AND Always grease the splines of both the wheel and the hub.
This will save you a great deal of pain and trouble in the years to
come.
Rich
> ----------
> From: edalsj(at)igs.net[SMTP:edalsj(at)igs.net]
> Sent: Saturday, April 19, 1997 6:34 AM
> To: Philippe Miloda
> Cc: alpines(at)autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: How to take off wire-wheels?
>
> Philippe,
>
> The two cap threads on the LEFT side are normal. That means that
> turning
> the cap clockwise tightens it up (right hand thread) and counter
> clockwise
> loosens it. The two cap threads on the RIGHT side are opposite (left
> hand
> threads). Turn them clockwise to loosen.
>
> As far as I know, there are two types of wire wheel caps used on
> Alpines.
> One type simply has a hexagonal outline, and a very large wrench with
> a
> matching hexagonal hole is used to remove it. The wrench is like a
> long
> rectangular section of steel with the hexagonal hole near one end,
> which is
> placed over the cap. The other end of the wrench is struck with a
> hammer to
> loosen, and/or tighten, the cap.
>
> The second type of cap used has wings or lugs coming out from the
> centre.
> There are usually three lugs, but if the cap has been transferred from
> a
> Healey or MG, it might have only two lugs. Threads are the same as
> described, but to remove these caps, one strikes the lugs in the
> desired
> direction with a SPECIAL HAMMER (fairly heavy) which is either all
> made of
> copper, or at least the striking area is copper. Copper hammers are
> slightly softer than the brass from which the cap is made, so do not
> significantly damage the caps. Steel hammers would rapidly damage the
> cap,
> and finding a replacement is not easy.
>
> Replacing the wheel is the reverse of removing it. Do the cap up by
> hand as
> far as it will go, then tighten the cap either with the wrench or with
> the
> copper hammer. When using the copper hammer, the sound tells you when
> it is
> starting to really tighten the wheel. As it tightens, the sound
> becomes
> solid and rises a little. Don't overtighten the cap, remember you
> still
> have to get it off in the future, but a few miles after replacing a
> wheel,
> you should check it for tightness. You will soon find out how tight
> they
> need to be.
>
> Hope this is what you were looking for.
>
> John S.
>
>
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