Technical ?Fitting old hubcaps to modern rims?

mid 80's 3/4 ton suburbans used 16" wheels with adapter rings with 15" hubcaps

 

6 or 8 lug due to 3/4 ton ?
I've come to conclusion I may be custom ordering or swapping centers in the wheels.

 

A buddy had an 84 3/4 ton suburban with 16” 8 lug wheels it had 15” hubcaps with a thin adapter ring that snapped on the wheel then the cap snapped on. I spent a few minutes googling to try find them but i found no mention of em. I know they exist i held em in my hands.

 

33-34 Ford Hubcaps on early and reasonably rare Wheel Vintiques "California "Smoothie" series 09 wheels.

 

Had a similar issue with my '50 Chevy truck when I bought it in the US. Took a set of repro stock hubcaps back to the UK with me when I imported the truck. But there was no obvious way to mount them on the Chevy Blazer wheels the truck came with.

I borrowed a stock wheel from a mate and discovered that the wheel had spring steel clips to retain the hubcap. However, due to the shape of the blazer wheels around the lug nut holes, rivetting or bolting them directly wasn't an option. Bought a load of the spring clips from Jim Carter and had a think about it....

I made this simple wooden pattern and got them cast in Aluminum at a local foundry - If I was doing this today I would just plasma cut the shape in 3mm or 1/8" steel plate. Back then, getting the castings done (I did a set for my brother's '36 low cab Chevy truck at the same time) was the quickest/easiest solution.



Aluminum casting with the holes drilled...


Fitted to a wheel, the visible flat ground in the wheel is there so that I can get a screwdriver in there to remove them.....


Primered wheel fitted with a hubcap

 

Ford did something similar in the mid 70's. Used 15" hubcaps in larger diameter wheels. The hubcaps clipped into a beauty ring. I think they might have been 16.5" wheels though

 

nicely done very impressive Stueee

 

jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/16-wheels-to-15-hubcap-adapter.1207286/"]16 " wheels to 15" hubcap adapter[/URL] several have mentioned these some photos & info

 

I gave up on trying to make those hubcaps work with those wheels. It’s just so much simpler to use 10.5 caps that go over the rim lugs. I just have to weld 3 lugs onto the rims and it’s done. I still have to find a 10.5 cap that fits the look I want. I am leaning towards a dome cap like a moon style plain cap.

 

...have these 60's-70's steel wheels with the hubcap bumps at 10 1/4'" diameter, but wanted to run my 49 Chevy caps,/...so I cut the flange off the 49 caps, tap'd what was left flat, and pop riveted them to some 57 Ford caps that fit my wheels...

 

That looks good

 

Three healthy self tapping screws strategically placed near the lip to provide a grip like original nubs on other wheels will hold the hub caps quite nicely. I did it many times years ago.

 

^^^ that mite work on some caps but these had the extra flange on the back that needed to be trim'd off to lay flat on the ford caps. (see 2nd pic)

 

How did you drill the holes for the rivets? I got some stainless steel rivets but I cant make a hole. My best drill bits just make a shiny spot

 

these were just steel hub caps, drilled easily with 1/8th inch bit.