Marcus:
Forgot to mention that the CA owner is supposedly running an Alcoa wheel
normally used on late model Ford dually trucks. I believe that since
that wheel does not use the piloted feature of the hub, that a thin
spacer is needed.
You may want to contact Jim Anstett to get the CA coach owners name and
talk to him about the details.
Paul
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bartz, Paul
> Sent: Thursday, April 30, 1998 9:35 AM
> To: 'gmcmotorhome'
> Subject: RE: GMC: Wide Dish Alcoa
>
> Marcus:
>
> Despite the dire predictions of front wheel bearing failure you always
> hear whenever someone mentions using a wheel with less offset than
> recommended, I'm not sure people have a valid argument. Mostly, I
> believe, they are parroting what they have heard from someone else.
>
> I'm aware of three coaches running the wider wheels without apparent
> bearing difficulty.
>
> The comments you attribute to Jim Anstett, I believe, pertain to a
> coach that I'm told attended the GMCMI Las Vegas Rally. The owner,
> who lives in CA, I understand hired a competent engineer to calculate
> the loads associated with the wide wheels vs. the original.
> Supposedly, the loads were more favorable when the wide set wheels are
> used. Would like to see the calculations, however.
>
> I'm also told that a GMC Dixelanders coach owner, from TN, has been
> running the wide wheels for many years. Allegedly, he's not done any
> bearing replacement and has worn out a Jasper engine in the meantime.
>
> Jack Burke, from Mentone IN, also runs the wide wheels.
>
> In spite of the supposed negatives in doing so, is anyone aware of
> disastrous results in running wide set wheels? I'm not.
>
> Reaction to the above should be interesting.
>
> Paul Bartz
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marcus McGee [SMTP:crsalert]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 1998 5:06 PM
> To: gmcmotorhome
> Subject: Re: GMC: Wide Dish Alcoa
>
> I want them on the front, not the rear. Well, maybe when I see them
> I'll change my mind.
>
> Marcus
>
>
> You should consider the problems they are going to cause. If for some
> reason you lose air in the back or have a soft tire, you can almost
> guarantee that you will lose an airbag, and maybe more. The coach was
> designed to use 8.75 tires and anything larger will cause interference
> problems at certain times. I talked to people at Cinnabar a short
> time ago with the same plan to put larger tires on my coach,since I
> plan to replace the 16.5 tires with 16" ones anyway. They very
> strongly were against the larger tires.
>
>
> O'boy another post about Acoa Wheels!!!!!!!
>
> In this months GMCMM Jin Anstett writes about test driving a fellow
> GMC'ers coach with "WIDE DISH" Alcoas on the front. After saying it
> drove beyond belief over the large ruts on an interstate, he goes on
> to say that it is problematic with the bearings, steering gear etc.
>
> Ok, I agree on all the loading problems, but "I WANT WIDER WHEELS ON
> MY COACH". I know its wrong so don't yell at me. I want them and
> they look good filling that empty wheel well.
>
> OK, so what is the # of the forbiiden wheel? Jim did not say in his
> article.
>
> Marcus
