limit 1000]

What size tires did you get? All tires are not rated the same for speed. If you google the federal stock number it should give you the speed rating. Shaving does help keep the heat down and extends the life. Good luck. Will be watching for your build

[fastlammy]

There the front landing gear tires of a small passenger jet, 18-4.4-10 210mph rated,Michelin brand, require 69psi. any one got any info on shaving them, the guy at the airport workshop was super helpful and has offered me an ongoing supply of used tires to play with and test with.

[Speed Limit 1000]

I have cut a few. Found regular tire shops can not shave them, the rubber is too hard. I have cut them on a lathe, with a pointed tool from the side, cuts come off like rubber bands. I have also made a set up to spin them and use a body grinder with very coarse sand paper, this makes a big mess but does a very nice job, takes some time but you can remove the water chern and  they look good when your finished. Good luck.

[manta22]

I had thought about using aircraft tires on a project that never got started but I was told by someone (Goodyear?) that although aircraft tires may have high speed ratings, they are not capable of sustaing those speeds for longer distances. Anyone else heard this?

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[Speed Limit 1000]

Neil,

If the aircraft guys will talk to you, they all say that. The 18 X 4.4 217 KTS tires on the front of the Bockscar are shaved and have been good so far to 246 MPH The older 20 X 4.4 195 KTS type VII tires ran ok at 230 MPH not shaved, but we had problems, tread loss at 200 MPH, with new ones. We started using 21 inch LSR Goodyears on the rear but plan to shave some of the 20 X 4.4 tires.

John