WHEELY GOOD

REMOVING THE T MODEL'S WHEELS LOOKED SIMPLE ENOUGH

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The process of bringing my father-in-law's (now my) Model T back to life continues. And continues to grow T in proportion. I mean, it's one thing to say (with beer in hand) hell yeah, let's get this old gal going again, and another entirely to take each step in that process and actually achieve the end goal.

But somehow, probably because it was Gordon's car that he left to me, I feel an obligation to see this deal through. So, in between the other tasks that make up my muddled existence, I've been trying to make progress on the T whenever I can.

The process really started a few weeks ago when I removed the front wheels to bring them back to Melbourne to have them rebuilt. Interestingly enough, the rear wheels were not quite in the same, parlous, crusty state as the fronts, so maybe more of them can be saved. But I still had to remove them from the car. And while the exact method of removing them remained a bit of a mystery, I knew it would involve a puller. Of some sort. A quick flick through the many Model T books that have come my way (and thanks to fellow UC contributor Jon Faine for the latest tome to hit the work-bench) led me to believe that a conventional three-fingered puller would bear on the flimsy little brake drums, not the wheel hub itself and, even to a dope like me, that seemed to be a bit sketchy.

Fixing the car up is one thing, fixing it up and mending whatever damage I inflict on it in that process is another thing altogether.