Replacement wheels for a BT.

Willie,

This is the brand that BT is using now: Gecko Wheels

I bought a set of 17" zero offset steel rims so that I could put them on the cruiser as a last resort spare.

They are good quality and well priced. I'm sure there is an outlet in Sydney.

If you are towing with a 200 Series and your van hubs have the Cruiser stud pattern, maybe think about the 17" rims too. They will fit the 200 even if it originally came with 18" rims, just choose a tyre size that will match the rolling diameter of your vehicle tyres.

You can use this Tyre Size Calculator to make sure the sizes will match.

Hi Willie,

I'd reckon if you're going to buy steel rims, then you can look forward to the same happening again over time, however if that is the way you are going to go I can give you a scenario that happened on the Whaleback iron ore mine.

We would use all brands of steel, King, Sunraysia, ROH and another which I cannot remember. We had repeated cracking of all the steel wheels except for ROH which is what I have on my 4WD and van. I cannot speak for the Geckos however. Also this was a couple of years ago so quality control may have improved since then.

Admittedly, this is a harsh environment but I would rather have the stronger, regardless.

Perhaps something to think about.

Richard

Hi Willie
If you want to replace them with the same wheels you will find they are probably the ROH Trak 11 16x7 with 11mm Negative offset shown here
I recently purchased a new set for our Patrol so I have 11 matching wheels and paid around $80 each for them from our local Bridgstone dealer.

Changing wheels is no big deal Willie. Our BT left BTi with Landcruiser wheels, was subsequently changed to Patrol wheels by a previous owner, then when we changed to the F250, changed to Ford wheels that came on the F250 when we purchased it. Parts required purchased from Hauffe and Co in Melbourne.

Motherhen

Hi Willie

Suggest you get another sandblast and spray paint quote from another operator.
I can't see how new would be cheeper than sand blast and painted.
Perhaps the firm you got your original qupte from had stacks of work ahead on the books and couldnt be bothered with your small job and priced the quote accordingly.

Cheers
John

Hi Willie
if you want to keep the original, powder coating is the go. They will sandblast , then put on a special undercoat before topcoating (powdercoating) all for $50-$60 per wheel. The problem with the wheels you have is that after powdercoating you will then need to replace the silicon bead in the joints front and back. It is a cow to do it properly.
The other option is to ring speedie wheels who make a alloy rim to suit which is rated at 1500kg. Bushtracker put these on there new pop tops. The one you are after is a Speedie Territory and they are about $250 per rim. I think the ROH rims you have are only rated at about 900kg.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Lance

G'day,I had the same problem about 3 years ago. Also looked at getting sandblasting done and a spray. Priced new rims after that , not sure what brand. Then I decided to do the rims myself. Took some elbow grease. Left the tyres on and put a wire brush on my angle grinder and got into it. Then sand paper to finish off, particularly around the edge near the rim. Then two coats of cold gal primer, and two coats of two in one zinc gal that Peter Thompson at BTi put me onto when we caught up at Alice Springs when he was running the workshop at the Caravan park. As I said it took some elbow grease. Since then we've done a lot of travel off the black stuff and they still look like they did when I'd finished them
Cost wise,I can't remember. But at a guess Id say between $100 --$150 to do the six rims.

Thank you everyone for your input. I will get another quote on getting my wheels sanded and re-painted and I will explore the wheel brands that have been suggested.

If I get steel wheels again though, I feel the same thing will happen in only a year or two - RUST !

Maybe I will have to buy some silver alloy wheels.

Thanks again,

Willie.