I'm building a model A roadster and I am using a 1936 Ford rear end with the wide five boult pattern. I needed to bring the wheels out to clear the body so I bought some 2" spacers. The spacers came with 5/8 quick start wheel studs. I'm using 36-39 ford wide five wheels that would tipically use 1/2" 20 studs. I heard it is bad to use the wrong lug nut angle. All of the 5/8 quick start lug nuts come in 45 degree angles. These wheels should have a 60 degree angle. Would it be danger is to slightly drill out the wheel holes and use the 5/8" 45 degree studs? Is there a stud available that would be 1/2" and press into the spacer the same as the studs it came with? Any help is appreciated.
Why do you need to use spacers to clear the body? The stock 36 banjo rear end is wider than a stock model A rear is...
its probly so low in the back that it hits the body, a friends 30 sedan is set up that way, same width rear as on my roadster, but his will rub with smaller tires because of how low the body is set down on the frame.
I agree with speedy, there is something missing in the story. The usual problem is that the '36 rear end is too wide for the Model A. How about some pictures showing the problem? Charlie Stephens
Okay, I took some pictures. It's going to be low, you guys were correct about that. Because it's low the tires get close to the body. These pictures are with a 2" spacer on each side. I get what looks like enough clearance to not rub. The up close picture of the lug nuts you can see the 5/8" quick thread studs and 45 degree lug nuts. These wheels would topically use 1/2" 20 lug nuts with 60 degree angle.
I would be extremely skeptical of drilling the wheels. You will loose a lot of the seat for the lug nuts. The lug areas on these 80 year old wheels are prone to cracking without help from a drill. Coincidentally, I would be extremely skeptical of that wide of a tire on what appear to be stock width (4") wide five wheels. Rather than spacers and questionable cutting, I would suggest a widened wheel with an appropriate backspace for body clearance.
^^^X2 on the wheels. Those dirt trackers are soft and you will be bald right down the center of the tire fast. I would be surprised if you got more than 800 to 1000 miles out of them. Also why not just change the wheel studs in the spacers to ones that would use the appropriate lug nut? Take a lugnut that is for that wheel and one of the studs in the spacer to the parts store and match up one that look good. There are tons of wheel studs that have a shoulder larger than the threaded area of the stud that you could use to shrink them down some. Those look like sprint car type spacers so yeah they have big ass studs, or get some new sprint car wide five wheels in a wider width and better offset. Speedway sells tons of them.
Just checked Coker's website, the minimum wheel with for that tire (I'm assuming those are 820-16's) is 6". If you had those wheels widened to 6" while maintaining the factory backspace, that would give you your clearance. It would look a lot better than those spacers too...
I'd have to agree with Ranier Hooker on that one. The tires look far too wide for the rims plus you can probably find hoops that fit your centers fairly easily. You might even be able to use the rims off some factory 16 inch rims on your centers and keep the look of the early wheels. Go to Post 23 in this old thread. He says that he used 16 inch 2000 or so Chevy truck hoops. I don't know if that will get you the offset but he still posts on here regular and you might ask him. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/wide-5-wheels-to-15-inch-hoops.213994/ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/wide-5-wheels-to-15-inch-hoops.213994/
There are several threads here and on the Ford Barn about widening factory wide-5 wheels. I know off-hand that Rally America in California does it for not too much. I think there's a place in the North East that also does it.
I already widened the wheels. I bought 6.5" wide outer hoops and welded them to the wide five inner part. The tires are 8.90 16 and the hoop width fell within what Coker recommends. I was surprised that the tires had a bulge on the top when I got them mounted. I don't really want to get new modern looking wheels, I wanted to use these older Ford wheels. I already have the front set up with them in the 3.5" wide fives. I tried to find different wheel studs that would press into these aluminum spacers and I did find some that fit pretty well but when I tightened the lug nuts down it stripped out the aluminum and spun.
So, with the wheels out of the picture (good on you, and I'll look for a crow to cook up), tell us more about your rear brakes? Looks like Buick drums on there, how is that working out. I'm not doubting, just curious on how everything is lined up, since as was said before, the wider axle width should be more than enough without spacers or other witchcraft.
The brakes are 45 fin Buick drums drilled for the wide five pattern and 39 backing plates converted to Bendix style. I haven't got too far with the brakes, only did one backing plate and haven't installed them yet. The drum slides over the lug nuts and is pressed between the spacer and hub.
Try these: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/arp-100-7706 They are for Frankland hubs and have a long .563" knurl. I have several Buick drums machined to fit Wide 5 hubs and wheels. All the ones that were not machined FLAT at the lug nut mounting surface have cracked. These came from different sources so it wasn't just one guy. Also, chucking the drums in a lathe shows a lot of run out. Not sure how to 'fix' them yet.
Sorry for the late reply. I got them from Rally America out of California. http://rallyamerica.com/ I talked to a guy named Jimmy that works there and he knew the exact hoop diameter that I needed. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I have another question on this. Does anyone know where I can balance these rear wheels. I talked to the local tire shops like Belle Tire and Discount Tire and they said that rear hub wouldn’t fit on any of their balancers. I need the hub/drum balanced because it’s been modified. I could use a front hub to balance the rear wheels but would still need to balance the rear hub/drum some how. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
You have to either bolt a wide 5 hub/adapter with a small center to the wheel and get it balanced as an assembly or bubble balance them with a flat plate on the balancer. SPark
This is how I had my W5 wheels and tires balanced. I bought the adaptor from Speedway. IIRC about $75. Works good.
Jaw22w, I think that would work for the wheel and tire but then I still need the hub/drum balanced. I’ll have to look at that bubble balancer, never heard of that. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Open the holes up on the wheels if you have too, they may go on anyway. You can buy lug nuts in the proper bevel so just spend the cash.
I used long 1/2-20 studs with the spacer so that I didn’t have to drill the holes out on the wheel. Doing this I was able to use the correct lug nuts with the 60 degree angle to match the wheel. The spacers were 2” and we ended up milling them down to 1.75 so there was enough threads for the lug but. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
As for balancing, I use dynabeads - you can get them off of eSlay. You also need a special tire valve. I have used them on all of my hot rods and they work great with or without tubes ....
That might work! I never heard of that before but I just watched a couple YouTube videos and it sounds like it works. Thanks for the suggestion. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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