2 guys in this town (2 that i know of) redrilled their front hubs on a drill press using a wheel adapter & i see the cars every year. - both done in the late 60s still rollin on the same hubs. they drive long distances too. smoooooth.
I agree, my brother did his years ago using a wheels adaptor for a jig with a hand drill. Never a problem, 10 sec qtr mile at 128 forever
I just looked at a set of early fords last week and needed to drill them to 4 3/4 and it doesnt look like i can do it. There is a sunken in place on the back side that appears to be in the wrong place. The indentation ( sunken in area) would not allow the stud to seat very well. If someone has done a set would like to see some pics.
The 40 hubs(O1A) have raised bosses for the studs. The rest of the back of the hub tapers. If you redrill these, you will be in thinner metal and wil need to have the hole spotfaced or leveled so the studs seat properly. The 46-48 hubs came in two styles. One style was like the 40 hubs with tapered areas between the studs and some were flat all over the back. These would be the most suitable for redrilling.
The thing not yet said here is that a lot of Ford wheels with the 5 on 4.5 pattern will not bolt up ... due to the hole on the center of the wheel being too small. When I did it ... I had to actually turn the hub down in the bearing OD area. Not a lot ... about .125 if I remember correctly ... See how large the center hole is on a early Ford 5 on 5.5 rim above and how small the center hole is on the later 5 on 4.5 rim below ?
good point. when I did it I bought a new set of chrome smoothies and then sand basted them and painted them instead of turning down the hub. the smoothie wheel had the bigger center hole
I took these off a rod ch***is that I parted out. Sold them on eBay several years ago. Note the spot welds on the lug bolts. Reproduction hubs are availabe but somewhat expensive. The ones I have seen have a uniformly thick flange and are better candidates for redrilling. Walden Hot Rod Shop and Willson Welding make Buick drum conversion hubs with all three bolt patterns. They might work with the 46-48 drums that mount behind the flange. Vaphead is a dealer for Wilson Welding.
thanks guys, pretty much answers the questions I had on the matter, I would probably just turn down the hub centering portion of the hub to fit a different wheel if I could get away with it, or possibly put the wheel in the mill and use a boring head and enlarge the center. I mainly just wanted to make sure there was enough material to drill and/or spot face the hub for new studs.
Hey there Bib Overalls, pardon the interruption here, but I need some help as seems you may know the answer. Can you help me id my ford hubs? I had planned to do a Buick brake conversion but have come up on a road block. I have the Buick backers and drums with the buick hubs from a 1959 Buick Roadmaster. (45 fin) I was going to use the Ford hubs i have but now doesn't look like they will work. These Ford hube are 5 on5 1/2" and 7 3/8" OD. the center register is 3.250". The front of the hubs is machined flat where the wheel rides. The back side of the hubs are somewhat tapered with a rib going to each lug bolt. The outer edge of the hubs is kinda thin at 3/16". Now,,,, the Buick drums have a center register of 3.425" which is .175 BIGGER than the Ford register!!! How have you or other folks addressed this? Or do I have some oddball Ford hubs? I appreciate any help. thanks joe r
I have a friend that asked me to drill his hubs for him...now I feel much better about doing it...thanks for the info guys...
You have the right stuff. The center of the drum must be machined out to fit the hubs. The outer lip of the drums must be machined also if 39-48 backing plates are used. I do this. Check Ham 0'dex
Seen this link? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239540 with these adapters you can use your Buick drums and hubs and just redriil your bolt circle. Tom...
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