Assembling 12 bolt wheels

[Ajax MD]

Had a leaky wheel and suspect the O-ring.

I have a new O-ring and I've broken the wheel down. I cleaned the O-ring groove and the outer wheel half.

The -20 TM says "align the indexing hole." There are two types of 12-bolt wheels, the heavier duty wheel uses a red O-ring and has an extra small hole. Is that the indexing hole?
The lighter capacity wheels use a black O-ring and do not have this extra hole. That is the wheel that I'm working with.

Does this mean that there's no indexing the wheel halves? Do I just bolt them together? I'm not seeing any other indexing marks to align the two halves.

Also- The TM says to use a feeler gauge to check for gaps at each stud. Exactly what gap am I checking? Trying to slip the feeler gauge under the lock nut?

 

[Katavic918]

When I did mine I just put them together. Checking the gaps probably refers to the distance between the stud and the inside of the stud hole. Making sure they are all even.

 

[papakb]

There were centering washers that aligned the wheel sections together. They aren't used on every bolt, 4 on an 8 bolt wheel, 3 on a 12 bolt wheel. Just install them spaced evenly around the bolt pattern to help keep things spaced properly.

They were used on the civy H1 and weren't used by the military but when things work you go with them.

The washers are called pilot washers, 6001844 (Kascar)

 

[Ajax MD]

Yes, I'd read that about the pilot washers. I can tell you from the marks on the wheel, that the Marines weren't too choosy about getting the alignment perfect. I will order some pilot washers for next time now that I know Kascar has them.

I have assembled the wheel and without the valve core, I inflated it to 5 psi and let it sit for 30 minutes. I sprayed soapy water everywhere and saw not a single bubble. I removed the air chuck and air rushed out, indicating that it was holding air.

Next, I installed the valve core and inflated the tire to 10 psi. It's held that pressure for over 24 hours. Before I inflate the tire to 30 psi, I want to perform the feeler gauge test but I can't seem to find my feeler gauge set. Once I get that done, I'll fill it up and check it over another 24 hour period. If the final check holds air, I'll put it back on the truck.

Fortunately, I had a useable spare while doing all this.

Here's a tip: I read all sorts of stuff in the archives about using 3M upholstery adhesive to Permatex to get that O-ring to stay in the groove. Instead of contaminating the O-ring with "stick 'um" I simply warmed it up with a hair dryer on high, while moving it around a lot to prevent hot spots. This caused the O-ring to relax and it would stay in the groove long enough to slap the outer wheel half down on it.