Has anyone ever tried this and how did it come out? I've got a pair of wheels I'd like to try it on. http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2...lies/index.php
have several friends in the vw world that widen rims. Looks good and holds up nice. They are painted their wheels too.
Yeah I widened the rear wheels on my sport coupe. F-100 centers and 7" hoops from some 10 dollar white spoke aftermarket wheels. Most 15" wheels have a 12 5/8" centers and will interchange. I did a pair of 8"ers too but they were too wide for the old time look that I wanted. In the 50s it was popular to put Ford centers into Buick wider hoops. Today there are plenty of wider 15" donor wheels to get the hoops. You can buy new hoops but I love using the original old parts. I looked for Buick wheels but the white spokes were cheaper. There are many posts on this if you want to search.
Sounds good; think I'll give it a go. Any advice other than what's in the article? Is the whole dial indicator setup an absolute "have to" step?
The indicator will make sure your wheels are true,but if you don't have one. I've also seen guy's clamp down a wire on a solid base and put against the edge of the rim.Kind of like when they true bicycle wheels.
Years ago I made brackets and bolted an axle shaft to a big wood beam for a poor man's lathe, angle iron brackets to mount the cutting torch then brackets to hold a 7 in body grinder for the finish sizing of the centers. I used horsesoe nails (miniture wedges) for final alignment of the hoops then tacked and checked with a pointer. I ran them for 15 years with no problems
You should have a dial indicator anyway. Very useful. Doesn't have to be Starret or Mitotoyu. Should be able to get a generic imported indicator and base for less than $50.
Good thread. I remember one of my fellow Auto mechanics cl*** students in high school getting in trouble because he got in our instructors stash of Buick rims to build a set of reverse rims for his 55 Ford. He welded them up in Ag shop and they looked great. As far as dial indicators I have a Starett that I have had forever and I dig it out more than I thought I would when I bought it off the tool truck years ago. I see that Amazon shows some for under 50 bucks with the magnetic base which a guy needs. I would be checking the pawn shops too as a lot of times they get in machinist tools and dial indicators especially when there are layoffs in an area.
that link is bookmarked for me.. drive em has lots of "garage tech" posts.. i plan on making up a set one yr 15x12 using dog dish caps
I did it to a set for my `57. I used the method from the fordmuscle forum linked at the top. I used a set of 15X8 Chev truck rally hoops and `64 Galaxie 15 inch centers. I used my tire machine to turn it and mounted a dial indicator and magnetic base to set the runout. It worked out well, and I have a set of 15X8 wheels with 5 inches of backspacing on my car for the cost of a set of Chev truck rims from the local pullapart...I paid 15 for two rims and had the Galaxie wheels.
Any of you guys ever do the Speedway rims with custom centers? I am thinking a set of 15X10 or 15X12 steelies with baby moon caps. 5X5.5 is a hard pattern to find anything really wide in so I figure I'll probably have to order custom or make my own.
My dad has reversed and widened steel wheels The easiest is to find centers that are the same dimensions as the rim ,Most are spot welded and you just drill out the rivets ,Fords are mostly the same ,
I have been collecting rims to do a set of these. I have the Chevy rally rims but have only come up with two Ford 15" rims so far. They seem to be hard to find in this area.
Here is the other 15 x 8 wheel thread by Drive Em , which I built a set also and they turned out very nice with Ford centers. I ended up with .025" runout which was till good. Going off what Ford says in thier shop manual , .045" is the max runout for any steel wheel. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=280528
I did this article on the HAMB using the Speedway 15 x 10 wheel shells: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=348830&highlight=15+10+steel+wheel+build
The 15x6 like in the article with 4.5 bolt pattern. I believe the riveted in center is 13 1/4" accross.
All of the 13 1/4" diameter centers I have seen have been welded in, the 12 5/8" centers are riveted. This goes for Ford, Chevy, Pontiac, Olds, not sure about Mopar.
I started doing a set for the real of my bus I used some old chevy (I think) 15X 5.5 and reversed them. I had to press the VW centers into the hoop and made a jig to get it straight. I dont have a dial indicator yet but I am a little worried that somehow the center isnt perfectly centered. If its not is there any way of remedying it? Only way it could be wrong is if I cut the rim out a little off correct? Here is my Jig
In the early 60's, we would mount a Buick wheel on the back of a 56 Pontiac, and cut off the wide part with a parting tool mounted on a homemade tool post. After cutting 2 wheels we would then weld the 2 wide parts together to make an 8" wide rim. Then simply weld the center in where we wanted it. 8" Bruces slicks then worked very well. At that time, my friend and I were both apprentice Machinists, so we did Know what we were doing.
I have widened many rims over the last 30 years or so. My favourite is to use a non reversed 6 inch Crager to start. I use a brake drum lathe to cut and work on there to check it too although initial tacking was on the floor. Before you go nuts with the dial indicator, check the wheel BEFORE you cut it. You may be surprised. I know I was. I was always worried I could not get it as good as it should be. Now I KNOW it will always be better then it was. in most instances. The bar or wire BTW is a very practical and succesful way of truing the wheel and is sufficient Frank Elliot of Drag Supply in T,O taught me. don.
I'm getting 2 rims done for my next car. Looking at 6" or maybe 7" hoops put on a pair of OE 4.5" rims and the offset tweaked slightly for the rears to avoid rubbing issues. Once i've found the right sized cheater slick and done some more mearurements i'll get them done and then get them chromed along with the stock fronts. Guy near to me makes up the rims, not bably priced at about £60 a rim.
The first set I ever did we used the front hub of the car as a jig and a pointer made of a piece of welding rod stuck in a block of 2X4 to line them up. Factory specs call for no more than 1/8 runout or eccentricity, you can get them within 1/16 with just a pointer no problem. The guy I was working with was a little crude. He cut the wheels apart with a cutting torch without removing the tires first. This caused a little smell lol. I dressed the rough edges with a disc grinder, put the centers in the rims, measured the offset with a tape measure and trued them up with the pointer. Then welded them together with a stick welder.
A friend of mine used a brake lathe to cut the wheel, then added a band the width he wanted. Welded the band to the old wheel, then the outside of the old wheel to the band. Made any width you wanted. The center was never taken out of the wheel. Started making them for race cars, then anything including pickups. Never had a problem with them. The band started out as a flat piece of sheet metal.
I have widened wheels by cutting and welding. IF DONE PROPERLY there is nothing second rate about a modified wheel. As to accuracy, new steel wheels vary from very good to more than .060" variation. I have cut a number of new unused wheels on a lathe, on an accurate mandrel, and had them cut completely on one side before the tool even touches the opposite side. Using a strong mandrel I have straightened run-out in wheels after cutting, but before welding on the new wheel half. Obviously the more accurate the better, but pretty accurate is p***able.
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