Also, in 1974 we blew a rim on our 3/4 t Ford that had split rims. At that time the tire co encouraged us to get rid of those because the ring ever so slightly "wiggles" on the rim causing it to wear and blow out as ours did.

From that time on I have never used split rims, only drop center. Even big trucks now run nothing but drop center tubeless systems.

the US is a bit of a girls blouse when it comes to split rims I have heard of people in the US having trouble trying to get tyre fitters to fit them no such problem in Australia plenty of Toyotas and and other types of Jap 4x4'x came out new with split rims up well into the 90's the good thing about them is you can fix them your self if you have to with out any special equipment and if you do the job right they are just as safe if not safer than tubeless but I guess its getting harder now to find people who now how to work with them safely anymore

Paul

Split rims are not the same as multi piece wheels. Please consult the OSHA regs, sometimes they are here to help. It is a sticky.

"STEPHEN" wrote:

Split rims are not the same as multi piece wheels. Please consult the OSHA regs, sometimes they are here to help. It is a sticky.

Well said. A rim with the retainer ring is a totally different animal than the old split rims which split near the middle of the rims. They split rims which have been banned for years had a connecting ring about two inches wide with both edges curled over to catch the wheel halves. You have to look pretty far to even see one any more. For years most folks have mistakingly called a retainer ring wheel a split ring.

Nothing wrong with a retainer ring wheel. Most heavy equipment tires still use a variant of them.

"old-iron-habit" wrote:

Well said. A rim with the retainer ring is a totally different animal than the old split rims which split near the middle of the rims. They split rims which have been banned for years had a connecting ring about two inches wide with both edges curled over to catch the wheel halves. You have to look pretty far to even see one any more. For years most folks have mistakingly called a retainer ring wheel a split ring.

Nothing wrong with a retainer ring wheel. Most heavy equipment tires still use a variant of them.

I am corrected, I guess what I am/was talking about was retainer ring wheels.

I have been frustrated by our U. S. based heebie-jeebies about any multi-piece wheel. Those old "true" split rims, like old-iron-habit mentions, really were dangerous if worked on by an untrained person. They could also be dangerous in a flat or low pressure situation. Our OSHA type people have done such a disservice to all of us by perpetrating the "safety culture" around those to the point that the fear created bears no relationship to the facts. I've found that most modern tire shop people these days, most of whom have never in their life seen a true split rim, run screaming away if you drive up with any multi-piece wheel.

It is really sad as mrsmackpaul and others are correct, there are big advantages to the multi-piece design in certain applications and, in fact, they are still used on many large off-road tire applications here.

The one thing I have found, as a guy who typically runs rag tires and tries to get the last ounce of tread wear out of my tires, is that for road use, where multi-piece usually means tube type, the lower heat generation component of tubeless tires usually means much better reliability. It just seems whenever I'm running our trailers with two piece rims and tube type tires, I end up handling that spare for some reason or another pretty regularly. On the other hand, when I'm running our trailers with tube type tires, I just never seem to use the spare.

For road use, particularly for trailers, tubeless (usually meaning drop center) just usually equates to no trouble as long as you check your tires regularly and don't run a low tire. Tube type tires turn me into a nervous nelly, checking each tire each time we stop and still result in me getting some exercise running the jack, undoing lug nuts and swapping in the spare on many trips.

That experience is enough to interest me in switching to one piece, drop center wheels and radial tubeless tires on our stuff, when I can afford it.

Pete.

Almost forgot to get you the contact information, John. We bought our wheel and got those quotes from Clerou Tire in Bakersfield. Their phone number is (661) 324-6069. They're at 530 East 21st Street, near Baker and Union. They are open on Saturdays until Noon. They're not necessarily the cheapest around, but they handle everything from cars and trucks to construction and ag stuff, their products are good and their service is too.

Pete.

And that's why they're such a problem to get worked on.... folks don't understand the different types and just lump everything that's not a drop center into "omg it's going to explode and kill everyone in 500 yards"

Here too there's that magic liability word which translates to no shop is going to anything that has any chance at all of being the grounds of a lawsuit no matter how asinine.

"jaluhn" wrote:

And that's why they're such a problem to get worked on.... folks don't understand the different types and just lump everything that's not a drop center into "omg it's going to explode and kill everyone in 500 yards"

Here too there's that magic liability word which translates to no shop is going to anything that has any chance at all of being the grounds of a lawsuit no matter how asinine.

Of course that's why they still use cages for the retainer ring wheels. (Don't know about the offroad vehicles)

"Garlic wrote:

I have been frustrated by our U. S. based heebie-jeebies about any multi-piece wheel. Those old "true" split rims, like old-iron-habit mentions, really were dangerous if worked on by an untrained person. They could also be dangerous in a flat or low pressure situation. Our OSHA type people have done such a disservice to all of us by perpetrating the "safety culture" around those to the point that the fear created bears no relationship to the facts. I've found that most modern tire shop people these days, most of whom have never in their life seen a true split rim, run screaming away if you drive up with any multi-piece wheel.

It is really sad as mrsmackpaul and others are correct, there are big advantages to the multi-piece design in certain applications and, in fact, they are still used on many large off-road tire applications here.

The one thing I have found, as a guy who typically runs rag tires and tries to get the last ounce of tread wear out of my tires, is that for road use, where multi-piece usually means tube type, the lower heat generation component of tubeless tires usually means much better reliability. It just seems whenever I'm running our trailers with two piece rims and tube type tires, I end up handling that spare for some reason or another pretty regularly. On the other hand, when I'm running our trailers with tube type tires, I just never seem to use the spare.

For road use, particularly for trailers, tubeless (usually meaning drop center) just usually equates to no trouble as long as you check your tires regularly and don't run a low tire. Tube type tires turn me into a nervous nelly, checking each tire each time we stop and still result in me getting some exercise running the jack, undoing lug nuts and swapping in the spare on many trips.

That experience is enough to interest me in switching to one piece, drop center wheels and radial tubeless tires on our stuff, when I can afford it.

Pete.

You are right I feel tubeless run cooler and a lot less blow outs only down side I know of tubeless is you cant fix a tyre on the side of the road you need that gizmo that shoots the big quantity of air in where as the old split rims with enough grunt and you can fix them on the road side
Having said that not many people would even carry tools or have the no how of how to fix tyres these days even in Australia and the tyre service will come out just about anywhere now I used to fix all my own tyres now but big tractor tyres are a bit of handful since I broke my back a few years ago but can still do them but it is easier to call the tyre service for them if I can

sorry I have taken this right off topic

Paul

oh yeah three piece rims all go in the same description out here split rims is the term we use