Hey guys never ran into this one yet but I have some old Torq thrusts that have the .625 shank style holes in them and I want to open them up so I can use the more available .680 shank style nuts. Can I go ghetto and use a hand drill or drill press and get away with it with caution or is it necessary to fork over the bread and take them to the machine shop? Just wondering if anybody has run into this problem before. Thanks in advance for the advice.
You can do it with a jig and a hand drill, but not free hand with a hand drill. There's a tech on here too someplace, I think kiwi Kev did it.
Wouldn't cost all that much if they are just opening them up, instead of laying them out. And they would probably have the correct reamer. Probably take less than an hour to do it. You could use a drill press, just make a plywood table big enough to support the whole wheel. Take your time.
You need a tool called a bridge reamer of the correct size (11/16 is .687) and a drill press big enough to power that size reamer. the reamer will follow the holes that are there, but getting straight and square is the important part, you won't be able to do a good enough job with a hand drill. If you get the holes crooked the lug nut shank will bind in the hole, you won't get correct torque on the stud/lug nut and the wheels will come off the bus! I would take the wheels to a machine shop along with the new nuts ( any machinist worth his salt will want to measure the mating part) and get it done right.
I used a hand drill on a couple of slot mags on my gasser. No problems with nuts binding but I do check torque every time I go to the track.
If you sneak up on the hole I don't see how you could get it off center with a drill press. Now of course I would be putting a level on the rim, on the drill press too, just checking to make sure everything is square.
I just drilled them- hand drill. Worked perfectly. Be sure to use a bit that has been sharpened uniformly. Or buy a brand new bit. Here's the tech http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109391&highlight=making+wheels+purdy
Thanks fellas I ended up drilling them on the drill press and it worked great. My machine shop is an hour and a half away and the local one is run by huge douches. The holes lined up perfectly and no binding. I measured the holes at around .650, probably due to wear over the years and I went and bought a new 11/16 drill bit that ended up measuring at .685. Thanks for all the replies.
All needed to do is take your time with it. Glad it worked out for you. I tend to throw everything up on the Bridgeport mill anyway. Bob
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