OK, I have bought a pretty good old 56 Dodge Custom Royal, have a brand new set of the repopped Astros that I'd like to run on it but this old pig runs the famous dreaded Dodge wheel bolt instead of a stud. The Astro's are unilug of coarse and I want to secure these puppies on here the proper way, do I need to change up the hubs to press in stud, anyone done this before. Looking for some wisdom from the smartest Forum on the net guys, thanks for your suggestions. Chris.
I bought some 1/2 fine thread bolts in grade 8 and threaded them in from the back with red loctite on them on my '48 Dodge pickup. I put a helicoil in the left hand side to convert it to RH thread.
My '55 Dodge has studs and the '56 Plymouth I got the rearend out of had bolts. If you have any access to parts cars, you might see if you can round up a set of drums with the factory swedged studs in them. Just a thought, definitely don't want to bolt unilug wheels on.
won't be bolting them on that's for sure. I've seen wheels pass me in my younger years on a 72 Cutlass, looked pretty cool going by till I realized they matched the ones that "used" to be on my Olds,ha,ha.... Thanks guys, hoping to hear some more input, looks good so far. Chris.
Convertible helicoil? Never heard of such a thing or did you hog out the thread firsthand? Looks like there are a t least two of us with Dodges in Ontario anyway,LOL! a
To put in a helicoil you drill oversize and retap the hole to fit the helicoil, it is meant to fix stripped threads, but works well for this purpose
The two 56 plymouths I had, used studs in front, bolts in back, and they did the left/right thing too, different hardware at every wheel.
I have taken 1/2"unf bolts and screwed them into the back of the brake drum - on the l/h/s/ I ran a tap down at this size to create the thread even though it will not be a complete thread, applied a little loctite to the bolt and tightened it up - once the bolt bottoms out it will never pull through. I have run a couple of spots of weld around the bolt head as extra insurance - if you are worried about heat - don't be - brake drums are designed to handle heat
Might be worth considering swapping in a later rearend and dump that tapered axle deal, maybe something like a Ford Explorer would do the job and have the right wheel lug pattern on it. IIRC they're leaf spring, so even if you can't find one that drops right in, new perches are cheap enough.
Pressing in studs would be the best/easiest option I would imagine. I had to do that on one of my drums for my plymouth, pretty straight forward.
Yeah, I think I'll go with the pressed in studs guys. Sorry AJ, I was having some fun with you regarding the helicoils..... Been in the old car and repair business for far longer than I care to mention,just wanted some other insight before doing what I thought to be best. Usually find the really easy answer just minutes aft I've spent all weekend doing it my way,ha,ha.. Thanks guys, keep you posted! Probably not going to swap rear ends in this one Rusty, trying to whip out a project that will be quick and dirty so I actually have something to fool with on the street this coming spring. Pretty sure the kids will disown me if I take on another major multiple year build again with no driver on hand,ha,ha..
The Jalopy Journal
