The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Re-centered wheels using RH-5 centers

I tried to search this without any luck.

In addition to my Chevy stuff, I also have a 1949 Studebaker 2R16A 1.5 ton truck with dump. It has RH-5 wheels on it now and the tires are finally shot. One problem with Studebaker 2R16's from that era are they have the same 5 x 7-1/4 stud pattern as early Fords and some others. Any other wheel than the RH-5 is tough to come by, but especailly down here in Florida. Studebaker's apparently were not very common here. Anyway, on with my question. I have found a set of 5/10 22.5" wheels off a mid 60's Chevrolet C60, but with a 5 x 8" lug pattern. My hub is 6", and the C60 hub is 6 1/4. Has anyone ever tried, or does anyone foresee a problem of cutting the center's out of my RH-5's at the edge of the flat before it tapers to the center with a plasma cutter, and then Tig Weld the centers over the face of the 22.5 inch wheels. Building a spacer to center the RH5 center in the 22.5 wheel won't be a problem. It seems I could then drill out the holes for the wheel studs, and tig the existing holes in the 22.5 rim on the back side. Does this sound like a good plan or has anyone tried it? If it's not a good plan, please tell me why. I feel heat and warping would be my biggest concern. For me, it's either try this, or do a full axle swap and all that entails. I really like it stock. Any help would be appreciated.

If you have access to a huge lathe that's capable of turning the entire wheel assemblies accurately, go ahead. Anything short of that will probably result in an unacceptable amount of runout due to inaccuracies in the cutting and welding process. Cut the entire center out of the RH5's all the way out where it joins the rim. Do the same with the replacement wheel, leaving enough of a flange at the outer diameter to get a good weld. Then temporarily tack the centers into place, and do a runout check before doing the final welds. Skip-weld the final passes so you don't concentrate heat and warp the setup.

After all this drama, there's about a 50% chance you won't develop stress cracks beside the weld beads due to heating/cooling issues. If you're a gambler, those odds might be acceptable. They don't give me the warm fuzzies, however!
Jerry

That all makes perfect sense and way too much Drama as you say. I don't want to affect the structural integrity of the wheel by replacing the entire center. I was hoping with a plasma cutter and Tig welder I could cut and weld on the center without too much warping and maybe it wouldn't affect run out too bad. Everything works on the truck and it sucks to replace the driveline because of wheels. Just trying to explore all conceivable options. Thanks for your input.

Since they both have the same bolt pattern(5 on 7.25"), it would seem easy to make simple sleeves from 6" ID to 6.25" OD and use the Chevy wheels as is?

Ed

That's the problem, they don't have the same lug pattern. The chevy studs are on an 8" pattern I believe it is. My Studebaker is 7 1/4. Good catch though. I left that bit of info off. I'll edit my original post to clarify.

I have fabricated specialty wheels for round track race cars and pull trucks using a heavy duty brake drum lathe, but those wheels were used in off-road situations where all the participants knew the risks of modified parts and willingly accepted the possible consequences. The failure of a modified wheel on a public road where not everyone is informed of the possibilities might open up a huge can of worms, liability-wise.

While I might be very confident in my ability to fabricate a safe, usable wheel, in case of an accident some ambulance-chasing lawyer might not share that opinion, whether or not the wheel was the cause of the problem!
Jerry

Good point. Thanks

I recently had an original wheel come apart when I hit a very small bump. It was on my 46 2-ton and was a two piece wheel. I was going maybe 25 mph and the outer ring hit a house. It was certainly an eye opening experience considering I had just had my 8 year old twins in it running twice that speed.

My point is that wheels are not something to mess around with. I was able to find 3 piece wheels and some other parts from the same year of truck to replace the other 2 two piece wheels.

Not worth the chance unless you have all the right tools!

Randy, I'll bet that wheel was a better laxative than anything a doctor could prescribe! Was the bang impressive? Many years ago, my mentor in the big truck wreck recovery business had a unique way of deflating the tires on wreck-damaged wheels- - - -he used a .45 automatic from about 10 yards away!
Jerry

I made some a couple of years ago. I cut the rivets on the RH-5° wheels and used open center rims. I used a brake drum lathe that we used to cut 16 1/2" drums with. I would not cut the center out of a usable wheels. New open center rims can be bought. The ones I made turned out pretty good. And I am not a machinist. They turned out just as true as factory ones. And I do enough welding with mig that I am not concerned about the welds.

Thanks for all the input. I've got a set of Rockwells, complete with 6 wheels and tires. I may just go that way. I've been saving them for something special, this may be it.

As a young chap I saw a friends father do the following-
heat up the area where the outer rim connects to the inner , on the tube side, with a gas torch. Eventually you will see the rivets start to glow, heat them orange and knock them out with a punch. The inside dish will fall out. Bolt the inner up to a front hub and put the new rim on the inner. Line up the outer rim with a fixed point or dial gauge, check for in-out alignment, and carefully weld up.
I cant remember the issue but it was a requirement to fit a new rim to an old inner dish.

Wheelsnowinc.com can fabricate a custom wheel for your bolt pattern, it may cost you around A$400/wheel but it is cheaper than a lawsuit in the long run.