The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Front hub question

Are the front hubs on 47-55 or specifically, 1948 3600, hub centric or lug centric?

If correct, hub. The lug nuts should only have to hold wheel to hub and not have to keep it centered.

No,
The AD 3/4 and 1 ton single wheel trucks use the same front hub (rear too).
They are stud centered wheels with 60 degree cone shaped lug nuts.

The dual wheel (1 ton) uses hub centered wheels and clamp plates with flat nuts (if still original)

Grigg....That makes sense because I know the rears are lug centric. Thanks for the info on the lug nuts. I made notes so I can buy what's missing.
Thanks
Joel

lug nuts depend on wheels used, so double check to see what the wheels need, they may not be original.

I'm buying new wheels so thanks for that tid bit of info. I make a note to tell them the studs are 1/2-20 and let them tell me what nuts to buy. Thanks for your help.
Joel

Good plan.

"Lug studs are 1/2-13"- - - - - - -what sort of oddball vehicle do you drive? All the 1/2" lug studs I've ever seen are 1/2-20. Lots of OEM wheels are hub-centric AND use tapered lug nuts. Some of the oddball aftermarket wheels I've seen use huge center holes so the studs support the vehicle weight, but that's not the best idea in the world.
Jerry

I didn’t catch that earlier, I’m with Jerry and they should be 1/2-20 thread.

The truck in question should be stud centered only with some room between hub and wheel center bore. However if you get new wheels there’s no harm if they do fit hub snugly.

You guys are right. 1/2-20 thread. I corrected it. Making little verbal errors while thinking about the complexities of wheels, tires, hubs, clearance and determining what I actually have part wise, I did get a lot done today decision wise and actual progress. Talked to the wheel guys and the adaptor company. One ride control air bag installed and will do the other side in the morning. Will get the wheel adaptor for the front hub ordered is the plan.

Wheel adapters generally are not desirable and are sometimes a bad idea. You didn't mention anything about those earlier....

To make the best of a not good situation you should make the wheel adapters hub centered if possible.
Might also be wise to upgrade to 9/16" studs as used on later trucks with the same 8 lug pattern. That will take some machine work and hunting in the parts catalog for a proper replacement stud.

Or figure a way to do what you're trying to do (what is that anyway?) without wheel adapters.

What's the final purpose for the truck? Those air bag brackets look awfully flimsy for street use. Lots of stuff can be done with a trailer queen that gets hauled back and forth to car shows that won't pass muster with a daily driver.
Jerry

Hotrod Lincoln,
The brackets are .250 thick while the frame is .190. They are plenty strong specially with the bends which add tremendous structural strength.
AIR LIFT 57215 Load Lifter 5000 Series Rear Air Spring Kit
Joel

Grigg,
Absolutely. I'm about to call the wheel adaptor fellow to talk about my hubs. I sent him a photo yesterday with an accurate dimension of the hub centric surface. I did not mention the front hubs earlier because the situation was complicated then and I didn't realize all the information, mainly because I did all this over ten years ago and couldn't remember what I did, who I bought the kit from or exactly what it was plus, I did not realize there was two basic ways wheels are mounted. Hub centric and stud centric were unknown terms just a week or so ago. Since the time I posted the question, things have become more clear in my mind and I have learned some things. I'm very confident with the project as it is developing which reminds me to tell you, an added bit of information emerged from my memory this week to help explain the situation even further.
Ten+ years ago, tapered roller bearings were not available for a 48 3/4 ton axle so, I swapped it for a 59 Chevy axle that came stock with the good bearings allowing me to use the off the shelf disc brake kit. That is how I ended up with 8 lug rears and 6 lug fronts.
I like the idea of going to 9/16 on the 6 lug hub. The only dark spot is I would forever need to drill out the mounting holes in the rotors. I read where "The most common cause of a bad or failing wheel stud is due to improper installation by tire service technicians, over torqueing, under tightening and crossing threads". Ref https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/symptoms-of-a-bad-or-failing-wheel-stud.
An extension of your very good idea might be to go to higher strength studs to keep the current diameter. https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/group.asp?GroupID=WHEELSTUDS
Thanks for bringing up another good point for me to think about. I really do appreciate this useful discussion and your carefully worded suggestions.
Joel

I was before this point speaking to 8 lug hubs as a 3/4 ton would have had.
I did not know you had a 1/2 ton front axle.

Never mind about different studs, I’m not familiar with much of the 1/2 ton stuff. When we were talking 3/4 and 1 ton 8 lug the stock stud size did get larger over the years.

This thread has certainly changed direction as it went along.

Your latest photos appear to show spacers, not adapters. An adapter usually has its own set of studs, and is used to change the bolt circle, or make some other type of change from the original wheel lug pattern. Simply changing the track width slightly with spacers is much safer, as long as the lug nuts go on deep enough to have adequate thread engagement. Grigg was probably thinking the adapters you mentioned had studs independent of the adapter attachment nuts.
Jerry

As it turned out, the studs are the same front and back. All are 1/2-20 studs and all the lug nuts are 60 degree so, it's all uniform regarding hardware. I do intend to replace the front studs with some high strength studs. Finding what will work is another chore. Surprising what needs to be known to do that.
The thread did change as it progressed because of things I didn't know and things I couldn't remember. The thread has been very helpful in sorting out everything. I think the problems are solved and the project is moving in the right direction of having uniform wheels, lug centric bolt patterns and uniform tire sizes including the spare. All it takes now is money.

When using spacers (or adapters for that matter), remember as HRL mentioned, you will change the track width. In and of itself this is not a big deal but you will change the scrub ratio too and this will have an effect on handling. On my one-ton I've used various wheels over the years with various offsets from center. The original wheels handled the best while wheels offset 1/2 inch outboard were tolerable but when I went to wider wheels that changed it by half an inch more, it made the truck almost undrivable at highway speeds. Wider wheels can't have the same scrub ratio as stock because the steering arm will hit the rim if they're offset inboard, even with a 17inch wheel. At least that's true on a 51 1-ton. Don't know about a 59 half ton. Maybe you could offset the wheels inboard and not hit the steering arm.

I should have said "scrub radius" not "scrub ratio."