My all trac came with some koseis that have too small a center bore. Is there a good grassroots trick for punching these out a bit or am I off to the machine shop?
My all trac came with some koseis that have too small a center bore. Is there a good grassroots trick for punching these out a bit or am I off to the machine shop?
In the minitruckin world I spent some time in, some use a rabbiting bit in a router to hog the bore out a bit more.
I've opened up the centers when I've -had-to- with a diegrinder, checking for concentricity on a tire balancer.
Stacked hole saws did NOT work as well in practice as it did in my mind.
I turned the hubs down on my '61 Chevy Apache to fit the wheels I wanted to use (it made the most sense at the time).
I actually need to change the bore on some used aluminum wheels by .244" (6.2mm) or just less than 1/8" (3.1) cut. Mi mill is not set up; I have a good router, but have not used one much. Is the guide bushing on the bit gonna allow decent accuracy? especially if I do it in a couple of passes? Or, only being AL., hog it in one pass?
Thanks
In reply to 03Panther :
I can't answer your question, but there are videos on YouTube for doing it. I did buy myself a second router at a garage sale to try it, but haven't yet.
Would you be able to do it with something like these adjustable reamers?
If we're talking about aluminum wheels, I would take them to a machine shop. Aluminum is very notch sensitive and any imperfections could be stress risers for fatigue fractures.
Usually the lip on the hub is small... Thought about just slapping on some wheel spacers? Just thick enough to extend flush with / sink the hub lip should do it.
rkammerer said:Usually the lip on the hub is small... Thought about just slapping on some wheel spacers? Just thick enough to extend flush with / sink the hub lip should do it.
Came to post this. 3/8" spacers on my e30 let the Miata wheels clear both the center hub lip, and the calipers.
I had a similar problem on the Branger, but mine wasn't the back side, it was the front. I was putting newer wheels on a 4x4 with fat hubs. The hubcentric bore was the same, but the newer wheels necked down a little too much to fit the old-school 4x4 hubs.
16 machine shops in a 50 mile radius. Not a single one would touch them. Not even hear me out. They heard "wheel" and hung up the phone. Hope you have better luck.
All I had to remove as about a 1/8" lip inside the bore near the outside face. I bought a fresh carbide flush-cut bit for the router. It was a 3/8" bit with a 1/2" guide bearing to tailor how much I took off. Keep a palm sander around with some 80 grit. The router bit makes burrs on the lip and makes it hard to keep the router plate flat.
In my case I just needed space and wasn't concerned with perfection... which is good because I didn't get perfection. This is not a means of cutting a new hubcentric bore, it's a means of relatively cleanly removing some meat. I would only suggest this if you want to go past hubcentric to just make room, but it will never be accurate enough to make things perfect.
Know anyone with a lathe? You could chuck it up and take light passes until you reach your target size.
Oh, and if you do the router.... have REALLY GOOD EYE AND EAR PROTECTION. Hot aluminum shavings flying at 100 mph, and a 9000 rpm router against aluminum. Loud and dangerous.
The lathe Idea is great however to swing a wheel in most lathes the tire will need to be removed.
I have cut apart stock wheels on a lathe to make reverse offset wheels.
Before:
During
After:
bentwrench said:The lathe Idea is great however to swing a wheel in most lathes the tire will need to be removed.
I have cut apart stock wheels on a lathe to make reverse offset wheels.
Unless you drag the lathe over to the wheel balancer and swing the cut arm over to where you want (if your lathe allows that.)
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks for actual results, instead of "I heard", or "you might!" Good picture of results, as well.
I wouldn't even bother calling a paid machine shop, in the lawsuit happy environment of today... I'd give the same answer! This is not for hwy. use. I don't need a +/- tolerance of 0.001, but, being a precision kinda guy, I don't want +/- 1/4 inch, either!
The surface finish you archived would be fine. Did it try to jump around and chatter a lot? Or reasonably manageable?
Glad you included the safety gear caution; .I've got a strong industrial background and know (and promote) the value, but others following along might not!
At this point of my life, I don't know if I'll live long enough to get my shop and associated junk finished enough to have my mill or my lathe up and running. Most private lathes won't swing a 17" rim, and all the lathes / mills I have access to are in towns I used to be able to afford to travel to. I'm stuck with "layman's" tools now.
In reply to 03Panther :
It did have a fair amount of chatter, but less than I expected. The biggest problem was the burrs on the surface of the lip making it hard to smoothly move the router plate along the surface. Hence the palm sander and 80 grit paper. In my case I had to take a little bit off a ridge, so I used a 3/8" bit with a 1/2" bearing, but you will have to determine if you need to switch that the other way around.. Flush cut router bits are great that way. Mix n match bit and bearing sizes to get what you want.
I started with WD40 as a lube because I know that works pretty well with aluminum, but my router was a single speed. As soon as I touched the bit to the aluminum it just made smoke which meant it wasn't lubing much. I forged ahead without lube figuring that bits aren't terribly expensive.
Biggest advice I can give you is to take it easy. Make several light passes. Just like with wood, if you dive in and push hard, you'll smoke things. For the first few times around, treat it like a die grinder or an abrasive. Once you get close, then bury it to the guide bearing.
One other tidbit. The bearing fell off my bit and I fortunately discovered it before I cut too much. It seems the vibes from the harder material liked to buzz the bearing screw loose. Check it frequently.
Let me see if I can find the original post. The folks here TOTALLY set me up with info, so I'm not the master. As usual, GRM kicks butt and taught me things I didn't know. Here it is... two years ago this week.
Thanks!
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