Aviation buffs- what’s this off of?

[nvr2mny]

A buddy of mines FIL was an engineer for Boeing WAY back in the day. He now has dementia, very sad. He said he worked on the designing of the B series aircraft and told my buddy he had an old landing gear (tires/wheels) out in one of his fields. Here’s what my friend sent me. Anybody identify what these are, or are off of?

[wdfifteen]

That looks like part of a U-joint. Not something you see on a lot of aircraft. But those wheels and tires, very interesting. Goodyear was big into aircraft tires, wheels, and brakes. Firestone tires - interesting

[island911]

That? Off an aircraft? No....


Maybe a tug (tractor)

[nota]

al rim bolted to a steel base ?

wire wheel center with a long axle = fixed gear ?

if an aircraft pre ww2 maybe many years prior ?

odd yoke incert maybe a tiedown point ?

[asphaltgambler]

The rim/ hub assy is definitely farm or industrial, very heavy duty used to drive something. The tire on the other hand is prolly something they had laying around that was the correct diameter and wide based flotation type.

[rattlsnak]

kind of looks like it might be from one of those farm irrigation system thingys where they have a base station and a sprinklers system that moves around the base station on wheels..

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

The rim/ hub assy is definitely farm or industrial, very heavy duty used to drive something. The tire on the other hand is prolly something they had laying around that was the correct diameter and wide based flotation type.

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

kind of looks like it might be from one of those farm irrigation system thingys where they have a base station and a sprinklers system that moves around the base station on wheels..

Very interesting. The rim is as you guys are surmising, farm related.

I thought rattlsnak was into something on the irrigation front, so I did a search on aircraft tires used in agriculture...it looks like for some uses aircraft tires have excellent load properties that make them advantageous in ag.

Here: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=use+of+aircraft+tires+on+irrigation+equipment&atb=v72-1&ia=web

Pretty interesting stuff. Thanks!

[wdfifteen]

Whatever it is it must be a bear to mount those tires. No drop center, no clincher rim, apparently no split rim unless there is something I’m not seeing. And the valve stem looks like it’s coming out of an inner tube.

[Dansvan]

I am curious if instead of a u-joint yoke, it is a knuckle. A steering knuckle. It appears there is a “Y” shaped piece hanging down that may be a steering arm.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by nvr2mny

A buddy of mines FIL was an engineer for Boeing WAY back in the day. He now has dementia, very sad. He said he worked on the designing of the B series aircraft and told my buddy he had an old landing gear (tires/wheels) out in one of his fields. Here’s what my friend sent me. Anybody identify what these are, or are off of?


...

At a guess that's something a farmer has hobbled together from various parts.

The outer rim the tyre is mounted to looks like alloy and yet the inner rusty wheel is steel.
Note the through bolts and square nuts.

[rusnak]

those rims were hand made. Most ag trailers in the years after WWII were hand made. Farmers used aircraft TIRES for the simple reason that they could carry a load, were plentiful and cheap, and they were shorter than truck tires. Shorter trailer deck height was desirable for obvious reasons: in the field, you had to lug boxes a shorter distance from the ground. I have several trailers that my gramps made, and his second gen trailers all used airplane tires. To restore them, I use forklift tires. They are beautifully crafted out of steel plate that were arc welded together.

[nvr2mny]

Thanks gents. I’m betting the ag angle is correct and thinking since the orig owner was into ag AND an engineer (most farmers ARE engineers in a sense) this could very well be something he made himself. I’ll pass this thread along to my friend.

[unclebilly]

I have a couple old farm equipment parts I found on my laser with similar hubs.

Those tires though!

I wonder if the original steel wheel with the wide corrugated surface and the u-joint wasn’t part of a flat belt drive in a thresher or something. The tire may have been added to make it grippier on the flat belts.

[rusnak]

Those handmade wheels are works of art. I would definitely tell the friend to save them.

[island911]

...especially if he needs a base for a tether-ball post.