Technical Chevy bolt pattern wheels on a Ford.

A friend of mine has a '55 Ford & found some wheels that have a Chevy bolt pattern. How can he get these to fit? Thank you! Bill

 

You will have to use adapters

 

Or else REDRILL the needed pattern on your present brakes providing there is enuf room to make the change!!!

 

There are 4 ways to do that.
1 Redrill the wheel
2 Redrill the drums.
3 Use adapters. That probably will not work on a that year T-bird because of clearance on the rear wheel openings.
4 Buy wheel that fit.

 

Hello,

Unless there is really something special in those Chevy wheels, it may not be worth it to spend money on redrilling the hubs to fit them on a Ford. Adapters have been used, but it may make it unstable and slightly wider.

What I wanted was the look of a set of American Racing Equipment 5 spoke mag wheels. But, the cost was horrendous and out of the question. I was able to buy a set of Buick Skylark wire wheels (5) for the cost of two 5 spoke mags. No, they were not stolen. The previous owner got some 5 spoke American Mags, so, it was a reversal of sorts...

Unless your new rims look like these Buick Skylark Wire Wheels that actually were worth the effort to have a machine shop do the modifications to the hubs and axles to fit them on my 58 Impala. It may not be worth it.

That changeover was worth the effort to pay someone to do it right. No adapters and the new look was outstanding.
Thanks to @themoose
Each spoke was tightened, had Loc-tite on each nub and each individual wheel was trued and balanced. All that was done made the 58 Impala fast and gave it a one of a kind (at the time) custom look for a 58 Impala.


But a year later, this was the final look prior to selling it to a young friend for his new, fast adventures. It helped my next adventure of going off to college, too.

Now, he had the only Impala in the USA with black Buick rims.

 

Ford wheels are getting scarce?

Chris

 

Buy a Chevy, or buy Ford wheels.

really, is that that difficult to understand that you have to buy parts that fit the car you have?

 

I heard that Fords came with a factory option for chevy engines and transmissions, I just assumed you could order chevy bolt patterns as well. Keep it in the family.

 

Front or rear? Get new axles or yours re drilled. Show us the Chevy wheels and maybe someone will buy them so you can get what actually fits your car.

 

Or do like my BIL did in the '60's. Hog out the wheel holes and get some large flat washers.

 

Not all wheels can be redrilled. Some have raised bosses around the holes and by moving the bolt pattern it ends up outside the heavier area. If they're not fully flat on the backside they can't be redrilled.

 

What wheels are unique or rare enough that it would be cost effective to buy them, and then pay a machinist to make the necessary modifications?

Most OEM Ford axles from the HAMB-era have at least one access hole drilled in the flange, disallowing a re-drill, unless it is filled (>>$$), or you buy aftermarket axle shafts (>>>$$$).

Pattern adapters work, but in order to be strong enough, the need to be at, or over about a inch thick.

 

The front. He's putting a new rear end in so he can just get the Chevy bolt pattern for the rear. I haven't seen the wheels but he says they're American mags at a good price.

 

Thank you for the replies everyone! Thank you to include the 'wise ass remarks' cuz I like to laugh!

 

Is he still here to tell that story...???

 

If you found wheels that don't fit your car, you didn't find the right wheels. Even if you want to swap the car to 4.75, you'll then need a new spare tire and it will forever be 4.75. Not a big deal if it's a hot rod, pain in the butt if it's a classic.

Unless you're doing a custom build where you can choose your bolt pattern just get wheels that fit the car, end of story.

 

What brakes are on the front? Are they original drums, or aftermarket discs?

Original hubs and drums can likely be re-patterned, although I would suggest new drums if they can be had.

Aftermarket discs often use an Aspen/Volare rotor, for the Ford/Mopar bolt pattern.

That rotor can be bearing swapped with a like dimension Camaro rotor, for a no machine work retrofit.

 

The front drums can be redrilled. Or if he upgrades to discs in front, he can probably get rotors with the chevy pattern.

 

Re drill, adapters always seem unreliable.

 

Changing bolt patterns is hotrodding. My '39 Chev coupe has a ford rear axle with 4.5" bolt pattern, and I changed the I beam front axle spindles to 4.5" also so they matched all around. Easy job, and cheaper than redrilling wheels.

 

I’ve drill new bolt patterns in axles and drums for years using a floor mounted drill press and a dual (or more) template. The plastic ones work fine. Put the template over the Ford pattern studs first and mark the 4-3/4 circle pattern, remove the studs, then center punch and drill.
The main problem with this is the Chev wheel could be 7/16” instead of the 1/2” of a Ford. Wheels and drums should be centered on the axle center hub.

 

If it is not possible to drill another set of stud holes in the hub you could do it this way using the original stud holes.

 

Keep stirring Billy

 

Offset studs?

 

Almost all aftermarket "mags" have a 11/16's hole for the stud, it doesn't matter if it's a 1/2 or 7/16's stud. Whenever I get aftermarket axles I always choose the bigger 1/2 inch stud even in Chevy pattern.

 

It's like fondue or that queso my wife makes in the croc pot for football parties, if you don't stir it coagulates on top. No one wants that on their Frito.

 

It is hard to find late ford to Chevy wheel adapters. The long Ford studs is the problem. I think it is an insurance problem. I needed a set and ended up buying a set of Jeep adapters. They had the right bolt patterns but ended up having metric studs. I went thru the Dorman chart and found perfect replacement studs. They are the stock studs for Chevys. I had to cut the Ford studs shorter.

I agree that bolt on hubs and drums is a possibility. It would take a lot of measuring. I had a Mullins trailer and it had 6 hole Chevy hubs and wheels. Somebody suggested 40 Ford hubs and wheels. They fit perfectly.

 

adapters suck

 

I have a 1970 camaro that the previous owner hooged out ford pattern slot mags for. He ran it that way for 30 years. I wouldnt do it, but it has been done with great success.

 

You could knock out the studs and use these, but 20 of them are Expensive!