TECH'....Narrowing aluminum 5 spokes.

Yep, and this one's with a 3 year old post! (G)
Larry T

 

Great tech!

 

if thats not the right way to do it then i dont know what is, pretty freakin impressive

 

I widened a motorcycle wheel the same way. Cut off the old rim as close to the lip as possible and cut another wheel leaving as much rim as possible, trued up the halves on the mill for width and welded it up. Great Tech Piece!

 

Old post but a great one. I had a set of "10-Hole" stock aluminum wheels on an OT Mustang. They were 15x7. I had two narrowed to 15x4.5", and two widened to 15x9.5" for the sleeper look. They were done by a pro-wheel shop, cost about half as much as a new set of Welds. They did it the same way you did yours.

 

nice work. been wanting to do this to a pair of old jeep aluminum wheels. Dont have a tig welder. Was wondering if i could do this with my lincoln 180hd mig. no spool gun either.i have oxy/acetylene tanks also will that work?

 

You'll have to be pretty experienced to re-create this kind of a good, consistent weld with an oxy/acetylene setup. Plus I think oxy/hydrogen is really the preferred gas mix for welding aluminum, as it's a cleaner burning fuel. Unless you are REALLY good with the torch, I'd not recommend you attempt this.

 

so oxy hydrogen and what kind of rod would be best?

 

Well it's been 5 years have the rims showed any signs of cracking?

 

stirlingmac.... 5 years later and he rims are still in perfect condition, no cracks. (they have been sitting in my garage the whole time). Someone asked earlier about pin holes. I think they are OK but I prefer to run tubes anyway.

v8nova64....Do you have any experience welding aluminum? If not I wouln't try to learn on a wheel. Is your mig machine 220 or 110? If it's a 110 don't even waste your time trying. If it's a 220 180 I'm not sure it will have enough power either. You could put a spool of aluminum wire in it, a bottle of argon, change the liner and try it out on some scrap. The aluminum to be welded will need to be very clean, pre heat it, turn the machine up all the way and wire speed fast enough to make a bead. You are in for a very frustrating experience just trying to weld some scrap pieces together. I guess my point is that wire welding aluminum works fine if you have the right equipment and know what you are doing but since you are asking me about it I get the feeling you haven't done it before. I would recommend a class at a tech school or college. I can't imagine trying to gas weld aluminum that thick. Probably possible but not at all common.