I had my Halibrand wheels milled...

Lack of thread engagement is why I started down this path.

After the machining, I now have a diameter's worth of engagement in the hex of the lugnut (which is where the wheel holding takes place). There is .800" of wheel material under the washer (1.6 stud diameters).

Before machining, there wasn't **** for thread engagement inside the hex. Only the shank was engaged with the stud.

 

They are made in a six lug dodge dakota bolt pattern (6 on 4.5). Demand for these wheels is already practically zero.

I bought a project out of the HAMB cl***ifieds with a Dakota frame....I have a use for them.

 

You should be fine with .800" thickness under the lug nut/washer. I have had a number of Halibrands and similar wheel that have been either factory cast or milled off to .750". A lot of late model aluminum wheels are countersunk, like your wheel now is, for taper face lug nuts with around the same amount of meat (I don't happen to have any handy to measure).

Charlie

 

the machine shop that did this
they needed to steer him in the right direction/help with longer studs

if the wheel fails causing accident insurance will not cover..........

 

1/2" 20 pitch needs 10 threads to be considered safely engaged for street use. looks like you had 1/2" inch (or 10 threads) of engagement in the shank. Even if you didn't like that or if you were going to the track-longer studs is SO much better than going through all that.

So as long as you never take it to the track you're fine. If you do track it, then you're looking at 40bucks to solve what you coulda done first time around.

 

If it works for you fine,but you just ruined a set of Halibrand wheels. Like said 1/2 inch up in the shank was plenty. Hope you don't have any bad pothole roads around you because you have definitely weakened the center of the wheels. But if it works for you drive on. Halibrand and Weld wheels are made to run longer studs and long shank lugs and longer studs whatever size you need are not hard to find.

 

The wheels look great. With that bolt pattern and aluminum appearance I'm guessing they are one of the replicas....they still look nice!. Also in regard to insurance, if it matters there are very few wheels that are actual DOT rated and probably no actual vintage wheels. Just bought one of the salt-styles from Centerline and was amazed that they were DOT and SFI

 

Agree


http://www.answers.com/topic/can-t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees

 

I am an Engineer and can't see how that can be a good thing. More material is always the best bet for strength and now you have a break through to the center hub.

However, it may hold up for all I can see, which depends oh how hard you drive the thing. You would need to run some strength ****ysis of the before and after to see how much weaker it has become.

Bob

 

LOL. J/K. Lippy

 

I guess I guessed wrong. Oh well, I guess it is just 92 more pounds of aluminum going to china.

 

Come on folks there is more than enough strength left in that wheels mounting & picture strength ****ysys is geting out of hand on the HAMB.

 

You guys can stop the hand-wringing. He's going to be just fine. I agree with the "that's not the way I would have done it" camp, but he didn't ruin the wheels structurally. He's still got .800 of mounting pad thickness, he's got 6 lugs holding the wheels on, good thread engagement, and his wheel is nearly solid all the way to the outer rim shell with large reinforcement ribs between the lugs. That wheel is super strong.

If that freaks you out, what about an old Keystone or Fenton Torq-Thrust copy? Those paper thin things are freakin' scary looking from the backside. How about an original 70yr old Kelsey, a 60yr old salt-pitted magnesium Halibrand, or a 50yr old magnesium 12-spoke that sat out in the weather most of it's life? There's lots of those kinds of wheel here on this site, and what does everybody think about them? I don't hear anybody tripping out when those guys post up their wheels.

 

Well said Alex,
If you go back to my first post about #6 or so, I explained how Halibrand back in the nineties controled their backspace by cutting away at the excess pad in the casting. You could order this wheel in any backspace from say 4" to 5", and they drew the line on thickness at about 5/8" at the wheel mounting pad. If you have never had a custom wheel customized further to control fitment, this might come as a shock, but most cast and billet aluminum wheels have this abillity. At aprox .800 of thickness, he's fine. I can't agree with the way he did it, and I hope he fit them to the truck before commiting to this cut, but it is far from unsafe. Absolutely cool wheels by the way!

 

I was wondering if the slots cut into the hub should have a radius on them. I am not sure but someone told me (I think) years ago that a cut like that with square corners so to speak would likely crack. Could the corners be rounded with a simple file? Please correct me if I am wrong on this.

The wheels are beautiful and I hope that all works for you with them.

 

Flipper, You probally wish you never submitted this thread with all the **** flying at you. Its your car do what you want.



Ago

 

That is a very good suggestion. Sharp edges can become stress risers.

Chip-
I remember talking to Halibrand back in the '90s about that very feature you talked about. One year at SEMA, I stopped at the Halibrand booth and was oogling over a spindle mount wheel, and Richard Lejuene(?, who I believe was the owner at the time) asked me if I had any questions. Well, I had been kicking around this great idea for years, and now was my time to lay it out the the guy who could make it happen. So I excitedly asked, "What if you took this spindle mount wheel and recast it to make it a BOLT-UP wheel with the exact same look? I think it'll sell like crazy!"

He looked at me with a thousand yard stare like I was nuts. Kinda like a few years before in the late '80s at a show when I talked to a salesman in the Air-Ride booth and asked him about the feasability of having a set-up that used air bags instead of coil springs on all 4 corners. He rolled his eyes and said that his bags were for towing only, and not for silly applications like ride height on a street car.

 

I've got thick skin. ...and I do appreciate the input. If this ever comes up again, I'll probably go the longer stud route.

 

can we at least see pics of the truck?

 

3 pages of opinions...you ARE doing great.

 

All things considered, just run them and don't worry about anything else. They will work. There may have been a better way to do it but it will work.

 

Bolt them on and drive the dog **** out of them!

 

A little prior research on the Hamb would have saved a load of work and aluminum. I use long shank lug nuts all the time....

www.lugnutking.com

 

these wheels were produced in the late '90s to early 2000 by halibrand in wellington kansas. these were never designed as a race only wheel. also these are a billet machined center welded into an aluminum hoop. they were part of their vintage machine wheel line because they were having trouble getting castings of their sprint wheels at that time. the six lug wheels were designed for new dodge and chevy products that six lug from the factory. the better fix would be to machine the backside of the wheel thinner, if you didn't have brake caliper clearance.

hope this helps.

-danny

 

Scoot,
Sometimes I have solutions to problems that seem obvious to me. Then I have to fall back on just what you are saying here. My solutions seem easy to me because I have screwed a lot of things up over the years. Sometimes "you just gotta try it" and see if it is going to work.

For me it isn't a matter of if flipper has screwed up his wheels, it was just that the more simple solution maybe would have been to get a longer set of studs. I may have even opted for drive studs and used a nut and a flat washer. But that comes from trying lots of things.

Funny thing. last night I went down into the ba*****t and dug out a pair of Ansen Sprints I have, they have 3 sets of lug holes, 5 on 4.5, 5 on 4.75 and 5 on 5. I guess the fella or fellas that have owned them prior to me run them on several different cars. I suppose they will get run on several more different cars before all is said and done. If nothing else they are lighter than when they came from the factory.

 

would love to have those on my daily driver 04 chevy PU..

 

Well that was pretty stupid if you ask me.

 

I like Flipper, even his OT truck. But this comes down to WTF?!?!?!?!? Most folks know studs are easy to buy in various combos. Not to mention the wheelpad thickness deal. There were many points in this operation that SOMEONE should have questioned it, I blame the "machinist" more than anything. What a dumb***.

 

You don't even need longer studs do you? They make lug nuts with extra long inside shoulder like the old slots that are at least 1 1/2". Am I missing something?

 

The lugs fit like I planned.



The socket just barely has clearance


With tires