Technical Make your own steelies? Can’t be this easy.

I bought one of these hoops that you speak of but was unsure about how safe it would be to skim off 1/8” of the outer dia of the wheel center. The center lip is 1/8 to begin with. Skimming it on the lathe would leave 1/16. Some said that I need to press fit the parts.

I was wandering what wheelkid did, wandering if he had wheel hoops specially made for center to slip into

Would be nice to know, most of the rims I find are pitted on the inside

 

BTTT

 

Roundly - Roundy racers have made their wheels that way for years. Bolt them on the front and use a dial indicator to true them up

 

I built these for my sons Rambler. Took the center out of the stock rambler wheel so we could use a rambler hub cap and then used a junkyard white spoke hoop. No need for a dial indicator I made a steel pointer clamped the the c10 truck arm that we used for locating the rear end. Rotated the wheel until the hoop touched the pointer all the way around. Easy peesy

 

I used a similar method, SHS clamped to the leaf spring

https://youtube.com/shorts/kgNIsz2CGYE?feature=share

Have ran a 12.4/110mph quarter on them

 

The hoops were used aftermarket 8 lug white spoke 16" wheels I cut the centers out of. Don't know the mfg. I welded the centers in after truing them as shown above

 

I need 18" hoops with a center diameter of 16.75"...

 

The place I had my '56 wheels done used a FWD hub/bearing, a chunk of a tape measure and a bent welding rod as a pointer. He had a head of a 2-3lb sledge hammer to tap the hoop around, measured the offset, spun it to check runout, welded it and rechecked runout. The key was to have a snug fit between the hoop and center so it would stay tight on it's own.

I went to the wrecking yard to find stock used wheels that where close to the i.d of the stock wheels I had.





I'm thinking something like this. Buy a cheap aftermarket hub (or pull a good used one from a junkyard), mount it to a small table (banjo bell, grinder stand...), drill and tap the center and knock out the studs. Screw in a piece of all thread into the center and use a large flat washer with a wing nut to hold the wheel center in place. Use a stand, old floor light or something taller to hold the welding rod or runout gauge. The biggest expense will be a hub.





I still have another pair to do for the '28, I don't know if I'll make my own setup or have him do them. At $45 a wheel labor (a few years ago) to bust apart 2 wheels and make one, it might be worth it for me to pay.......unless I plan to do more .

 

We have similar hubs thought out the warehouse that have fallen out of packaging (no, I can’t take one) but considering 90% of the stuff that comes through the place is of Chinese origin, I’d bet the expense isn’t like going to a dealer parts counter

 

Making steel wheels without "modern" equipment. (I was looking for the wheel vintiques logo)

 

I used early Ford 15 in centers that have the inner nubs for the small ford caps and mated them to unknown 7 in Chevy outer s with 5 in backspacing to fit under the fenders of my 36 five window using a 1966 ford f100 rear end. Worked out well—the 5 in backspace tends to narrow the overall tread width, but still uses a moderate 7 in width. Put them on a brake drum and kept moving them around until I had almost .010-.020 runout—welded backside and ran them. Flatheads Forever!!