wheels problem

[TheJ]

I bought a set of American Racing wheels today and when I got them home I checked to see if the would fit my 73. Two problems arose.

(sorry for the crappy phone camera pics)

1. The wheels are far to thick and the studs don't really stick out at all.

I might be able to get shank style lug nuts but I don't know if there is enough room.

2. Being slotted there is no way of centering the wheels to the hubs.

My question to you guys is there a simple way to fix this or am I going to have to get them machined to work? In which case I'll polish them and sell them.

Thanks for looking

 

[sm3570]

I wouldn't mess with shank lug nuts. It doesn't look like there is enough room. You'd have to replace the studs with longer ones. As far as centering the rim that looks to be tough. I've never seen slotted holes for the lug nuts like that, I'm iffy on this one.

 

[TheJ]

Do you think if I had the holes countersunk it will fix both problems?

 

[mach71351c]

You need shank lug nuts and washers to use those wheels. The shank lug nut centers the wheel on the hub.

 

[TheJ]

With further inspection I found out that the openings are .685" wide. Perfect shank nut size. I'll grab a few tomorrow and see if it works.

Thanks guys

 

[mach71351c]

Make shore you torque the wheels evenly.Then drive it and re torque them.

 

[sm3570]

Good deal. The holes didn't look big enough, but that's awesome. Let us know how it turns out. Are slotted holes common? I've never seen them (in my limited experience).

 

[URUGUAYAN_FASTBACK]

My car has from day 1 in Uruguay (the US Embassy "upgraded" them) some Uruguayan made under Ford design, the wheels that are still wearing my car...

That wheels has the same center problem as yours... the center of the wheel appears to be bigger than the center of the wheelbase so, the centering is given by the conical nuts once you bolt the wheel in its place...

I think you can easily "fix" your configuration to use those wheels safely without modifing the wheels... If i were you, i´ll go for longer bolts and those conical nuts as the wheels already have the cavity for that... If you are going for that, check if you need to use spacers first cause that can make the bolts even longer...

 

[TheJ]

Good deal. The holes didn't look big enough, but that's awesome. Let us know how it turns out. Are slotted holes common? I've never seen them (in my limited experience).

This is the first set I've seen with slots as well. I've seen the multiple bolt spacing wheels but not slotted.

My car has from day 1 in Uruguay (the US Embassy "upgraded" them) some Uruguayan made under Ford design, the wheels that are still wearing my car...
That wheels has the same center problem as yours... the center of the wheel appears to be bigger than the center of the wheelbase so, the centering is given by the conical nuts once you bolt the wheel in its place...

I think you can easily "fix" your configuration to use those wheels safely without modifing the wheels... If i were you, i´ll go for longer bolts and those conical nuts as the wheels already have the cavity for that... If you are going for that, check if you need to use spacers first cause that can make the bolts even longer...

I'm going to try the shank nuts first and then go longer studs if I have to. The wheels are 15x7 with a 3.5" back space making it a 0 offset. when there were on the car it wasn't interfering with anything but that's with no tires so we'll see what happens.

Thanks for the info.

 

[will e]

Same basic hole design as my Cragar S/S.

A couple of tricks:

1. Start the first lug nut and get it on about 4 or 5 threads then pull the wheel onto it.

2. Start the other 4 lun nuts in the same way. So they are just on by a few threads and so you can 'pull' the wheel onto all 5 of them.

3. Screw each one in until it is almost seated but there is still a little 'wiggle room' with the tire and rim. I usually do each one about half way and then go around again.

4. rotate the tire around a few times. This seems to help center it.

5. torque nuts in the 5 start pattern (not round) so they are 'hand tight', just enough to hold the wheel in place

6. torque them again to your specs

That's what works for me... Actual results may vary..

Oh and NEVER EVER EVER USE AN AIR RATCHET OR IMPACT WRENCH TO INSTALL.

 

[MotoArts]

I had a set of those on a Chevy 2wd truck long ago. I think they were Superior brand, can't be sure. The shank lugs did center the wheels well on the outside edge of the holes (5 on 5" pattern), but were time consuming to install compared to "standard" wheels. Use the regular round thick washers, not the oval Cragar/Unilug style. Just take your time, as outlined by Will above.

Whatever you do, I would strongly suggest against machining the wheel in any way, shape or form in order to make something "work".

 

[dohebert]

Whatever you do, I would strongly suggest against machining the wheel in any way, shape or form in order to make something "work".

+1

Machining the wheels could weaken them at the bolt holes, and you don't want to find out the hard way.

 

[TheJ]

A little update, I finally got some shank nuts and the wheels fit like a glove. I'll get some pics up when I can, as I'm out of a camera at the moment.

Thanks for all of your help.

 

[Mr Mac]

Many years ago American Racing and Cragar and a few others made what they called universal fit wheels that made the manufacturing of the wheels cheaper thus making them more affordable. When you purchased the wheels you also needed to buy a universal lug set which included the shank style nuts and a couple of different washer sets that you could rotate or swap to fit your bolt spacing exactly. Those look like they might be the universal fit style though it's hard to tell for sure.

 

[URUGUAYAN_FASTBACK]

Great Jayson! i´d love to see them in the car

 

[OLE PONY]

Many years ago American Racing and Cragar and a few others made what they called universal fit wheels that made the manufacturing of the wheels cheaper thus making them more affordable. When you purchased the wheels you also needed to buy a universal lug set which included the shank style nuts and a couple of different washer sets that you could rotate or swap to fit your bolt spacing exactly. Those look like they might be the universal fit style though it's hard to tell for sure.

I agree, I remember these types of wheels back in the day; you do need a special washer for them.

 

[TheJ]

I still got to get some tires and clean them up. I'm thinking of painting the centers black with a polished lip. I might try and photo shop this to see if it looks good.

 

[TheJ]

Many years ago American Racing and Cragar and a few others made what they called universal fit wheels that made the manufacturing of the wheels cheaper thus making them more affordable. When you purchased the wheels you also needed to buy a universal lug set which included the shank style nuts and a couple of different washer sets that you could rotate or swap to fit your bolt spacing exactly. Those look like they might be the universal fit style though it's hard to tell for sure.

I agree, I remember these types of wheels back in the day; you do need a special washer for them.

So you guys don't think the regular round washers will work?

 

[MotoArts]

The oval/offset washers are for Cragar style with the recessed Unilug "depressions" in the wheel. They are meant for indexing the lugs for 4.5/4.75/5.0 patterns. Yours (no depressions) will use the round thick ones.

Don't forget a little antisieze compound on the shanks and threads.

I painted the wheel windows and backsides (barrels) on mine with semi gloss Krylon spraybomb. Just masking taped off the wheel from the front and sprayed from the back. Looked great, lasted many years. My opinion on painting the entire center?... yak. Makes the entire "class and style" of the wheel disappear.

Dad had a made a tool for polishing aluminum out of a 4" sanding disk for a standard drill, and adding velcro to stick a disk of white scotchbrite to. Used regular No.7 white polishing compound paste (or similar) followed up by a regular cotton buffing wheel on an air die grinder and the same compound. Worked just fine, but the quality of the metal wouldn't shine up totally mirror-like the new (better) alloys do. Keep in mind my wheels were really cruddy when I got them. You may be able to skip the scotchbrite step. The drill speed is the best part of the deal. Don't spin it 10,000 RPM either, 1500 works great. I never was able to shine old aluminum by hand nearly as well as a motor can.

This works only on NON CLEARCOATED wheels, btw.

Same as buffing paint, only different