Wheel Truing - 1948 Indian Chief

[rlm99x]

It's time to re-chrome my rims and hubs and I'll probably install new spokes. Can anyone recommend someone who trues wheels in the greater Sacramento area or the bay area? They need tobe familiar with Indians. I've found someone who specializes in Harley's who is willing to do it, but it's clear there are some significant differences.

Appreciate any referrals.

[Jerry Wieland]

It's time to re-chrome my rims and hubs and I'll probably install new spokes. Can anyone recommend someone who trues wheels in the greater Sacramento area or the bay area? They need tobe familiar with Indians. I've found someone who specializes in Harley's who is willing to do it, but it's clear there are some significant differences.

Appreciate any referrals.

Buchanan Spoke and Rim

https://www.buchananspokes.com/

I'm sure there must be small shops in the area too.

Jerry

[otis71]

I’m not sure about Indian but the Harley manual gives step by step instructions on lacing and truing. It really isn’t difficult and nothing is more satisfying than doing it correctly yourself.

[tfburke3]

Buchanan Spoke and Rim

https://www.buchananspokes.com/

I'm sure there must be small shops in the area too.

Jerry

Are you rims original?I think that's the only way rechroming makes sense.Why chrome the hubs?
Kiwi has complete wheels probably cheaper than rechrome ,cost of ss spokes and labor to disassemble/assemble and true.
If the rims are original and in good shape you may want to contact them for price to restore your wheels.
Tom

[exeric]

I 100% agree with Otis71. In addition to being self satisfying, it is also free, and you don't have to worry about expensive parts being away from home or dropped off a loading dock. Another thing to consider is; truing the wheel in the frame, and fork of an Indian. Skirted fenders are somewhat close quarters for the tire, and drive chain. Forks, and frames can be out of factory specs which can expose, or cause problems. Tom's suggestions are very good if budget is a serious consideration. That's always a factor for me because I'm cheap and put very little monetary value on my own time.

[pisten-bully]

https://forum.antiquemotorcycle.org/...6-chief-wheels

I did this last year, no big skill involved but patience is needed!

[ChiefTwoKicks]

If you are planning to re-spoke (stainless steel) the wheels and replate the rims, also if you have to chrome the hubs too (I recommend that you powder coat the hubs) you might want to send your stuff to Buchanan's. They will assemble them... just be sure to specify the year and model, so they get the offset correct. They will pack the assembled wheels carefully and ship them to your address. Its not inexpensive, in fact its quite costly !! But they do very nice work, and lots of Indian wheels. If you powdercoat the hubs, you'll be better off. Chroming the hubs can often be more expensive and the results not always pristine. The chrome hubs have a habit of rusting after a short while, and are really hard to keep clean...

My opinion is too much chrome makes an Indian look over done, creates an excessive amount of tedious cleaning and polishing, and generally makes for more work than you may anticipate.
Oh, lots of chrome can look good, but the work it takes to keep it really nice is painstakingly tedious. Lots of chrome used to be very popular back in the 60's & 70's, but many people have had to take a different look at chrome these days.

In my last response to your inquiry about a good chrome shop, I recommended AC Chrome in Bakersfield. I researched several chrome shops about 20 years ago, here in California, and the quality high end chrome shops were few and far available. Mostly because of the State restrictions , and the disposal factors the shops have to comply with. I looked all over the greater Los Angeles area and found most shops will only do "bumper chrome" on very large orders. Most of the shops in smellA do what they call flash chrome or hot dip. AC Plating does hard chroming for industrial farming equipment, along with automotive restoration work.

Of course, the choice is yours. My opinion is strictly my own and my experience is also only mine. You may have a completely different perspective and motive for your project, and I totally respect that. Good Luck. C2K

[otis71]

I just had a set of 18” rims chromed, both rusty but one was heavily pitted and took a lot of prep work. $850 for the pair.

[rlm99x]

Update on wheel truing, etc... In the end, I decided to go with Buchanan's. I purchased new rims from Kurly's Starklite. They are built to original factory specs and are already chromed. It cost less to purchase these than to re-chrome the rims I had, which were not original. Of course if the rims had been original I probably would have kept them. I went with stainless steel spokes & nipples and had them polished. Regarding the hubs, I did have them re-chromed. For those that may wonder why, both the platers and the folks that did the powder coating told me powder coating is not recommended once something has been chromed. To the comment above that Buchanan's is costly... YES. But everything looks amazing and they know what they are doing..

Also, I decided to use Sherm's Custom Plating in Sacramento. Not cheap, but not the most expensive either. They took me through the various options - street vs show quality. I choose street and was not disappointed with the final product.

FYI, I showed Mike Tomas at Kiwi my old rims and he confirmed they were not original, but he also said they were well made. Not sure what I'm going to do with them.

Thanks to all that shared their expertise and opinions. I really do appreciate your comments.

[Jim]

FYI, I showed Mike Tomas at Kiwi my old rims and he confirmed they were not original, but he also said they were well made. Not sure what I'm going to do with them.

Thanks to all that shared their expertise and opinions. I really do appreciate your comments.

Thanks for the update! As for your rims... from my past experience with ANYTHING is.... don't throw them away. I've tossed so much stuff that I WISH I still had. Oh well... that's life.

[PaulCDF]

I have found the Folks at Buchanans are Great.