I have a set of Keystones that I am running, but I absolutely hate the unilug krap. I spoke to a wheel repair place that said they can weld up the oval holes, and redrill them with a standard conical seat to my bolt pattern. Anyone ever have this done? If so, did it hold up fine? I figured if this works, it'd be a hell of a lot safer than the current unilug holes, which are now worn out and keep loosening.
Most will advise not to do any kind of repair work to the lug nut area of the wheel. Aluminum wheels on most of todays daily drivers are routinely repaired but only on the outer rim. While many wheels are welded to the rim I dont think I'd try this .
i've done it, but i wouldn't do it on keystone's. just get the right lugs and wshers for them, you will be money ahead.
Unilug wheels are one of the worst **** products out there, I've never seen anything but problems with them. I'm surprised that someone would offer to weld them up and re-drill them from a standpoint of liability. Maybe they have a process that does work, but I'd advise against it. Bob
Dammit. I have the correct lugs and washers, but let's face it, unilugs are ****. My local track won't allow them for anything quicker than 11.99, probably for good reason. I hate these things, unilugs will curse me until the day I die!!!
I have a set of fairly rare wheels on an "ot" car that were redrilled. Most wheel shops and machines shops will redrill a wheel after adding a steel insert to the original lug holes. I wouldn't trust a unilug thats been welded and redrilled so you must "really" like those wheels.
How do the lugs holes get worn out? Find someone that wheels'n'deals in new lug nuts, etc. There are washers or larger outter diameter lug nuts that may help. What condition are the threads on the lugs? If any wear shwowing then replace all. This should help also. If the "look" of unilugs bother you maybe a spider cap would help cover things. If none of this will work for you buy new and use current rims to just hang on the garage wall.
If the shop van mill a step in the unilug wheel holes and turn some aluminum inserts and weld them in front and rear and face it off they should be good to go. I would go with shank nuts and the appropriate through hole in the pattern of your choice. Not the absolute best choice, but..... Probably cost more than new wheels by the time you're done considering machining costs. Charlie
They're just a set of the old Keystone Kl***ics, nothing special, but I have never seen 'em in anything but Unilug, and they have been with me on various cars for over 20 years now. If I could find a set in a single bolt pattern, I'd snap 'em up.
I sold a set today that had a single bolt pattern. They do exist. Mine were even rarer than that, they were four lug!
I've run a pair of American 10" x 15" Uni-Lugs - bought new - for 15 years and 47,000 miles on my 32 roadster. Only problem experienced was the thin mag lugnut washers supplied will "cone-in" - take a taper in other words - and back off on the torque setting. Cured by installing a set of CenterLine's 3/16" thick washers. The (used) fronts I'm now running are also Uni-Lugs and they have perhaps 12 years and almost 40,000 miles. Also no probs. Here's one little brother did with his drag racing Henry J. Drilled out the wheels to accept a steel bushing. Pressed it in - light press fit is sufficient. The bushing is .010 or less tall than the thickness of the mag wheel lugnut flange. A standard thin hard washer with grade 8 nut holds the wheel in place. No probs here and it gets some hard use with the big slicks and 1040 HP engine. 'Course the lugs proper are 5/8" and that helps. My experience with the older mag wheels shows that conical nuts probably wouldn't do well. They'd chew up the aluminum right away and the original torque setting would be looser than at the start. Got a lathe? Turn out some stepped steel bushings, drill the mags to fit the bushings, machine a taper for conical lugnuts and let the step be the stop for bushing depth. Or drill the ID to accept mag lugnuts. This could be a viable fix for the Uni-Lugs that take a special washer. My wheels are simply the oval holes and a standard mag lugnut does the trick. Pain in the *** to get on though....
I guess I'll disagee here. If its a GOOD weld, there should be no problem with welding and re-drilling. I see so many posts here where no one trusts a welded joint. Is everyone just a ****ty welder or what? There was a post from Kiwi Kev where he narrowed a wheel. He actually cut and re-welded an aluminum rim. It was beautiful, and I'd have gladly trustrd my life to that weld.
Well, I'm gonna talk to Wheel Works in NJ about this, I have heard good things about them, and I'm sure if what I want to do is unsafe, they certainly won't stake my life or their reputation on it and tell me so. However, I REALLY like that idea of the steel bushings! I'll have to ask about that. I also had a set of 4-lug KKs, they were single bolt pattern. But, to this day, I have never seen a single-pattern KK 5-lug. Maybe they do exist out there, but I'll be damned if I'm ever gonna get my hands on a set, in the sizes I want, in my bolt pattern.
I absolutely GUARANTEE you that Keystone produced thousands and thousands of 5 lug direct bolt wheels (not Uni-Lug, as you call it). I was in the custom wheel business for 20 years (with Fenton Wheel Company 1967 to 1987) and knew all the guys (and products) at Keystone. Personally I sure wouldn't try welding up the ALUMINUM CENTER and redrilling... It was very acceptable (on flat faced aluminum wheels, such as a Fenton Gyro or other Aluminum Dish wheels) to merely drill a second bolt pattern between the existing lug holes...then the wheel would have 5 drilled holes for one pattern, then a second 5 drilled holes for the second bolt pattern. But you can't do it like that on a "spoked" wheel cause the second bolt pattern would have to go right thru each of the 5 spokes and that won't work.
As I read this, I agree with Chaz, I don't see the issue and I haven't read anyone say any more then "don't do it". Not that I have a set needing welded anyway, but just a craving for my thirst for knowledge,,,,,,,,,,WHY shouldn't/couldn't this be done? I've seen some FUBAR'ed rims that I would have considered s****, be brought back to life. So can anyone come up with a REAL reason this wouldn't work?
Well, I can't give you a REAL reason why welding up the uni-lug holes and then re-drilling to a direct fit wouldn't work. The lug nuts are torqued to anywhere from 55 ftlbs to 80 ftlbs depending on the lug/stud size. I can only give a reason to worry....how would you know if IT DIDN'T WORK.... The way you would find out is that you would be driving down the highway and the lug nuts would break right thru the wheel and the wheel/tire ***embly would go flying down the highway...and you could flip your car into an oncoming semi-truck loaded with gasoline..etc. etc etc... This is the only thing to think about... Good Luck
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