I had my Halibrand wheels milled...

...to work with stock wheel studs.

When I bought them (used) they came with centers that were 1.5" thick. There were no threads on the wheel stud beyond the hole in the wheel. They were only held on by the threads in the lug nut shank....nothing in the head of the lug nut.

I fixed that. I had pockets milled into the wheels to get full thread engagement. I now have little windows where the lug holes hit the center hole, but that is minor compared to failing lug nuts at highway speeds.

before




after




with nuts

 

This is the ultimate dumb question. I suppose is has something to do with cost but why didn't you just get longer studs?

This is just a question not saying that what you have done is wrong.

 

So... how did they bolt up when they were new? Special lug nuts?

 

They use mag wheel style lug nuts with the shank that goes down in the hole.

The problem was that the only place the threads were engaged was in the shank. The stud did not go all of the way into the "nut" part of the lugnut.

 

I couldn't find long studs for a 2001 Dodge Dakota (the donor chassis for my 41 dodge project).

 

Halibrand were a raceing wheel.They were designed to use longer studs.The greater thickness made the wheel stronger.Also,most race sanctioning bodies require the stud to protrude through the lug nut,so, longer studs are the norm. I would have used longer studs and not cut a nice wheel.

 

So instead of getting Longer studs, You made the wheel Thinner at the Mounting Point ?

What do those fit anyway ? They look like 6 pin Knock off or are they actually 6 Lug wheels ?

Seems to me a Standard MAG Lug Nut would have been fine, I Longer stud a Good Idea .... But to thin out your Mounting area ?

Not such a good idea in my Opinon ... But then who am I to say ?

 

The wheels are still .800" thick under the lug. They started out as being 1.5" thick"


...and these are the 1990's-2000's version of Halibrand wheels. (fronts are 17x7 and rears are 18x9.5)

 

Looks like the center hub flange got cut during the machining process.....those little windows.....I'd keep an eye on those areas for stress cracks that might develop. I can't believe that longer studs couldn't be machined for these instead of going this route.

 

not the route I would have taken, but I hope it works for you.

 

Errrr, Halibrand cast all of their wheels back in the nineties with an extra thick mounting "pad" so that the back space of the wheel could be adjusted by leaving thickness or removing thickness. That's how they offered so many back space options on the same wheel. Any thing down to a uniform thickness in the wheel center of about 5/8" or so is considered correct. That was the deal back when I was a dealer in those days. I'm not saying you did a bad job, or you destroyed your wheels, but you took away one of the better features of that wheel when it comes time to adjust for fender clearence and things like that.

 

Did you look for studs? pretty sure the stud diameter for the Dakota is th same as a Viper. Vipers' would have the longer studs for their alloy wheels and brake upgrades.

 

Hog out the .580" holes in the axle to .594" and install the 3" long Moroso #46185. Done.

 

Dumb question, but originally didn't the special lug nuts that have that long snout on them need a bigger diameter hole to go into than would have been required for just a stud to come through? What I am getting at is, without that snout filling up each hole doesn't that allow room for the stud to be sloppy in each hole? From what I have seen on wheels that use those types of lug nuts the nuts help center the wheel and keep it from working loose. They are usually a fairly tight fit in each hole.

Just askin'.


Don

 

X2 on what Don said - you will still need to use a shanked lug nut - and I realize you didn't say you weren't, just an important safety point.

 

I'm still using the mag wheel lug nuts with the shank on them (hole in the wheel will be filled up). The only difference is now I have stud up in the meaty part of the lug nut.

 

My 2c, you'll be fine. We have all seen a lot worse situations. If you're happy, BOOM done.

 

Meanwhile....an engineer is in his office, sippin coffee, thinkin all is good......

 

Seems like difficult way to solve a simple problem. But hey if it works for you, that's cool.

 

I'm an engineer, sipping coffee, reading this, and...

...I have to say I wouldn't have done it.

What's done is done, though. No turning back. Not it's time to put the engineer mentality aside and switch to Hot Rodding mentality... TRY IT! See if it works. I'm sure it'll be fine.

One thing I would consider is maybe radiusing the edges of those windows you created to help prevent any additional stress-risers in that area.

I don't fully get why you went this direction either, but I guess you gotta' try it now. That's what hot rodding is all about!

 

Oh yeah, if you are still using the special lug nuts you should be fine. I was just thinking you wanted to use regular lug nuts.

Don

 

"seeking advice/recommendations/approval serves one better when done BEFORE an action is taken........." Captain Obvious


Ray

 

So what are the wheels going on? I love 18" Halibrands!

 

I am, damn! serious, pulling in studs would have been a snap to do.

 

A 41 Dodge truck

 

This is what they looked like when I bought them off of ebay ....5 years ago (damn I'm slow).

 

Those look nice!

 

I'd have done some machining on the hubs or axles to accept longer studs before ever machining the wheels.

 

reducing the cross section by almost half would make me nervous.Im not an engineer but i thought the rule of thumb was 2x the diameter for thread engagement or cross section behind.

 

The wheels may now be useful for your application, but the future value has dropped to practically $0 .