Hot Rods Pros and Cons of reverse rims?

I can't fathom how much reverse you would need on a modern bearing to cause an issue. I have 15x10 with 3-3/4" backspace (technically a reverse wheel), with over 36,000 km's and the wheel bearings were used but in good shape with over 250,000 km when I put the wheels on and I've had zero issues.

I think the claim of stress on wheel bearings must be based on old technology bearings.

 

Oh, Oh, I see , jeez never dreamed any wheel could be THAT thin or cheap. !!

 

Are the Timken bearings or ball bearings.

 

'Back in the day' it was common to see smoked outer wheel bearings on Chevys with ball bearings and reversed wheels, pretty rare on other makes with roller bearings. That's why those roller bearing conversions for them now exist. You did want to do a better job of monitoring the health of even the roller bearings however if running reversed rims. Stay on top of the maintenance and you won't have any problems.

This assumes that you exercise some prudence and don't swap a 1000 lb iron Hemi onto a light-duty front suspension designed for a 300 lb motor....

 

If the camber was in the wheels when parked, they must have wobbled like a Shriners clown car when going down the road or they were made of magic steel.

 

If I remember correctly, using the back side of two Buick rims would give you an 8" wide rim.

 

Ain't it the truth! We'd take those wheels and to be super cool paint them red, mounted with wide whitewalls on anything. Now dude, wanna race??

 

Actually some wheels could be mounted backward. '58 Buick comes to mind. You had to knock the little clips off the center if you used the wheels off the cheaper model, the high end Buick didn't have the clips.

Anyway the center was flat and you could then them over and run 'em.

 

Made my own wheels. Used 7 in wide Chevy(truck??) outers and early ford centers. Made them 5 in backspacing to fit inside fenders of 36 ford using 66 Ford truck rear(not shortened). Had to sell my Halibrands because they rubbed the 36 rear fenders everywhere. Driven the coupe 80 mph —-no shake,no shimmy, no vibrations.Flatheads Forever!!

 

The bearing issue is commonly the outer front wheel bearing. I am not saying that you are not running a 10 wide on the front but that would be uncommon for this forum.

That said, I have heard all my life that reverse wheels would trash your bearings. A common reverse wheel on one of our old cars is not going to be a real issue. Where the problem happens is like wide wide wheels on the front of an old car, like say a low rider from the '70s would have run. flip a 5 or 6" wheel around and wear the original wheel bearings out then replace them and never wear them out for another 150K.

 

They look good but the king pin inclination went out the door.

 

Why would changing the wheel offset on a straight axle car change the king pin inclination?

 

Maybe he means scrub radius.

 

The reason for kingpin inclination is so when you turn the tire pivots at the center of the tread when you move the center of the tread out you loose that. and it increases the scrub radius make the steering wheel harder to turn. https://www.bing.com/images/search?...ctedindex=9&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0&vt=0&sim=11

 

Diamondback, I forgot about them. Thanks for the tip. When it comes time, i'll check them out. I prefer radials for the handling. I had also seen rubber stickers that are supposed to bond to the tires, but I don't know if I trust them to stick.

 

the only way you can get a set of usable bias ply three line whites is through time travel sadly.

 

The first ever dirt track car my buddies and I built, we made our own widened and reversed wheels. All I can say is they never failed, a few had a little tire wobble... In the class we ran, even new true turning wheels wobbled after a few races. In that class back then, rubbing really was racing, and for most of us in the class, the tires against the other guys sheet metal was usually the first thing to rub. We usually bought wheels after those early versions.

 

40 to 48 Fords look good, the rest not so much.

 

Hello,

When we first started to do some custom items that did not require laying up a car for days or weeks, the first thing was a simple purchase of chrome rims. By the 58-64 era, chrome rims were available in most accessory stores from a specialty shop like Dave’s House of Chrome to the local Pep Boys store.

The guys that had chromed rims were two fold. One had standard width rims and small round hubcaps. The Chevy two door sedans had chromed reversed rims and blackwall tires. They both stayed on the cars for the time they owned them through high school. They looked outstanding and had no problems with balancing or wobbles. There were no bearing problems, although we heard plenty of scare stories about wide rims and worn out bearings.

As hot rod folks, we went to the custom chrome accessories shop in north Bixby Knolls. That place had tons of chrome wheels for every make that was popular. Who made them? Well, down the street was a machine shop that did excellent work for hot rod special items and drag racing car builds. Henry’s Machine Shop was a well know place. But, the chrome accessories shop had all sorts of stock chrome wheels for sale. Around the corner was another great machine shop that did custom work and also had their supply of wide wheels.

When someone wanted a special size, then they were referred to Henry’s Machine Shop down the street to get special rims made. My brother wanted a set of wide rims for the next level up of our wide drag racing slicks that we had on order in July 1960. We watched while they made another set of wide rims. True alignment, smooth welds and no wobble at the finish for each rim.

He got a set of 9 inch wide Chevy bolt pattern rims made at Henry’s Machine Shop while we were waiting the arrival of he new M&H slicks. When they arrive and we would pick them up, then we were going to get the the wide rims chromed. It was a lot less expensive than 9 inch wide American Racing 5 Spokes or Halibrand Mag Wheels.

Jnaki

If anyone making their own wide rims, the important thing is balance and alignment for true round or straight turning, prior to finishing. They had jigs for true alignment and welding. It took a spin on the balancing machine to see that they were perfectly made and spinning in a round circle. We were happy for a low cost, great machining and alignment.

They never got used and were sold as new with new black paint. They would have been a great start with the new 9 inch wide M&H slicks we also ordered...