The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline New wheel challenge

I have new aluminum wheels for my '59 3100. When it was rebuilt my guy replaced the 3 rivets on the front drums with bolts. New wheels need to be flush to the drum as my original rims had dimples to accommodate the rivet/bolts. Rear drums don't have. Any suggestions? I'd hate to have to drill/mill some space on the new rims (American Racing/Wheel Pros). Can I do without the rivets bolts? I think they keep the drum on the hub in addition to the wheel bearing nut and washer.
Any solutions or assistance would be great.
Tim

I removed the rivets on my '53 when I replaced the wheel bearing hubs and left them out. I may be wrong, but I see no need for them.

I used thin wheel spacer, Hone out the area with a drill where the rivets are so the spacer sits flat. Just make sure the studs are long enough or will need to replace with ionger studs.

There are thousands of these trucks driving around without the rivets. There was a recent thread outlining a replacement procedure using a tapered bolt and beveling the drum so the bolt would be flush.

See the thread “Front drum replacement” in the Driveline Forum.

thanks for the advice. I'll find some longer lug bolts and improvise as the new wheels are definitely thicker than the stock wheels.

Tap the holes in the hub for some flat head machine screws and countersink the holes in the drums for a flush fit of the screw heads. Problem solved, without using spacers or modifying the wheels. I believe the original rivets were 1/4" diameter, which is exactly right for a 5/16-18 tap- - - -no drilling required. A drop of blue LocTite on the machine screw will keep it secure without a lock washer or a nut on the back side.
Jerry

Thanks all but now I'm having a hard time finding longer wheel studs.
The new aluminum wheels are 3/4" thick and the wheel studs on my ride are 7/16, 20 thread, .472 knurl 1.5" long and I need at least another 1/2" in length. I don't want to mess up the hubs with the wrong knurl. Thought this would be an easy project but anywhere I can find longer studs?
thanks,
Tim

Tim,

Check out these from Speedway Motors.........

Moroso

Mr Gasket

Good luck!

As Martin stated, "there are thousands of these trucks driving around without the rivets". It is centered on the hub and the wheel/lug nuts keep it from going anywhere. Therefore the front would be just like the rear, no longer studs, no spacers, no bolts, no mess or fuss.
Fred

when replacing steel wheels with aluminum, instead of longer studs, you can use extended thread (ET style) lug nuts to grab more threads. I used them on my vintage travel trailer instead of replacing the studs. Just search Ebay for ET lug nut.

thanks all for the assistance. Found out I had a axle seal leak so both rear seals got done as well as longer wheel studs all around. New wheels and tires are on and looking nice. thanks again.
Tim