wire wheel help

hi guys my name is carol and i am daves wife, i am tring to help him out with a problem hes running into today, he has checked te forums and did some checking online and called speedway and a few other places and has had no luck.

heres our problem, hes tring to run disc brakes up front and drums in the rear, 37-41 front spindles and a 4" drop up front and a 64 9" rear end drum, he wants wire wheels from the 5 on 5 1/2 v8 rims on his car but he says no one has a adaptor to go from 4 1/2" to 5 1/2" that can be used with these wheels

can someone help me out with this problem as i am tring to help him locate these either before billet proof or maybe find someone selling these up their this weekend

thanks for helping me

 

RallyAmerica.com Wheelkid on the board, great guy to talk to, Im sure he can guide you in the right direction as what will or will not work. Im purty sure you cant run a spacer like that on a factory wire wheel, the wheel needs to seat properly against the drum.

 

Why not use a Ford pickup rear axle...9 inch and 5 on 5¹/² bolt pattern. A '49 to '51 Mercury is also 5 on 5¹/². Good luck, Frank

 

Are you looking for help regarding the front or rear? If you are questioning the disc brakes, Speedway Motors (maybe others as well) does sell a kit to allow the use of brake rotors with the 5 1/2 inch pattern with early Ford spindles. The rotors are actually from a 73-93 Ford F-150 pickup.

Here is a link to the kit. http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/767...d2andquot;-Disc-Brake-Kit-for-Early-Ford.html



The ad also states the following information:
"ApplicationThis kit lets you put 1973-1993 Ford F-150 2WD rotors on 1937-1948 Ford car spindles and 1937-1947 1/2 ton trucks.

Outer bearing: 912-TLM11949 + 912-TLM11910
Inner bearing: Use stock cup in rotor + 912-TL68149
Grease seal: Use 912-S18580 (Nat. 472439/Prec. Ind. 18263TB)
The calipers used with this kit are typical of 1971-1976 Chevy Impala."

Kael

 

The truck spindles won't work with the wire wheels unless you use spacers.

 

As previously stated, you'll have to run a spacer regardless in order to get the wire wheels to fit onto the rotors.

Something I did was purchase a speedway disc conversion kit from a guy in Ebay, and it was listed as a GM rotor kit to the early Ford spindles. I went to the parts store and wound up matching a Ford bearing to the adapter and am running Ford 5x5 1/2 rotors on the front of my truck now.

You may also be able to adapt and run something like a Volare (not sure of bolt pattern) rotor on the front. May also need to take whatever rotor with the 5x5.5 bolt pattern and the spacer to a dedicated bearing shop and see if they can find you either a suitable bearing to go from the rotor to the adapter or a bearing and race that could be swapped into a given rotor to make the conversion for you.

If you went that latter route, I'd make sure to pick up a couple of extra sets to keep in the toolbox 'just in case' so you don't have to go hunting for them whenever you might accidentally need them.

 

By any chance would you have a pic of the required spacer? Also, I believe that a Volare will have a smaller bolt circle. I can tell you that my 89 & 94 Dodge 3/4 ton vans both had a 5 on 5 1/2 inch pattern. But, I can also tell you that the center hole in 85 Ford rims is too SMALL for the Dodge rotors.

Kael

 

fred goeske (818) 992-5700 Cool ol' guy makes about anything

wheel adapters dot com is his site

 

did someone get the bearings for the f150 rotors to fit the 38-41 spindles??????

if so did you write down the bearing number and race numbers off the parts and not the invoice?? that would make it easier to locate parts, and help me to find the correct parts as i can get bearings for both rotors and seals also for around 10 dollars in sets