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MG TD TF 1500 - Slotted Wheel Stamped Codes

Bruce Cunha and I have been comparing the stamped codes in our slotted steel rims. They are identical except for 2 digits, which I though might have been a date code. His car was made in Nov of 1950 and mine in Sept of 1952. His two digit code is TP and mine is CL, so that does not seem to work if the letters represent a date.

FYI these are the codes from Bruce's wheels which mine are the same except TP > CL


D R C 4 J 15 T P MADE IN G
ENGLAND

Note that since the stamping was done prior to the wheel being assembled sometimes a rivet will be placed within the number and you will have to check a few wheels to get all of your numbers.

If anyone has the key to these two digits I would like to know what they represent.


Christopher Couper

Chris, Your posting got my curiosity up, so I checked my wheels - unfortunately not on my TD, as those are covered by tires. However, I have 11 18 inch wire wheels for my 1935 MG NA project, so I checked those and did some research on various British car forums.

Of all those wheels, only one had a legible stamping:

DRC 2.5018 FE G

What I have been able to gather:
DRC = Dunlop Rubber Company
2.50 = Rim Width
18 = Rom diameter
FE = certainly a date code (yet undeciphered)
G = unknown although likely "made in Great Britain)

The letter J in the code you posted is almost certainly the code for a steel (versus spoked) wheel.
Lew Palmer

Thanks Lew. So maybe the 4J is some code for the width?

And then we are still trying to figure out the code for the date.

We need an Enigma Machine for Dunlop. :-)
Christopher Couper

4J is the rim type and width
4 is 4 inch and J is the rim profile, tyre and rim type should match.
The rim profile for tubeless tyres does not match our wheels. I know a lot of us use tubeless as I did until I rolled a tyre off a wheel and destroyed it
See Longstone Tyres video "what is a tubeless wheel" on YouTube.
Ray TF 2884
Ray Lee

Thanks Ray.

And I should have done some internet sleuthing. The 4J stands for a 4" wide tire where it sits in the rim and the J means a passenger car tire.

No luck yet on the two digit "date code". It appears that could mean a lot of things and also proprietary maybe to Dunlop.
Christopher Couper

Chris
How weird is that, I stumbled across a jag forum last night and they were discussing this date issue there.
One fellow had started a spread sheet of the codes from 1951-53
Don't know if it's correct or not but he'd been researching and checking wheels on Jags.
The first letter of the two is the year and the second letter represents the week in fortnightly blocks----It looks a bit mixed up to me but it is what it is--
I've been searching for the forum again but can't find where I had been, but,luckily I had saved the spreadsheet for some reason, must have been to make you happy----lol

Cheers
willy


William Revit

William: Interesting.

Not sure about the year digit yet but the thought of using the second digit for the yearly bi-week is a great one.

Bruce's P puts that date in mid August 1950 which would be good for a November built car. My L would put mine at about the second week of June 1952, which aligns with some of my other dated parts and my early Sept 1952 build time.

Now how to come up with some sort of year figure for the first digit. Bruce's is way past me on the alpha code unless they wrapped. And then it would probably not be a year for letter. We need more cars to weigh in here so we can make our own spreadsheet.

But it sounds like we are honing in and may only have one digit left to figure out.
Christopher Couper

I'd be curious if there were any stampings related to identifying the 3 different steel wheels used on the TD.
L E D LaVerne

Please elaborate on that LaVern. Three is new information for me.
Bruce Cunha

Bruce, I believe LaVerne may be referring to the three types of disc wheels;

non vented 15x4 (very early TD)
vented 15x4 (standard production)
vented 15x4.5 (“competition”)

Bill Chasser
TD/c-8151
W A Chasser

Solid wheels....


slotted wheels with no brake adjusting hole

slotted with brake adjusting hole
L E D LaVerne

My CL has the brake adjusting hole. Not certain of Bruces TP but I would doubt it.

Maybe that first letter is not the year but for the type? We need a few more people with other years to post and now we need a solid wheel poster for sure.
Christopher Couper

Kinda adds a 4th wheel to the mix Bill. I have no pictures of the wheels without the tires mounted. Vented is a better term than the slotted I used.
L E D LaVerne

It did not, I added them before I knew better.

I guess that is another item to add to our list of when they changed it at the factory. My guess is it may have changed with the third rendition of the brake drum.
Bruce Cunha

I don't know much about TDs, but I enjoy research. Don't know if any of this information will help you decipher the wheel code.

>> MG TD Midget Service Parts List: <<

Wheel (ventilated disc) (4.00 x 15) #130148 commencing at TD0251, finished at TD0500, page A.8

Wheel (drilled disc) (4.00 x 15) #500060 commencing at TD0501, page A.8

[Section R, Mark II Supplement]:
Road wheels for 6.00 tyres #131904 page R.4 (wheel specs not listed)



>> MG TF Midget Service Parts List: <<

Wheel (ventilated disc) 4.00 x 15 #50060, page A.8 [same wheel as drilled TD wheel]

Wheel (ventilated disc) tubeless 4.00 x 15 #ACG8001, page A.8 [Probably sealed to prevent leaks at rivets. I doubt that it had a modern safety lip.]

I couldn't find a 4.5 X 15 TF disc wheel


Although not noted in the TD Service Parts Lists, maybe the wheel codes refer to the way that he vent holes were produced ...
A member of our club says that the TD wheels with round vents were originally drilled into the center piece before being attached to the wheel rim. Later, the holes were drilled into the assembled wheel. As a result, wheels that were drilled before assembly have round holes. Wheels that were drilled after assembly have oblong holes. (I may have gotten the production order reversed.)

Lonnie
TF7211
LM Cook

Thanks Lonnie. If we go back that far we may in fact find some differences in the code.

Since Bruce and I are both way past TD0501, our wheel codes only differ by those two alpha characters. And our wheels of course look identical.

I would be interesting to see what a vented TF wheel codes are though.
Christopher Couper

The part number for TF disc tube-type tires is the same as TD. I didn't take photos of my TF wheel codes when I remove the tires to paint the rims.

I don't know the date when the TD wheels changed from drilled before assembly to drilled after assembly.

Lonnie
TF7211
LM Cook

Lonnie
Now your going to have me inspecting all of my wheels and cars.
W A Chasser

An Bill, please use your camera too, or get Bruce to do it for you. :-)
Christopher Couper

This thread was discussed between 24/03/2022 and 29/03/2022

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