Wanted: 14" Steel Wheel

[sweller]

I have discovered the spare wheel on my 1971 camper isn't the same as the others on the bus and doesn't fit - this explains why the PO had it on the nose the wrong way round. I assume the same 14" steel wheel fits all bay window buses? Mine has discs on the front.

This is the current road wheel type:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/CdnXxB4q9WokPtzu8

And this is the spare (I couldn't even get it on the hub of the front LH side)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xo2p92u8QvMDnjtG8

What's the going rate for a used wheel? Does anyone have one for sale? I'm near Brighton, Sussex. Ebay seems a bit much!!

 

[sweller]

Replying to my own post - I've just noticed the spare is a 15"!!!!

 

[static]

What I did for my ‘71 is source some T25 wheels. They are nearly identical and bolt right on.

The T25 (AKA Vanagon) boffins tend to “upgrade” to 17” wheels. Because of that, they jettison their old stock 14” wheels which are then commonly offered for sale, albeit with few takers. There was a huge stack of them at my old VW boutique.

I sent out my “new” wheels for powder coating and passed along my old stock wheels with decent tires to another bus owner. This saved me from having my bus up on blocks in my driveway.

 

[ozziedog]

Everything 1970 and before is wide 5 which is 205 PCD . All bays after that are known as narrow 5 or 112 PCD . PCD is pitch circle diameter, I I R C .
I don’t think you’ll pay very much for a spare but you may have a better chance of getting one over on the LateBay.com as all of theirs are 112 unless they’ve changed over to get a specific wheel to fit of some description like Porsche stuff.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,good luck in your search, shouldn’t take a lot.

 

[davidoft]

I have one near Portsmouth

 

[naskeet]

Everything 1970 and before is wide 5 which is 205 PCD . All bays after that are known as narrow 5 or 112 PCD . PCD is pitch circle diameter, I I R C .
I don’t think you’ll pay very much for a spare but you may have a better chance of getting one over on the LateBay.com as all of theirs are 112 unless they’ve changed over to get a specific wheel to fit of some description like Porsche stuff.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,good luck in your search, shouldn’t take a lot.

That just about sums it up!

I too have a second 5½ x 14 inch spare steel-wheel, derived from a 1980~92 VW Transporter T3 model, which is identical to my original five 1973 VW Type 2's 5½ x 14 inch steel-wheels

The South African built, 1992~2003 VW Transporter T3 models [There were no front-engined, front-wheel drive, 1992~2003 VW Transporter T4 models in South Africa!], with either the water-cooled, in-line, 4-cylinder, 1•8 litre engine or the water-cooled, in-line, 5-cylinder, 2•3, 2•5 & 2•6 litre engines, also use a 112 mm PCD - pitch circle diameter, with 15 inch wheels, which include two varieties of five-spoke alloy wheel.

I believe the front-engined, front-wheel drive, 1992~2003 VW Transporter T4 models, also use a 112 mm PCD - pitch circle diameter, with 15 inch wheels, but I am not sure of the wheel-offset.

 

[naskeet]

I have discovered the spare wheel on my 1971 camper isn't the same as the others on the bus and doesn't fit - this explains why the PO had it on the nose the wrong way round. I assume the same 14" steel wheel fits all bay window buses? Mine has discs on the front.

This is the current road wheel type:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/CdnXxB4q9WokPtzu8

And this is the spare (I couldn't even get it on the hub of the front LH side)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xo2p92u8QvMDnjtG8

What's the going rate for a used wheel? Does anyone have one for sale? I'm near Brighton, Sussex. Ebay seems a bit much!!

Have you yet measured & calculated the centre-bore diameter, PCD - pitch circle diameter & wheel-offset of your current unusable spare wheel?

https://www.wheel-size.com/articles/centre-bore/

https://wheelssize.com/wheel-offset/calculator/

https://www.westerntowing.co.uk/pcd-calculation/

https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/

 

[CleoMar]

I have discovered the spare wheel on my 1971 camper isn't the same as the others on the bus and doesn't fit - this explains why the PO had it on the nose the wrong way round. I assume the same 14" steel wheel fits all bay window buses? Mine has discs on the front.

This is the current road wheel type:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/CdnXxB4q9WokPtzu8

And this is the spare (I couldn't even get it on the hub of the front LH side)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xo2p92u8QvMDnjtG8

What's the going rate for a used wheel? Does anyone have one for sale? I'm near Brighton, Sussex. Ebay seems a bit much!!

The road wheel type you show will fit ok but it is not a true 71 wheel. 71 was unique in that it has a round centre hole and I believe was the only year. Depends if you want to be original. I gave a couple of these wheels away recently. Too far away to be of help I am afraid. This is what you need. Should be able to pick one up for very little. Regards C
14 inch light truck tires are hard to find which is why over here many owners go to the alloy Mercedes 16 inch wheels.

 

[davechorlton]

I've got a couple of spare wheels you could choose from in Sandhurst, Berkshire if thats near enough?

 

[ozziedog]

Free Wheels n tyres off my 72 crossover seen better days but used them in the summer did about 500 miles and used them whilst I was welding n spraying over kast yr or 2. All tyres good but 15/20 yrs old
185/14
Free to pick up nr bawtry Doncaster need the space

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,just spotted on Facebook

 

[naskeet]

Free Wheels n tyres off my 72 crossover seen better days but used them in the summer did about 500 miles and used them whilst I was welding n spraying over kast yr or 2. All tyres good but 15/20 yrs old
185/14
Free to pick up nr bawtry Doncaster need the space

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,just spotted on Facebook

Only 15/20 years old!

My set of five Michelin XZX, 185 SR14 Reinforced radial-ply tyres (load-index circa 95½) date from circa 1977/78, so are at least 45 years old. I was still driving on these perfect-condition tyres in mid-1992. The second-spare Michelin XZX, 185 R14 S Reinforced radial-ply tyre, on the VW Transporter T3 wheel, dates from circa 1989.

 

[naskeet]

The road wheel type you show will fit ok but it is not a true 71 wheel. 71 was unique in that it has a round centre hole and I believe was the only year. Depends if you want to be original. I gave a couple of these wheels away recently. Too far away to be of help I am afraid. This is what you need. Should be able to pick one up for very little. Regards C
14 inch light truck tires are hard to find which is why over here many owners go to the alloy Mercedes 16 inch wheels.
View attachment 7450

I wasn't aware that any model-year of 1971~79 VW Type 2 with 112 mm PCD wheels, had wheels with a circular central hole!?!

When I checked just a few years ago, 185 R14C commercial-van tyres were still readily available in Great Britain, but I anticipate that availability will decline and/or relative cost will increase over the coming years. This is why I too will be substituting Mercedes 16 inch alloy wheels, shod with either 205/65 R16C or 215/65 R16C tyres, which have virtually been the de facto standard sizes for modern, medium-sized commercial vans, over the past ten years or more.

 

[sweller]

I have one near Portsmouth

I managed to source two with reasonable tyres, 15 miles from me!

Thanks though.

 

[sweller]

The road wheel type you show will fit ok but it is not a true 71 wheel. 71 was unique in that it has a round centre hole and I believe was the only year. Depends if you want to be original. I gave a couple of these wheels away recently. Too far away to be of help I am afraid. This is what you need. Should be able to pick one up for very little. Regards C
14 inch light truck tires are hard to find which is why over here many owners go to the alloy Mercedes 16 inch wheels.
View attachment 7450

That looks like the two I picked up a couple of days ago - the seller said they were off a T25.

All the existing wheels on my '71 van have a wavy hole. I can't see why it would have had all four wheels changed (it's definitely not had alloys on it in the last 20 years and I find it hard to believe it had its wheels changed at all).

What have others got in their '71 vans - wavy or round?

 

[sweller]

I've got a couple of spare wheels you could choose from in Sandhurst, Berkshire if thats near enough?

I managed to source two with reasonable tyres, 15 miles from me!

Thanks though.

 

[CleoMar]

That looks like the two I picked up a couple of days ago - the seller said they were off a T25.

All the existing wheels on my '71 van have a wavy hole. I can't see why it would have had all four wheels changed (it's definitely not had alloys on it in the last 20 years and I find it hard to believe it had its wheels changed at all).

What have others got in their '71 vans - wavy or round?

If you have sharp eyes you will see there is a date stamp on each wheel. My 71 Westy was manufactured in Oct 1970 and each wheel has a date stamp of 8 over 70 (IE August wheel production) I have obtained a second spare with date stamp of 3 over 71. Wheels were produced for the 71 model only I believe. Some 72 models may also have these wheels as the factory usually used surplus leftovers when the factory reopened and production of the next year model commenced after the Summer holidays. Cheers Kit.

 

[sweller]

If you have sharp eyes you will see there is a date stamp on each wheel. My 71 Westy was manufactured in Oct 1970 and each wheel has a date stamp of 8 over 70 (IE August wheel production) I have obtained a second spare with date stamp of 3 over 71. Wheels were produced for the 71 model only I believe. Some 72 models may also have these wheels as the factory usually used surplus leftovers when the factory reopened and production of the next year model commenced after the Summer holidays. Cheers Kit.

Mine are now away at the painters - I'll have a look when I get them back.

Curiosity piqued, I looked at the 1970 owners handbook (US edition) and it's illustrations are of split type wheels, the 1971 edition (US) has Bay type but round hole wheels. I haven't got any later handbooks to see when the wavy ones appeared.