Should Front Wheels be Splayed?
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T'
splaying of front wheels—so that they are wider
apart at the top than at the bottom—may be looked upon as the outcome of a tradition that has been handed down from the time when -wheeled vehicles were first made, but it is difficult to discover any scientific reason for the practice being continued under modem conditions. The eye of the onlooker has, undoubtedly, become accustomed to seeing wheels so arranged, with the result that wheels not so splayed convey the idea that an axle is weak, or that a vehicle is overloaded.
In the early days of wheeled vehicles there were reasons for the splaying of wheels. With a wooden wheel it was found that a certain amount of dishing added strength to a wheel, enabling it to resist pressure sideways in one direction, and, in consequence, the dish was arranged to resist centrifugal force when turning corners, and, also, the side pressure due to the camber of the road when the vehicle was running near the ditch or gutter, the idea being to relieve the dished wheel by having the load supported by spokes that are vertical, as, in the wooden wheel, only those spokes that were immediately under the hub carried the weight.
Another reason was that, owing to the poor means available for keeping the wheel on itsaxle, it was found best to incline the axle so that the hub bore hard against the collar that was forged on the axle, rather than that pressure should come on the linch-pin. There is little doubt that, with roads that had been given a great amount of camber, as was the practice in the days when only absorbent surfacing material was available, splayed wheels fitted the then prevailing conditions. Since those days conditions have changed, wheels for the heavier types of commercial motors are formed in one piece, so there is no need for dishing, better means than the linch-pin are available
B30
for holding wheels to their axles, and excessive road camber is disappearing from our modern non-absorbent roads ; yet the old idea of the splayed wheels still remains. With the introduction of the live axle the splay of the rear wheels had to be relinquished in nearly all designs, and, when one considers the great "'amber of vehicles which are running without any splay on the rear wheels, it is not easy to see why it should be adhered thin the case of the front wheels.
Custom is the only reason one can offer as an explanation, but should there be any reason beyond this it would be interesting to hear the arguments, if any, in favour of splaying front wheels.