Odd Question About Mounting Wheels on Hubs

[tntatro 181]

Hello, I have an 8 speed transmission that I rebuilt a while back and put in a 10 pinion differential. The differential I bought came with axles and was off a GT-14. The axles were much longer than what I needed for the transmission but I used them anyway. I mowed with it for a season and it rides fine but I'm concerned about the pressure on the bearings. I was thinking about putting dual wheels on using the style adapter made from a large cut off plastic pipe fit between the rims and put a 6-12 rim and tire on the inside. To lessen the leverage of the wide wheel base I thought putting a hub on the 6-12 would help out but I'd have to mount the wheel on the wrong side of the hub to make it fit, if it would fit at all. My question is, would this likely cause problems. The rim would have to be mounted on the wrong side and there is no key way so I'd have to just tighten the bolts but the adapter would also give support to the wheel so it would't spin on the shaft.

[ebinmaine 73,010]

I'm not super warm and fuzzy about not having a keyway.

 

To be honest I don't think the wide wheelbase is a huge concern.

As a matter of fact I'm using GT14 axles on my Colossus tractor.

These axles are very very heavy duty. The thickness of the axle has never been much of a concern. The key way on the other hand has always been a weak point. Not even having one... I just don't see that going well.

[tntatro 181]

I'm not too worried about breaking the axles as much as wearing out the bearings from the extra leverage. I just replaced the bearings a little while back. The keyway is a concern but the wheel will also be supported with the dual wheel adapter. I wish I could put a keyway in without having to take the axles out. The other concern was installing the wheel inside out on the hubs. I'd rather not ruin a good set of rims either. I could put the dual wheels on without the hubs but I think that would make even more leverage. Maybe I'll do that anyway and if I wear out the bearings I'll just replace them later and put in shorter axles. I'm not 100% sure it will fit that way anyway because it may not clear the brake/clutch. If it doesn't fit I guess that will solve that problem and I'll set up the dual wheels on another tractor.

[8ntruck 7,887]

Unless your wheels are designed to be mounted  either side out, mounting them inside out on the hubs is a bad idea.  Reverse mounting of a wheel not designed to br reverse mounted is likely to cause loss of lug nut or stud torque and possibly cause cracking in the mounting area of the wheel.