Greetings! I recently obtained a set of wire wheels that (I am told) came from a '65 3.8S. When I try to fit them on my '61 Mark 2's hubs, they won't go on fully. I can't get the wheel with the oh-so-slightly-smaller-diameter opening far enough onto the splined hubs.

XKs Unlimited only sells one size/style of hub for the Mark 2, so I'm not sure what's going on. Any ideas?

Submitted by mmvjsc@surfree.com on Tue, 08/12/2014 - 05:17

Rick, while I don't think my comments are the official word, the information is nonetheless correct. Anyway, if you have a metal ridge part way down that you needed to file in order to get the wheel on, it sounds like you may have serious wear to the wheel splines. Maybe that's why these wheels were removed or replaced by the 3.8S owner. Try to find someone experienced with wire wheels, to take a look at them for you.

Submitted by NE48-48878 on Sun, 08/10/2014 - 12:25

Turns out the wheels do fit. I just had to lightly file down a small ridge that had somehow built up around a third of the way down the spline inside the rim.

I take it M. Miller's comment is the official word on the subject (for future reference)?

Submitted by mmvjsc@surfree.com on Sat, 08/02/2014 - 07:13

Rick, Unfortunately much of what Jeff has said above is, well, how do I put this nicely... not exactly right. ALL postwar Jaguars with factory supplied knock-off wire wheels have the same spline size, whether live axle or independent rear suspension, drum or disc brakes, six or twelve cylinders. In fact I recently put a 16 inch XK120 wheel on the independent rear axle of an unrestored E-type just to move it around. Original 3.8S wire wheels should be identical to your Mark 2 wire wheels and should fit just fine. Perhaps you have crusty dirt and rust packed hard in the wheel splines that is preventing them from going on all the way. This is not uncommon. Try a good cleaning or lots of WD-40 or similar.

Submitted by mam.haggis@hot… on Fri, 08/01/2014 - 11:48

The 3.8S like the Mark X had independent rear suspension while your Mark ll has a solid rear axle.
Jaguar obviously changed the size of the splined axle when they went with the independent rear suspension, so the size at the front would also be different from the Mark ll as well.

I also checked over at XKS and they don't seem to list any spoke wheels for the 3.8S or the Mark X, but they do list a different wheel for the E types which share the same rear end as the 3.8S and in that case the stock number is different then the one for the Mark ll.

It also appears that the spline size was changed again when they went to the E type V 12.