Valve caps

**Mr70** · #1 04-07-2005, 10:22 PM

I can't say for sure Mike.
I do know they didn't know what wheel was going to be a spare,so they would treat them all as if they were going onto the actual car itself.
I have a few books & a 1967 Uniroyal 16mm 60 minute movie,that shows the wheels & tires being assembled & static balanced.
I really don't know if different plants did different procedures.

Chevy454 · #2 04-07-2005, 10:27 PM

Here is a short rundown of how one of the GM divisions did it (Oldsmobile) from Dave H, who was with Olds for a gabillion years...his thoughts were that each GM factory/division pretty much followed this procedure...

Factory balancing
All GM plants at that time used one weight to balance the wheel and tire assembly. Single plane, static balance. Hot wax was deposited in a color code to denote how much to put, and the tire was rotated and another yellow wax dot showed where to put it. You either got a 1/2 oz, 1 oz, 1 1/2 or 2 oz. Any more than that and the tire/wheel assy was rejected and replaced by another assy. Rejected ones were torn down and reassembled on another wheel/tire. Our main wheel and tire room at Oldsmobile Lansing ran at 600/hour in that time period, so that doesn't leave time to do split weighting like this tire/wheel. Some units were rebalanced with split weights in the audit area, so I guess I should never say never.

I think all the automakers used similar single plane equipment at that time (Micropoise, I believe), so my best guess is that is al old wheel/tire from a tire dealer. Toronadoes used dual plane dynamic balancing due to the huge offset in the wheel. That was done on another line.

My 68 came from the factory with Goodyear steel radials (an option on Cutlass, but not 442's) but they were defective and unsafe. Goodyear recalled all of them and gave a new set of anything you want just to get them off the road.

firstgenaddict · #3 04-08-2005, 12:39 AM

Does anyone know what the color codes were for the wax?

**YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY** · #4 04-08-2005, 02:02 AM

Yellow?

KS Pontiac · #5 04-08-2005, 05:02 AM

Regarding the valve stem length discussed earlier,the normal short valve stem most tire stores use is called a TR413 or just 413 and is listed as 1 1/4 inches long in the dill catalog. From your description it sounds like the repro tires are coming with 418 valve stems which are listed as 2 inches long. There is a stem length in between the two called a 414 which is listed as 1 1/2 inches long but not all tire stores carry them. From the responces it sounds like some of you are on good terms with local tire stores and should be able to get them free or cheap. I usually sell them for .22 each but don't always have them on hand. Also I had my supplier get me a box of Dill 627 caps but it sounds like no one is going to need them now.I would be interested in how well the valve caps in an envelope go through the mail sorting machines.

CT Mark · #6 04-08-2005, 05:56 AM

Anybody got some NOS lug nuts?

**Mr70** · #7 04-08-2005, 06:48 AM

How many do you need..

GeorgeLyons · #8 04-12-2005, 02:57 AM

FREE Dill 627 offer still going on as I have sent out about 200 so far. (See above posting for details) Thank You for all the kind words in your mailings. You guys oughta see the look on my employees faces when I'm packaging these up to send out.

**Mr70** · #9 04-12-2005, 05:40 AM

I can only imagine.

GeorgeLyons · #10 05-01-2005, 12:05 AM

FREE Dill cap offer still available. I have sent a bunch but still have quite a few if you need 'em. See above post for details, Thank You !!!

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