Need a rim for my TC3 trailer

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love2fly

Flying the Mountains of the NW
Joined
Sep 7, 2004
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509
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I am in need of a 15x7 steel wheel for my TC3 trailer. Anyone have one as shown that you would sell. Thanks
83686 area

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No idea what a TC3 trailer is, but if I were to guess at the wheel I'd say that it is a 5x5.5" bolt pattern. Those should be pretty easy to find since most Jeeps, all Scout's, all Early Broncos, and most Samurai's use that bolt pattern. If I'm correct in my guess then you should be able to buy that wheel fairly easily.

Likely that a new non OE type wheel will be less $$ than the OE type that you have unless found used somewhere. Something like these for $56 each new:
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My WWII 1/4 ton MBT came with 15" jeep wheels that looked like those but are not 7" wide. Is your Trailer a BT3-C? Early ones came with 16" combat rims like my MBT would of had originally. I've located one combat rim and some M100 rims which are 16". I think the civilian BT3-C had 15s once they dropped the combat rims.
 
Bantam T3-C
I should of been a bit more precise and added a photo or two of the trailer to give a better perspective.
The TC-3 trailers were the offspring of the WW11 1/4 ton trailers made by Bantam trailers using the overstock of the parts meant for military production but made for the civilian population after the war. This trailer mainly had a tailgate added and a hitch on the later models.
I tried a 1960s Jeep wheel but it did not fit. The wheel is wanted for a spare to match the others. 15x7
Thanks

http://bantamt3c.com/

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The offset is more important than the width of the rim. The jeep rim rims you tried did they look like the ones you pictured? Don't see any reason for Bantam to change the design of the axle other than dropping the hand brake. Never hear of any problem of finding rims for the civilian trailers Bantam made trying to keep the company afloat post WWII. Here are the rims that were on my Willys MBT when I bought.


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Yeah the Jeep one tried I believe were the combat wheels that a friend had, more round in the center like a smoothie wheel would look like. Mine look just as yours but black. I will keep looking.
Thanks
 
I believe all the combat rims for jeeps and 1/4 ton trailers were 16". Unlike a split rim that has a removable outer ring on one side this unbolts into two half. The one I have does have the ring stamped into where the lock nuts go. I would measure the backspacing and go from there. I think part of the issue is the center hole is larger to fit over the hub. My early wheels have a about 4 1/4" hole while my M416 wheels are under 4". Back spacing appears around 4" early and 5" for the M416 wheels. Have you checked to be sure your wheels are really 7" wide? That seems too wide for something back then.
 
Wow do I need to take a vacation, I see that I wrote 15x7, man that should be 15x6. I need to proof read.
Thanks
 
Correct the TC-3 civilian trailers had no had brake, but the military models did. Mine is a civilian model.
Thanks

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I did some grinding on the LC hubs and drilled the M100 drum to fit. I took a lot of pictures for a write-up but I wanted to get some miles on it first to make sure everything worked OK. I still only have about 100 miles on it.

Adapting to the M100 brake drum was probably 80% of the work. If you don't have brakes then you should be able to install the hubs with little problem.

The disadvantage is you lose almost 1/4" backspace. The LC hubs are not as long (bearing to bearing) as the M100 hubs.

Also the spindle nut sticks out past the outer part of the hub so you cannot use the flat hub/bearing cover (even though the hole pattern is the same). I used the ends of some old style "can shaped" warn hubs for this. They worked very well.

I'm pretty sure I used:
Early FJ4X front hubs (used with drum brakes)
Cleaned and reused the OEM inner bearing
Timken seal 225450 (don't use the OEM seal, the inner diameter is too large)
Timken outer bearing 24780
Timken outer race 24720
Ends of course spline Warn hubs

In the pic above, I was test fitting some 40 wheels that I eventually want to use. For now, I'm running some freebie Tacoma wheels w/ spacers. Here you can see the Warn hub ends:wrench::beer::wrench:

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Okay after some time searching I found the wheel at a military vehicle show. I was leaving, I looked over to the side of the building and there she was identical to the one I had. $10 later I was set. Old 1950s Jeep wheel. Now I need tires as the tires I had have a bit of dry rot.
Thanks, still like to see the trailer when completed.

ALL DONE
 
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i know early CJ rims will work, even after market ... combat rims are too expensive to use .... there is a guy near me selling a set of 4 with 31x10.5 tires on them with decent tread for $80 for all 4 ....
 
I did some grinding on the LC hubs and drilled the M100 drum to fit. I took a lot of pictures for a write-up but I wanted to get some miles on it first to make sure everything worked OK. I still only have about 100 miles on it.

Adapting to the M100 brake drum was probably 80% of the work. If you don't have brakes then you should be able to install the hubs with little problem.

The disadvantage is you lose almost 1/4" backspace. The LC hubs are not as long (bearing to bearing) as the M100 hubs.

Also the spindle nut sticks out past the outer part of the hub so you cannot use the flat hub/bearing cover (even though the hole pattern is the same). I used the ends of some old style "can shaped" warn hubs for this. They worked very well.

I'm pretty sure I used:
Early FJ4X front hubs (used with drum brakes)
Cleaned and reused the OEM inner bearing
Timken seal 225450 (don't use the OEM seal, the inner diameter is too large)
Timken outer bearing 24780
Timken outer race 24720
Ends of course spline Warn hubs

In the pic above, I was test fitting some 40 wheels that I eventually want to use. For now, I'm running some freebie Tacoma wheels w/ spacers. Here you can see the Warn hub ends:wrench::beer::wrench:

View attachment 903961


I know this is an old thread, but how much wider did the conversion make your track width?
 
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