Hot Rods Would you roll with this?

Hey all, chipping away at getting my Dad's old '54 3100 back on the road. Making some progress...

I just ran into this. I pulled off the wheels and was kind of startled. Before he passed, he told me he had mounted up some old Ford Mustang wheels to the truck and had used adapters to put on the 5x4.5 wheels. He remembrance was off; rears were mounted via adapters (he had put in a positrac rear 10 bolt out of an old '57 BelAir) but the front was done differently. He bolted the drum to the hub, and then drilled new holes in the drum, had them tapped, and put in studs to then mount up the wheels to the truck. He also hogged out the center hole of the wheel so it would clear the diameter of the hub itself. The most troubling part is where the holes overlap and the stud isn't completely into full metal until it is toward the back of the drum.

In my youth we rode around like this on the occasion that we took the truck out (about once a year during the summer) and he drove it like this for quite sometime. I'm guessing it is safe, there's a lot of metal in that drum, and it'll never go over 60 mph at the most. I do have plans to seek out a 5 lug hub (or if the price isn't too different, swap completely to front discs) and then switch back over to Chevy bolt pattern wheels.

But would you drive it like this?

It'll be done right eventually, just trying to get stuff done in order of priority; I'm adding a manual dual master cylinder and am going to run all new lines and install new wheel cylinders.

Any input is welcome, and thanks in advance.

 

My only thought is yikes. I wouldn't feel comfortable with knowing that's behind a wheel at any speed

 

reliable brakes, etc should be a top priority - no, I would not consider it safe as is

 

I hear ya. I wish he was still around so I could ask, "why??". But, hard sayin', not knowin' I guess

 

Thanks guys, I'll start looking for the hubs. If anyone knows of any good Antique car salvage places in the western US to locate the hubs, let me know. If I switch over the hubs to the 5 lug passenger car style with the drums, will it still use the same brake shoes or are they different as well?

 

you can swap the 51-54 car hub/drum on there with no problem...same brake shoes, etc.

But it's a 4.75" bolt circle, not 4.5".

 

Got it Squirrel, thanks for posting. Currently on the phone looking for some hubs. Will get something from Wheel Vintiques to get back to the 5x4.75 pattern.

 

Hell, looks like you could rotate it about 3/4" counterclockwise and drill more holes and be a little better off. I wouldn't do it, but, you know....

 

I hear ya, I'm not gonna do it either. Sounds like I might have found a place with 5 lug drums/hubs. Fingers crossed!

 

Roll that?

HELL TO THE NO!

Fix that right, as per Squirrel's instructions.

 

That's a first for me....must been way back , and hellll noooo

 

X2

 

Haha, thanks all, it'll be fixed. Thanks for all the responses, glad I could provide some entertainment for the day, or at least something you all haven't seen before

Edit: this has been moved to the top of the priority list!

 

This is what I was gonna say... your easiest option.

 

Yep, got a guy that found one 5x4.75 hub off a passenger car of same year, thinks he has another. Then I'll get some new steelies for it so I can still run the trim rings/chevy moon caps and will be all good.

 

I have seen some pretty bad stuff on here, this may be the worst. It looks like the studs were simply screwed in. Proper wheel studs are pressed in from the back and they have a head.
I know it was ran for years like that but one bump, or one works it way out, then the others sheer, there goes the front wheel.
Top of the priority list....you bet ya, like it stays parked until it's fixed.

 

Yep, it's on the jacks. True, all the studs were just screwed in.

 

Yep that's bad, and not hard to fix as other have said. Work in a tire shop long enough and you'll see much worse, but that is bad.

 

Ha ha ha ha...... NO!

 

Not no but HELL NO! HRP

 

Seems like there would be a fairly easy bolt on disc conversion for it available.

 

Looks like the truck crashed, first time he drove it.

Oh...wait...maybe it worked ok for decades, after all?

 

Crashed, not sure what that comment is about. To my knowledge, was never bumped.

I get it, it was done wrong, back in '71, two years before I was born. The internet didn't exist. Hell, I wouldn't know who to ask if it wasn't for forums such as this for guidance. So, dad probably did what he knew how to do back then. I'll fix it, I just want to get it on the road again.

 

There are, it's in the grand plans, just not the first step

 

Oh, got it squirrel. Sarcasm. Been a long day, sorry.

 

Definitely not directed at you, or your dad. Directed at the Safety Nancys.

 

You can play Russian Roulette every day of your life and still die of old age. That doesn't mean that Russian Roulette is safe. It means that you are f'n lucky.

Luck is not a viable survival strategy.

 

Yup. Would I roll with it? Maybe I'd take it for a little drive, before fixing it.

But I'd check the torque on the lug nuts a couple times.

and don't tell anyone, but I drove my truck yesterday without using the seat belt. It doesn't seem to work after I crashed the truck several years ago. Somehow, I survived yet again.

 

I agree, that's why I was asking. Not a hot rodder by trade, just want to drive it safely. For not only my sake, but for the others on the road.

That said, I might fire it up and take it to the end of the driveway...a couple times.

New rebuilt radiator and exhaust installed. Running great.

 

That spacer looks plenty thick enough to modify the rear (countersink) and use ''press in''
stock wheel studs..
Many european vehicles use wheel bolts, not nuts like we are used to, maybe a larger thread is available to drill and rethread what is there?