I do not know why there would be broken spokes on only one rear wheel. It
is not like there is a certain life expectancy for the spokes to have this
problem show up all of a sudden.
First question is, are the spokes chrome plated or stainless? If they are
chrome, I might send all the wheels back to a wheel supplier and have them
replaced with stainless steel spokes and rebalanced.
If the spokes are already stainless, the wheel might be bad. The wheel was
probably still running true even with the broken spokes otherwise the car
would have not been drivable. I would send the wheel off to replace the
spokes and balance it as a precaution.
Years ago when I was running 60 chrome spoke India Dunlops on my BT7,
(yeah,
I was warned later about these wheels, Moss had a good sale. Maybe that is
why they were on sale) I would always find a few broken spokes after
running gymkhanas. I ordered a bunch of stainless spokes from Dayton and
got pretty good at replacing the broken spokes without dismounting the
tire.
I had to remove the air from the tube and push the tire bead off the rim
and
then could move the tube out the way to replace and tighten the spokes. I
know that sometimes I had to remove an adjoining spoke to be able to get
the
broken one replaced with a new spoke.
Looking back at it now, I should have done the correct thing and sent the
wheels off to have all the spokes replaced.
Good luck. It is obviously a serous problem that needs to be taken care of
before you drive the car the next time. Buy a proper spoke wrench so you
don't round off the nipple corners. Check for tightness by tapping on all
the spokes with the wrench. They should all have about the same ring. If
one or more sounds like a lower or dead pitch, it needs tightening.
If you decide to put in the new spokes, you can check how true the wheel
and
tire is running by putting it on a front hub and hand spinning it with the
wheel barely off the floor.
Neil Anderson,
Who lives just south of I-90 in Illinois and has heard how bad that road is
this spring. Maybe the stimulus money will fix the highway.
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