I'm looking at buying an old set of 15x8.5" Dragmaster aluminum five-spokes, but thought I'd see what some of you experts think about this: a previous owner milled the mounting pads down to roughly 1/2" (could be as thin as 5/16") to gain some clearance and increase the backspacing to 4". Should I be concerned about this? What is the flange thickness on your aluminum spokes? The seller has stated that the wheels are not cracked and that they run true... what do YOU think?
The ass-pucker factor is on the high side for me. I wouldn't run them thinking about what could happen if that flange breaks.
Yeah, I definitely don't want a wheel to blow apart on me... FWIW, these would be mounting a set of slicks on the light ass-end of my F100. Anyone have some measurements for an unaltered wheel?
When I look at a 1/2 inch of material I think to myself that it looks plenty strong... but I don't have much experience running mid-60's cast aluminum wheels. The story is that the guy who modified these did so to fit them on his '68 Olds Vista Cruiser (I'm guessing roughly 4200 lbs?) and my truck weighs 3200... most of that being over the front wheels. So, if you follow my logic, these might just survive on the rear end.... Anyone getting off work that could measure their old Torq Thrusts, Indys, etc...???
I would be doubtful at 1/2" and 5/16" is downright scary.... I measured some I have laying around: 1.) 6 x 15 early American 5 spokes, 3/4" thick 2.) 6 x 15 generic 60's 5 spokes, 7/8" thick 3.) 3 different sizes/styles 60's slots, 7/8" - 1 1/8" - 1 1/4" CC
The wheels were engineered to have a specific flange size based on load projections and the strength of the alloy. This is now compromised. Even if they were for free , I would never used them.
I definitely felt that 5/16" is pretty thin, but had no basis for comparing what these wheels started out with. Now I can see that even the other "better" pair with 1/2" of material is still pretty far from OE spec... BIG thanks for the info ProEnfo! (ProInfo?) Now, are there any dissenting psychos out there saying "...balls to that! Those lightened wheels should be worth a tenth!"? ...what's the HAMB without some dissenting psychos???
I'm a concurring dweeb, not a dissenting psycho. I figured you'd see at least 3/4" on most wheels. The loading on the wheel is greatest at the lug nut area, just where those wheels are weekest. Still scary.
The Jalopy Journal
