摘要 |
A drop center wheel for use with tubeless tires having a pair of spaced, circumferential, radially outwarding extending bead retention flanges (16) on opposite ends of respective circumferential bead seat surfaces (14). An intermediate, circumferential, drop center (10) is disposed between and interconnects bead seat surfaces and has a lesser diameter than the least diameter of the bead seat surfaces. At least one blocking member (22) is mounted in the drop center for movement between a first position well within the drop center so that its radially outermost point (24) is located a radial distance from the axis of the wheel less than one-half of the least diameter of bead seat surfaces and a second position extending from the drop center such that the radially outermost point is located a radial distance from the axis of the wheel greater than one-half of the least diameter of the bead seat surfaces. The blocking member has a blocking surface (30, 32) sufficiently close in the axial direction to at least one of the bead seat surfaces so as to prevent a tire bead (18, 20) from slipping into the drop center when the blocking member is in the second position to prevent inadvertent demounting of the tire from the wheel.
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