Offset wheels and bearing loading

[gary j zingle]

"That may be correct, but the wheel weight is loaded at the
bolts not the hub. It is a simple lever/fulcrum effect on the
bearings, with the fulcrum at the bolt line. If you offset in
5" or out 5" the weight at the bolts is the same."

Your last "E"mail clarified where I believe the error in
logic is coming from. It is true that it is a simple leve/fulcrum,
however as far as the bearings are concerned it is not the
location of the bolt line that counts.

The bolts are simply a convenient method of attaching
the wheel to the hub.

If you didn't need to service (fix flats, brakes, bearings etc.)
the bolts would be unnecessary. It could be one piece
between the road and the bearings. The bearings wouldn't care.

The simple lever is between the centerline of the tire and
the bearings.

All the gobbly gook inbetween - wheel, bolts, hub, etc are
simply the parts making up the mechanism (lever) for
transfering the load between the centerline of the tire
and the bearings.

Is the offset on the GM correct? I don't know, but I do know
that it matters.

That is the way I have always understood it anyhow.

Regards


Gary Zingle
1973 GMC 26 foot

 

[travism]

> The bolts are simply a convenient method of attaching
> the wheel to the hub.

Thanks, Gary, I think you've said it better than I've been able to. The
vectors cancel each other; it doesn't matter where you put the bolt line.

Travis