LM… Plywood wheels

Do any of you guys use three-quarter inch plywood wheels on your project cars while they're in the shop? If so, how sturdy are they? Do you feel safe working around and under them? This will be for a 3000 pound GMC Sonoma.

Even aside from the sketchyness of plywood as support....have you priced thick plywood lately????   

If it were me, I just checked and my local Pull-A-Part charges $15 for a spare tire.  If we assume you have one then $45 will get you 3 more.  I would think in one trip you can find 3 Trailblazers, S-10s, Astro, etc.  

Don't have a Pull-A-Part near by?  Then check car-part.  Under S-10, look at WHEELS w/ display and in there you will find a spare wheel.  The price given includes the tire as well.  

In reply to John Welsh :

Also the jig saw blade needed to cut a round wheel or four.

I've never heard of this.... and it seems like a much bigger pain in the butt than just using regular wheels, which you'll need to drive the car on anyway.

Not that a car sitting on jackstands needs wheels, anyway.

Plywood is $31 at Menards. I could cut 8 circles from a sheet and double them up with glue and screws. The wheel studs won't be long enough for a double thick plywood, so the wheel would have to be single thick right at the center, so I'd reinforce that with some steel sheet to keep the nuts from pulling through. Large washers might be good enough, too. Put the nuts on backwards. After all that would I crawl under the truck?....nope....but it might roll around just fine. I've seen it done, but never by me. Four junkyard spares sounds better to me.

Would a 24" round be tall enough in comparison to a 32-35" tire normally on a truck? The only way to get 8 out of a sheet is making them 24". You would need to check ground clearance at static ride height to know for sure. 

In reply to lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) :

That would depend on the vehicle.  24" would be a little tall for some cars, comically small for others.

The largest issue that I see is that you would have to make them extremely round and concentric so that the vehicle wouldn't try to roll itself.

From personal experience, my VW has been on jackstands for about nine years now  so it doesn't need to roll.  I also have five sets of wheels for it.

The Mini in my garage is sitting on tall jackstands that I needed to use a Hi-Lift on the bumpers to get it high enough to work under.  It has two sets of wheels for it.

I don't need MORE wheels 

Well the RX-7 needs more wheels.  But it also doesn't sit parked on jackstands.  Such a paradox.

On that note... I keep wanting to weld some jackstands to a set of dollies so a car can be rolled while on jackstands.

This seems like one of those ideas that has good intentions but is actually a really really bad idea.

The squishy gray matter in my head is worth more than that. 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

 

The largest issue that I see is that you would have to make them extremely round and concentric so that the vehicle wouldn't try to roll itself.

If you look up a set of Guniwheel universal shop wheels you'll see lumps in the solid rubber tires. I assume they're there to stop inadvertent rolling.

In reply to lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) :

A Sonoma doesn't run 32" tires stock, so while 24" would drop it, it would still be fine to roll around a shop floor. The Guniwheel rim I posted above is slightly less than 24" diameter.

I would love to use donut spares but they won't fit over my front brakes (C5 rotor w/ camaro caliper) even with 2" spacers... have to have 17" wheels to clear. My factory 15" wheels still work on the rear so I only need the fronts.

I only have one set of 17" wheels and they have my 200TW tires on them. I want to store those in the basement over the winter but still have the ability to roll the truck out of the shop in the cold if I need it out of my way... which is often because my shop is tiny lol.

Edit: I love the Guniwheels but would never spend the money on them... Holy cow, $200+ each!

The truck...

Surely there is a janky junkyard wheel that will fit your setup you can get for like $20 and save all this effort.

17" spares exist.

One can find Corvette wheels, with tires for under $200 a pair around here. I'd try that because you know it will fit over the brakes. Will a flat plywood wheel not contact the calipers anyway?

Edit: search for BMW rims, too. Their 5x120 bolt circle is close enough.

gsettle said:

The truck...

 

That thing looks dope.

The only time I've ever heard this being done is for something like a street rod frame. Nothing heavier than that.

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

Plywood is $31 at Menards. I could cut 8 circles from a sheet and double them up with glue and screws. 

I wouldn't use the $31 plywood.  CDX/Sheathing is pretty pathetic.  Lots of voids and knots, cheap glue.  Honestly, engineered OSB subfloor would be stronger aside from the fact that it would chew itself up on the concrete.

The stuff you would likely use is the $75/sheet cab-grade ply.

But still... probably cheaper than a set of donut spares.  The only times I've seen ply used as rolling stock was with bare shells, naked frames, or otherwise super-light stuff.  I would never crawl under a car on plywood.

Any chance you are in SE Indiana?  I have a couple of junk 18" c5 rims (one has a really bad crack) I'd sell cheap.  I'm just a bit east of Cincinnati.