The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Hey Grigg what about wheel adapters to solve wheel problem?

I was thinking, what about having a machineist make some wheel adapters to make our hubs match some very popular 10 bolt wheels? I see 10 bolts with a large center hole all over the place. I know it would change the offset some. Could they be made strong enough for a big truck, if they were steel? Have seen them over the years to adapt different wheels on cars. Just a thought. Might not be cost effective though?

Hi,
I considered this approach very seriously (before I found the 56-59 22.5" wheels), and I do know a machinist who theoretically could make them.

The original bolt pattern is 10 (and 5) lugs on 7.25" circle, and the easily available and cheap larger 10 lug wheels use 11.25" bolt circle, or a metric one approximately the same, the center hole is approx 8.66".
So, that gives roughly a 1.5" difference, or 3/4" on the radius.
Within this available (actually less than) 3/4" you have to get the radius of a lug nut and the matching socket. Also the new wheel being hub piloted needs a step to sit on, this takes some room, although it could be intermittent, say if it disappeared at the counter bores needed for the lug nuts/socket.

All this is very tight, and I seem to remember thinking there were a few details of it trying to occupy the same place, and it was not possible...
I had it drawn in Auto CAD at the time, although now I forget most of the details, and will have to re-draw and figure it out again, now that you have me re thinking it is possible.

I would think steel would be the material of choice for this application.
There are adapters like this made for use with 8 lug 3/4 and 1 ton pickups, they work out because the 8 lugs is on a smaller diameter, and they all easily fit inside the center hole of the big truck wheels.

As far as cost effective, right now even if adapters can physically be made, it will be by far cheaper to find the 55-59 Chevy 1.5 ton wheels and restore them. I expect the adapters would be a bit over $1000 for a set, depending on how they were manufactured, probably more, and add to that the cost of used semi truck wheels and painting them, or new wheels at about $80-$120 per wheel for steel, or several hundreds of dollars per aluminum wheel. Then another hundred or more for 40 new lug nuts. It all adds up fast.

I'll do some checking and report back.

Grigg

Thanks. After thinking about it, probably would not be cost effective unless you could play around with the machine work yourself/ or had a friend that would do it. I did see somewhere on the net that a guy said that he cut the centers out of his wheels the whole middle pice (cut off thre rivets where it meets the outer ring) and welded it into a different wheel. I'm not shure if he went to a tubeless or another split wheel design? It was not a chevy, actually a ford big truck ( 2 ton ) seeems that the fords,internationals,and studebakers have the RH5 widow makers also. Not shure on the bolt paterns etc.

I too have thought about that, but was unable to find a 10 lug on 7.25" center that would work well with a 22.5" rim.
The two choices are the original 20" centers, or a 19.5" center.

A new 22.5" rim measures 19.5" at the very smallest inside diameter. A 20" rim center should be about that, but will it fit and give the right back spacing?
Again, I don't recall all the details, but do remember deciding that parts were not available to make it work.

If you would like to research it go to the wheel and tire tech tip, and open the link to the Accuride wheel catalog.
Then go to page 45, and you have dimensions for a 6.75" wide (narrowest available now) Dayton type wheel, which is the same as a bare rim but with a small ring welded inside to one side. If it works out you could buy these rims new for around $100 each, and then machine work and welding to fit centers in, assuming it measures out so it works. You can also buy just the bare rim, but sources are somewhat limited there, as they would come from Accuride directly or another wheel manufacturer who uses the Accuride rim as a starting point for their own wheels.

Grigg

Just double checked the possibility of an old 20" wheel center being welded into a new 22.5" rim.
From what I can measure it looks like there is a slim chance of it working out. Difficult to tell if the back spacing can be made to work once you get the rim inside diameter and the center outside diameter to intersect.
If I had one of each in front of me I could probably get a better guess at it. From what I can see, the way they would intersect and have to be welded, is less than ideal for both looks and strength.

Best way to find out is to set one up in a vertical boring mill (or a big lathe) and start cutting.

Grigg

indiana wheel and rim used to do this when the split rims were outlawed in production trucks and the 22.5 replaced the 10.00 x20.

don't knowif they still do, as that has been years ago. .22.5 rims are pretty cheap at the junkyard.