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Technical Old Cragar wheels HELP

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Franco51merc, Nov 9, 2023.

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  1. Franco51merc
    Joined: Oct 22, 2015
    Posts: 55

    Franco51merc
    Member

    I have a pair of older cragars with what appears to be an alignment ring for a specific lug pattern. One of the wheels has a broken alignment ring, and the other wheel is missing it. Is it safe to run these wheels without this ring? Can I get new alignment rings for these.

    The 3 more modern wheels I have don't have a recess for that alignment ring. The newer ones just rely on the lug nuts to align the wheels.
     

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  2. They look like unilug, I think. You align them with washers specific to your bolt pattern. Still available
     
  3. saltflats
    Joined: Aug 14, 2007
    Posts: 13,219

    saltflats
    Member
    from Missouri

    I think you need something in there to take up the space to keep from crushing the wheel around the lug nut.
     
  4. Moriarity
    Joined: Apr 11, 2001
    Posts: 35,928

    Moriarity
    SUPER MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    No, you can't run those early unilug cragars without the adapter ring. and no they are no longer available new. sometimes they show up on ebay. this is what the adapter ring looks like, it goes in from the back of the wheel

    cragaradapter.JPG
     
  5. Squablow
    Joined: Apr 26, 2005
    Posts: 18,243

    Squablow
    Member

    I never saw anything like that, and I've had a lot of Unilug wheels. The lug nuts would still need washers since they'd just pull through unlike the offset washers that go on the front, and I would think that style must really make the lug area a lot thinner, too.

    Interesting, but I don't know how good I'd feel about running those, even if I had the correct adapter rings.
     
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  6. Moriarity
    Joined: Apr 11, 2001
    Posts: 35,928

    Moriarity
    SUPER MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    those are real early, they did not use that style for very long, the lug nuts are the same, the adapter is bored for the outer diameter of the lug nut to go thru....
     
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  7. I note the partial "adapter" insert like the one that Moriarity is showing us. Perhaps shank-type lugnuts of the correct width are required to center/locate the studs. (?)
    boltpattern insert.jpg
     
  8. Moriarity
    Joined: Apr 11, 2001
    Posts: 35,928

    Moriarity
    SUPER MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    yeah, this is the style he needs, cragar adapter2.jpg
     
  9. Jalopy Joker
    Joined: Sep 3, 2006
    Posts: 33,508

    Jalopy Joker
    Member

    sure would not run those wheels just because of pitting in chrome. also, all wheels not uniform. centers of wheels easily collapse in a wreck. you wheels may have Cragar caps but, may not be real Cragars.
     
  10. Technically, those weren't 'Unilug' wheels, that was a copyrighted and patented design by ET. Several other wheel companies tried to bootleg copy them (Cragar first among them) and most stopped when sent a cease-and-desist order. Except Cragar... ET aggressively defended their patent successfully and Cragar was forced to pull them off the market which is why there are no new replacement parts available. What makes this particularly interesting is Cragar apparently tried three different designs (the two shown here, as well as one using single inserts at each lug) to get around ETs patent, none of which withstood legal scrutiny. I believe that ET did license their design to Keystone later, but refused Cragar due to the acrimony from the lawsuit. Cragar's final 'uni-fit' design didn't use inserts which seemed to be the sticking point.

    Some creative machine work could probably make them usable, but given their condition it hardly seems like it would be worth it.
     
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  11. Cragar vari-fit, a pair was listed recently in my vintage wheel group

    Screenshot_20231109_213339_Facebook.jpg
     
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  12. metlmunchr
    Joined: Jan 16, 2010
    Posts: 876

    metlmunchr
    Member

    Cragar wheels had steel inserts cast into the aluminum centers and the centers are welded into the steel rims via welding at the steel inserts. The wheels in the picture here have the rim attached to the center via indenting the steel into voids cast into the aluminum center. To put it bluntly, every wheel assembled via indenting was junk because the center would get loose in the rim over time. Best place for that pair is in the trash.
     
  13. flynbrian48
    Joined: Mar 10, 2008
    Posts: 8,632

    flynbrian48
    Member

    Just buy a new wheel already...
     
    Deuces likes this.

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