Assembling Hegar Wheels

[PW_Plack]

I'm working to build my Vortex kit, and the manual calls for use of ACF-50 in assembling the wheel halves. It is intended to resist moisture and corrosion, but appears to be sold only in large volumes.

Evan Dagle at Sport Copter says I can substitute any oil which won't harm rubber, but didn't have any specific suggestions.

Is there something I can pick up at NAPA that will be suitable for this job?

 

[dragonflyerthom]

Paul 4 wheeler rear end oil will probably substitute. I know my four wheeler has rubber gaskets as retainer in them.

Hope this helps

Thom

 

[CLS447]

What size is that wheel, the valve stem hole seems huge ?

Does anyone here use tubes in their Hegar wheels ?

I have used soap solution to help pop the beads on, this might cause slight corrosion ?

My latest wheels I used a light application of silicone "SIL-GLIDE" & it worked fine .

Who's manual recommends this ?

Why doesn't the Hegar literature say a thing about this ?

 

[Caribean_gyro]

I just put a light coat of grease, synthetic grease around the wheel. corrosion block works also lps3. but lps3 will dry to a hard coat. like varnish. so you have to let both half dry before assembly. if not they will weld. is a strong Sh!! but you can disolve it with wd40 or thinner.

chuckP

 

[Rick Whittridge]

I always used GOOP hand cleaner

 

[gyromike]

I never could get my wheels to seal up well.
I put a set of tubes in them, and they haven't leaked down since.

 

[Timchick]

I rolled over a nail recently and I didn't use anything when I changed the tire. I got the bead started and pumped some air in it and it popped into place.

 

[Bob]

I use dish soap in a water soultion in a sprey bottle, However it will corrode or alow rust to start, alternateivly I use WD-40 which seams to evaporate MOSTLY away, however WD-40 does penetrate thr rubber of a tire or tube... which i think is a good theng as it keeps them from drying out and cracking... too much of it though may well cause problems..
my 2 coppers.
Bob.......

 

[iconnary]

Paul, I've got the exact same wheels on my Monarch and had to stuggle with them a good bit till I figured it out. Don't use soap - I did this and found my tires leaking a few weeks later. I took the wheels apart and found small pits in the aluminum where the soap had been. I smoothed out the pitted areas with high grit sandpaper.

I ended up using bead sealer (you can get this from NAPA). It's basically a black rubber cement sealer for mating tubeless tires to wheels. 6 months later and my tires haven't leaked at all.

 

[PW_Plack]

Guys, I appreciate the ideas!

It's not so much the beads I'm concerned with, but the gaskets for the disc that joins the halves in the center. You can see it in the picture, and it works like an O-ring.

Chris, the Sport Copter assembly manual specifically warns not to use soap, probably to avoid the problem Iven encountered. There are no instructions with the wheels, and the Hegar website is a one-pager with basic product listing and a phone number, no FAQ.

The wheels are 6-inch, and measure 6.5 inches across the face. That's not the valve stem hole, but actually the back of the installed valve. That's why it looks so big! (See picture below.)

 

[Bob]

Paul,
Typically when sealing up O-ring surfaces like on the valve cover of a KZ1000 Kawasaki motorcycle the factory told us to use assembly greese alone. the prosedure was to greese the surface that the o-ring will touch, though I usually got my fingers greesy and just greesed the entire O-ring sometimes this makes the o-ring pop out of its slot and is a real pain... so just greeseing the surface of the mateing surface with a smear of greese should cure any problems.
sense your wheels are machined alum with what looks like a disk with an o-ring in it . IF however the o ring is on one side only and the other side is machined flat then use RTV sealant from napa or most any other autoparts store for the machined surface to seal that side only. its a silicone sealant that is made for that type of application.
I would place the inner disk on the half and draw a line arround the outside so you can see how far you can go with the RTV sealant... or just do it by eyeball.... a small beed of RTV is all you need but you must seal it all off , some folks just do a circle arround each lug bolt hole on the inside and the axel hole, others do a large circle just inside the line i described earlier. eather way the idea is to seal off that porton of the wheel to any pressurized air in the tire. bolt it up and set it aside for a few hours then apply air for best results.
......

hope that helps.
Bob.........

 

[Rehan K.Janjua]

Hello Paul.

Dont worry about it too much.

Just go ahead and assemble them. I did the same and its been 5 years no problems yet.

You can use RTV, petrolium jelly, baby oil etc. But its like being too finiky.

Good luck.
Rehan

 

[C. Beaty]

Paul, those seals are most likely neoprene which isn’t attacked by petroleum based oil/grease.

If you’re concerned that they might be natural rubber, you should use an inorganic grease such as Dow/Corning DC-3. NAPA stores will have it in squeeze tubes of a couple of ounces.

 

[PW_Plack]

Guys, I appreciate the help.

When I came up for air (lunch) I called Hegar, and their tech said put 'em together dry, and I'll never have trouble with them.

 

[Bob]

I guess the tech never had o rings leak on him like I have.
to each their own ! chances are you'll get away with it anyway!
... if they go flat on ya try something else <Grin>
Bob.......