USELESS TECH Post #97: How to reverse wheels

This post has pretty much been covered before but I dunno sometimes it helps to see a bunch of tech posts about something before you really jump into it. Anyway my car was needing a different set of wheels and to stay within my theme and era I really had nearly no options. My hubs are 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern but I want 16 x 4.5" wheels. I was using these mid 30's Plymouth artillery wheels that were pretty sweet but I was kinda over the whole artillery thing. So the hunt was on for some early '49 Shoebox 16 inchers. They had the BP I'm after and were 16's. After some time RG49MERC on here got ahold of me and let me know he had a set. The deal went down and these pretty little babies were at my doorstep:




I have to reverse 2 of em so that they're far enough away from my body. Plus It will look awesome due to the backside having a nice sloping ramp as opposed to a vertical shelf on the rim as you can see in this pic:



So first you gotta separate the rim from the center. Take a centerpunch and mark the centers of the rivets so you can drill into them:





Drill into the little *******s, I used three sizes and stepped it up. You just gotta remove the tops of em so you can punch em out:





When they are all out you can press the center out of the rim. I rotated the wheel and pushed the center 1/4" every quarter turn til they popped out:





Now we gotta clen up the inside. There will also be some dimpling where the rivets were. Grind that smooth. I used a flapdisk then moved to the composite stripper:






I can blast the centers later. Next once everything is nice and clean (remember to clean off where you're gonna weld) put the center back in from the "backside". You can hammer it in place with a br*** hammer. I got the holes lined up with the old ones:



Then mount it to something so you can check for straightness, I stuck it on my axle and tightened it down, then placed a jack to the middle of the bead and spun it. You can adjust the wheel to run true by tapping it with the br*** hammer:




Once it's straight, stick a tack on all four sides:



Weld up your holes, I skip around:



Then weld in the centers, once again I skip around:

 

Now you have kick *** reversed wheels. The valve hole is on the back too which rules. I gotta weld up the holes on the front wheels to match.





Now go see SLAYER

 

I never skip steps so it was very informative of you to follow through with Slayer. "Do it once, do it right!"

but DAMN this is a nice tech post!!

 

Nice tech here. The only thing I dont have is the press. How tight are the centers once the rivets are drilled out? Would a block of wood and some carefull hits with a hammer work?

 

Any way you can do this to wheels that aren't rivited???

 

That's a good and simple tech that a lot of guys can make use of. I always liked the look of wheels done that way too.
The first time I ever saw a set of wheels reversed a fellow autoshop student did the wheels for his 55 Ford but use a set of Buick rims that the shop teacher had stashed away without asking. Talk about someone getting pissed off.

 

good tech. straight forward and good pics, well done.thanks dreddybear, i think ill try it now.

 

Good review of cl***ic tech! I made a simple jig to use my drill press on the rivets....much easier!

 

Awesome, this is something I have been wondering how to do since I was a little kid.

 

Sweet. Thanks for the tech thread. I'm a huge fan of the last step...

 

Thanks guys

You would have to whack the **** out of it. I actually tried for about 15 seconds before I was like "screw this" and cleared the stuff out from around my press. I was thinking an air hammer on the little edges would work..

 

All steps kick ***! Slayer makes for motivational tunes in the shop... well for me anyway!

Thanks for the cool tech!

 

Who is Slayer??????????? And why is the stage burning???


Nice wheel tech, but I hate the air hole on the back side. Looks cool, ****s to add air.

 

Great job buddy!! Those came out *****en..but you forgot one step... Send to Chromer before re ***elmby

 

Ive done the block before and it's not easy but it does work..

 

Awesome tech
I've seen slayer a few times and they are never disapointing

 

Awesome tech
I've seen slayer a few times and they are never disapointing

 

Great tech, thanks !

 

I'll p*** on slayer.......more of a flatt n scruggs guy myselfbut hey, big fan of your tech, this would make a nice sticky.

 

Nicely done. Yes, I like the look of NO air hole but... as stated by iammarvin, it ****s when you have to add air. Besides you and me, and I'm not all that sharp, who is going to notice that the valve stem is missing ?
Really, nice job,
Dale K
Cleveland OH

 

Those look like 1950 Ford 16" rims. Instead of lining up all 3 holes of each set, line up one and then you can plug weld 2 out of every three. This gives you so many welds that there is no need for the bead along the edge of the center. The air valve on the inside really really ****s. You have to get down under the car to check tire pressure and you are going to hate it.

 

Thanks man, but I'm going to love it. I can look at all the useless upholstery under the car when I'm down there. I'm all about compromise in the looks department.

 

Slayer Kicks ***...! The reversed wheel thing was pretty cool too. Great info.

 

Hey great tech but don't forget that a guy can salvage wider rims or tubeless rims instead of just re-using the original outer ring.

And to all those that say the hole ****s on the backside just re drill to the front and weld up the backside hole if you wish.

I am in the process of using 49 Truck centers with 16 inch 3/4 ton Ford truck rims.

It will allow me to use my original 49 Merc truck hubcaps while stepping up to radial tires in a 31 inch diameter which means my speedo will be back to accurate soon and I can pick up 5mph on the highway over the 28 inch L78 radials that I now have.

 

Nice post - how is the car generally? Any updates?

 

That's exactly how I reversed my 54 Chevy rims. Has an even smoother slope than the '50 rims.
Seeing as they're for my fenderless '29 sedan, leaving the stems inside won't be such a big deal for me.

 

Don't you have to go to work? Dreaddys Daddy

 

It will be a major PITA if your wheels have those huge spot welds, it can be done but lots of work and a second set of wheels will be required...
If your wheels just have an exposed weld bead then carefully grind through it.
I just did a set for one of my trailers that had a small but very good bead. Since mine were trailer wheels I used a bfh to move things around...

.

 

Good thread. I prefer a wood 4x4 and 2# sledge over the press. Had a rivet hang up one time and wrecked a wheel for my 54 when I was reversing them DOH! I just popped some 15s apart a couple weeks back to build some wide 5 wheels. I drill clean through the rivet also with 3 sizes of bits like you did Paul.

 

good tech!thanks for sharing..