Hi,
My 735 Stanley has one rear wheel with slightly loose spokes, it clicks while driving. The problem is worse now that it has been in a dry heated building for a year or so. Anyone out there have advise on how to tighten things up? Also I thought while I had the wheels off that I would check out the brake drums to see how worn they are. Does anyone know what the original specs where for the brake drums?
Thanks,
Eric

First thing I think is to see what is the source of damage is,,dry storage,,rot,,loose bolts,,,examine closely,,Go from there,,,Good luck,,Ben

Eric there are a lot of Band-Aid fix’s like socking the wheels in water, or a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine. They’re still loose and will dry out again before the season is out.
The marine trade has an epoxy sealer CPES (clear penetrating epoxy sealer).
This stuff is very watery and cures slowly; it will seep into all the tiniest spaces. It’s used to fill rotten wood. Several brands are on the market. You keep apply coat after coat every twenty minutes till there is no more space or crack showing. It will tighten up the wheel very well. Or you spend the dollars and have new spokes and fellows built.
If the wheels are off the car I would scrape all the varnish or paint off the wood and wash it with Oxalic acid. (wood bleach) let dry for a few days then use the epoxy. If your going to paint the wheels there is a filler epoxy that goes over the CPES made for wood.

Rolly

I took the wheel off today and partially took things apart. The wood looks to be in good shape, just a bit shrunk up. I purchased a product called "Chair Doctor" that is supposed to swell shrunken wood back up and might give it a try once I get things a bit cleaner. The brake drums look a bit glazed, they must get pretty hot as the paint behind the drum is all bubbled up. Does anyone know the original wheel colors for a 1918 735? The Firestone rims are now painted silver, is that correct?
Thanks, Eric

Looking at black and white photo's the break drums were painted black, and the rims were silver. I will be taking my wheels apart next month to tighten them up.

CWR

Here's the technique used on the Stanley Museum's Model 70 when it was at Auburn Heights for some attention. It uses Quik-Poly, a fast-setting, water-thin 2-part epoxy.

1. Remove hub.
2. Tape all the flat surfaces on both sides where the hubs mount.
3. Tape the inside of the hole for the axle. These tapings create a vessel to hold the Quik-Poly in place while curing.
4. Mix up some Quik-Poly. Not too much, as it will cure before you can use much.
4. Stand the rim on the bench.
5. Using a disposable plastic eye-dropper, also known as a pipette, run some Quik-Poly into the topmost joint between inner spoke ends. It will run into the joint, and begin actually penetrating the wood a bit.
6. Continue small applications until the joint doesn't accept any more. Wipe off any excess while you still can.
7. Run some Quik-Poly into the felloe around the lower-most spoke end.
8. Continue as above, then wipe excess.
9. Rotate the rim a little, and treat the next joint & spoke end.

This provides just enough wood-penetration and gap-filling to make a pretty tight wheel.

Kelly