Is it possible to put new hubs or spindles onto a '28 Essex I beam to use modern wheels? It currently has the old 20" wood split rims.
I just bought a model a pickup bed that was converted into a trailer, with an essex front axle, that has 16" steel rims on it. the guy i bought it from said the wheels are from an old delivery truck. I got the frame rails too, so it looks like a track roadster project in my future.........
anything can be made to fit if you've got the equipment/connections to get it done...resizing kingpin holes, making spacers to fit larger size spindles onto a smaller kingpin location, milling spindle mount areas to fit smaller size spindle mount areas...it all depends on what you're capable of doing or having done...as far as a direct bolt-in and go replacement, who knows...someone here might have done it before...chances are that axle might be a little "light" for a typical hot rod application with a heavy inline 6 or V8...
What I did on my car was to take both the inner and outer wheel bearings from the original hubs on my '46 ford axle, and the chrysler ones I wanted to stick on. I used timken's website to figure things out. Details here: \ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125361 The pertainant idea is this: most manufacturers of anything will use an existing bearing. Period. Figure your ID and OD that you need to put the parts together; chances are decent that somebody makes a bearing to fit. And an oil seal. Of course, if the spindle is 1.5" dia, and the hub is only bored 1.25" thru, you may have an interferece fit... But you may find a hub close enough to what you want to do w/ your axle that will let you run a 5X4.5 BP and even accept a Ford Fox or MoPar minivan rotor. Best o' luck! -bill -bill
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