Adapting hubcaps to artillery wheel

Okay, this one is really simple and I must admit that I cribbed this idea from another Hamber.

I wanted to run some different wheels on a 1933 Ford but still use the original type wire wheel caps on an artillery wheel. The wheels in question are 1936 only, Buick Roadmaster only which are 16 x 5 and have a factory 5 on 5 1/2" bolt pattern. The problem was that non Ford hubcaps would quite fit with the stock sprung clips, so here is what I did - after being quoted $625 to adapt five hubcaps to these wheels!

Stage one is to cut the protruding part of the clips off so they do not interfere with the non stock hubcap fitment - I did this with a cut off tool. I was not bright enough to do this before I had the wheel powder coated and so had to dab paint on the newly exposed bare metal (sorry about the out of focus photo):




Next I placed the hubcap adapter onto the rim - because I was using an adapter with a hole in the middle, this enabled me to eyeball pretty accurately where the holes needed to be drilled:









I drilled the the holes in the first photo directly above the remains of the retaining clip and did the same for each of the other clips for a total of five holes per wheel. The positioning of the holes is pretty critical and can only be done by eyeballing it, having measured where the retaining groove in the hubcap sits relative to the top of the mounting area - I got lucky and only mislocated one hole out of 25. Next I used 1/4-20 button head hex bolts with s/s washers and flange nuts. The spacers can be stacked to raise the height of the 'nub' and also to tighten the fit of the hubcap:





Here is the wheel with the buttonheads shimmed in place:





A bit of deft period pinstriping by Jeff Styles www.socalpinstriper.com and mount the Diamondback bias ply style radial wide whitewalls:





Snap on the hubcap adapters with the 1933 Ford wire wheel hubcaps installed and voila...

 

Nice job. Where did you get the hubcap adapter's ?


CBB

 

Thanks. I got the hubcap adapters from the Wheelsmith in Santa Ana,CA. They come in different sizes depending on the wheels you have - Gennie for original or original type Ford wheels and a smaller diameter adapter for aftermarket smoothie wheels.

 

Bttt for the morning crowd.

 

Cool!

 

Very nice, thanks for sharing!

http://www.thewheelsmith.net/contact_wheelsmith.html

 

Looks awesome!

 

Really cool Tech article...

Just FYI: Jeff's site (www.socalpinstriper.com) is popping up as a Malware host.. Jeff, you need to clean up your site man.

be safe.
- Joe

 

Nice and simple! Awesome idea!

 

Love the wheels and love the idea!!

 

I really love this and think it ought to go in the Tech-o-Matic.

One question: How hard is it to remove and reinstall the hubcap adaptors? The button heads and washers don’t “bite” the inside rim any harder than the stamped retainers on a steel wheel, do they?

-Dave

 

looks good !! if you cut a wooden circle of the correct diameter that sits down into the rim at your desired hight,you could run a pencil line round and drill all your holes on the line quite accurately. just my .02 Paul

 

Wow, what a great job you did with those wheels and caps.
How do those Diamond Back Radial look a like bias styles ride and handle?
I'm tempted to step up to those style tires but some old coot with a Lincoln convertible told me they ride rock hard and shake a lot.
Is he full of it or do they ride well for you???

 

Nice but many of us can really use those clips you cut in half. Anyone know where to get replacement clips for our artillery wheels?