Building a 46 Chevy 1\2 T Pu. Want to keep it fairly old school. Probably will go with a 261 I-6. Want to go with painted steel reverse wheels. These fuckers are really expensive!! This got me to thinking. Back in the day, we would build our own, by taking a stock Chevy wheel. Drilling out the rivets, & turning the center around & welding it back. I don't remember if these were 14's or 15's if I used 50 Chevy wheels they are probably be 4 1\2 or 5" wide. As the truck will be mostly just driven to shows. I could probably get by with this width, but I would like to have 15's 6" front 8" rears, on a 5 bolt Chevy pattern. Has anyone built their own with a newer wheel with a welded center? Could I maybe take 2 sets sacrafice the center in one, the rim in the other, & wind up with a useable set? Just throwing out some ideas, but I like the idea of doing it the old way. Rather than just writing another check.
ive done this loads, bother reversing the rims on some sets, and re-rimming some sets. youll need to set up a simple pointer jig to true the wheels up(this can be as simple as a peice of angle iron tack welded to your axle), and you need to be a REALLY good welder. if you aint 100% happy with your welds, dont bother. a couple of tips i can think of for anyone wanting to do this though, is spin the wheel on your jig BEFORE you break the centre out, to check the wheel is actually round before you start. its pretty much impossible to get a wheel thats already bent to run true. be careful knocking the centre out, because some of them are a very tight fit and you can bend them getting em out even if youve cut all the welds off. a press would be best, but some of us poorboys have to suffice with a sledge and a block of wood!
Yes I've made my own wider and reversed wheels. These rear wheels are 7" wide. I made them by cutting the hoop off of some F-100 rims to harvest the centers and then cutting the center out of some of those white spoke off road wheels. I've bought some almost new white spokes for 20 bucks a pair. The trick is to make sure that they will fit. Most 15" wheels from the 50s used a center that measures 12 5/8" across. In the old days they'd use Buick hoops reversed on Ford centers. Any wheel with a 12 5/8" center will work, but the white spokes are just cheaper and easier to find. I set mine up on a brake lathe but any spindle and hub combination can be used to check for run out before tacking. When they ask you for the web site for the wheels... just say I made them.
Can't use thos for this, They have a 13.260" ID. The wheels you want to use are 12 5/8ths. As for cut the center out of a welded wheels, we use a lathe, but I've heard of people using 3 in cut off wheels to cut the weld out. I would recomend using a chisel and hammer to pound the center out from the back instead of just hitting it with a hammer and bending something. Or if you want I'll sell you some outers and you can just put your centers in. Jimmy
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