MK48 wheels

[jesusgatos]

Not curious enough to take one apart to find out, and thinking about swapping out with HEMTT wheels/tires to make finding replacements easier in the future, but what's the deal with these? How do they work? Is there any kind of beadlock inside?

 

[73m819]

These WILL make finding tires HARDER because they are 1600x21 NOT 1600x20

 

[Gunzy]

What ones are you looking at? 20" or 21"? I have seen the 3 piece split rim style in 20" but they are rare and the 21" will make finding good used rubber very difficult. The best bet for you is the HEMTT 20" combat wheels as they are plentiful.

 

[RDUKW]

Don't go LVS wheels if you want standard and available rubber. The 16 x21 tires are only for the LVS and there are no more LVS's being used in the system. I have collected a set of spare new 16 x 21 tires for my LVS knowing in the future there will be no options for replacement.

If you do decide to go the LVS route and need tires and wheels, I know where some are.

 

[jesusgatos]

Sorry if I was unclear. Was asking how the stock 21" wheels work, if they have any kind of bead retention setup inside. Will most likely swap them out for 20" HEMTT wheels/tires, knowing they're a lot more common, was just curious about the 3-bolt LVS wheels.

 

[RDUKW]

The LVS wheels do not have a internal bead lock. They are a form of split rim. You remove the 3 plates from the rim (after deflation) then push the rim beads together about 3/4" inch to expose the lock ring, pull the lock ring then pull the rim halves apart. The plates are purely a safety item if you lose air it maintains the rim over the lock ring not allowing the rim to come apart.

 

[jesusgatos]

Okay thanks, that's what I wanted to know. These LVS wheels/tires are definitely going bye-bye.

 

[Floridianson]

Just catching the tail end of this thread. If you have a MK48 then I believe the HEMTT wheels will not fit the drums of the MK. I put some MK's on my M920 because the HEMTT wheels you had to grind down the drum. The bolt pattern and center hole is same on the HEMTT and MK's

 

[jesusgatos]

Thanks, I've got a bunch of HEMTT wheels, will throw one on there to check the fit, but would be surprised if they don't clear.

 

[Floridianson]

It would be the front drum that is bigger, wheel plus valve stem for the test run. Would be nice if they fit cause I have been wrong before.

 

[RDUKW]

Are you trying to change wheels on a LVS? If so that is probably a bad idea. The LVS has way higher side loading then a HEMTT and weighs significantly more.

 

[jesusgatos]

Are you trying to change wheels on a LVS? If so that is probably a bad idea. The LVS has way higher side loading then a HEMTT and weighs significantly more.

Yeah, was thinking that's exactly what I'd like to do. Swap out the 21" LVS wheels/tires for more common and bead-locked 20" HEMTT wheels/tires. Know the HEMTT's are rated for 10-tons and the LVS is rated at 12.5, and the 16.00 XZL's on HET's and HEMTT's are rated for ~15,000lbs, what are the HEMTT & LVS wheels rated for? Have some of each, if nobody knows, can go look.

 

[RDUKW]

Yeah, was thinking that's exactly what I'd like to do. Swap out the 21" LVS wheels/tires for more common and bead-locked 20" HEMTT wheels/tires. Know the HEMTT's are rated for 10-tons and the LVS is rated at 12.5, and the 16.00 XZL's on HET's and HEMTT's are rated for ~15,000lbs, what are the HEMTT & LVS wheels rated for? Have some of each, if nobody knows, can go look.

Again I would advise against it. The LVS puts extreme side loads with the way it steers.

 

[98G]

It would have vastly simplified logistics to have the hemtt platform and the LVS use the same wheels and tires. The fact that they are intentionally incompatible speaks volumes... performance levels must be far enough apart that using one for the other would be disastrous.

 

[jesusgatos]

It would have vastly simplified logistics to have the hemtt platform and the LVS use the same wheels and tires. The fact that they are intentionally incompatible speaks volumes... performance levels must be far enough apart that using one for the other would be disastrous.

...or profitable. Appreciate the input/advice, and won't disregard it, but also don't believe everything the military does makes sense. Might be the case that there's a good reason why we can't/shouldn't use them, and then again...

 

[paradeduty]

I have contemplated the reasoning for the differences between these two applications since before 1995 when a few of the LVS's were for sale. Now that I have one and have crawled underneath them.....my thoughts are that essentially the axles are the same and my gut tells me that originally the LVS was designed way back with the "standard" 1600/20's. But as the weight capacity of the LVS grew, and because of the partial "skid steering" of the front end (#2 axle does not steer at all), I would not be surprised if the LVS's were tearing the tires right off of the rims when planted in soft ground at full weight capacity. If you look at the front axle leaf spring "perches", they each have an extension to the casting which rides along the side of the truck frame as the axles contort with the terrain. I assume these are also to keep the axles from being ripped out from under the truck during horizontal articulation, which leads to confirming the extreme side forces I am talking about. So for the tires, it was simply a matter of creating a "deeper" bead on the rim on the backside and widening the "ring" on the front side. This also offered enough space on the front "ring" to attach some nuts to allow the 3 "keeper plates" to "lock" the ring in position so that those lateral forces would not as easily dislodge the "ring" and wreak havoc on the tube and tire. To do this there were basically 2 options - keep the tire size and make the axle/hub assembly smaller in diameter (much more expensive), or just add the 1/2 inch to the outside diameter of the rim to achieve the above changes (seems a bit more straight forward - there was not going to be that many of the trucks anyways compared to the HEMTT series, so some custom rims and tires were a simple fix). Just my thoughts on how this probably all came to pass.

 

[paradeduty]

As a side note - have you ever looked at the back end of our 6x6's or maybe a dual axle trailer immediately after or during a turn - the tires are all torqued out of shape and sliding. I am amazed that my trailer tires have not ripped off at times (kudos to our tire manufacturers)! Now imagine that with a stupid amount of weight on some nice, impressive, deep tread tires on something not as forgiving as slippery asphalt - I can imagine some serious failures!

 

[jesusgatos]

paradeduty, by that logic though, wouldn't you think the combat wheels would do an even better job of keeping tires from peeling off wheels? I'd really need to take one apart to know, and I'm not quite that curious right now.

 

[SWATMOD]

How come you jackwagons never posted a solution to the question?! Will 20" HEMTT wheels work on an MK48??

 

[simp5782]

How come you jackwagons never posted a solution to the question?! Will 20" HEMTT wheels work on an MK48??

They will

The hemtt wreckers and mk48 share hub bearings and seals are the same Inside 594a and outer 580. And they use the same hub 2cf281. Brake shoes 97110 and drums 2cf280 are the same. Lug studs are the only thing different They are the same 16.5x7 shoes