• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

 

I started widening my wheels today/tonight/this morning......

m-35tom

m-35tom

Well-known member
Supporting Vendor
3,020
220
63
Location
eldersburg maryland
well, they are older and a lot of them are riveted but i think i have seen seme welded ones. probably most are scrapped by now.
 
Reckless

Reckless

Member
228
0
16
Location
Georgia
In all honesty John that's not an outrageous price. It seems any wheel wide enough to fit 395s/53s that bolts directly up to a deuce is going to run that if not more! A3 wheels - 200-250, Re-centered wheels about the same as well. As time goes on you'll get better at it which means faster, which can also mean reduced costs!
 
Carlo

Carlo

New member
1,364
20
0
Location
palazzago italia
ccf460 said:
I bought some 52" michelin XL's from the classifieds, realized that stock rims are not the way to go. I decided to follow Cidrich's plans and widen my stock rims. I am using one riveted rim and one welded rim. Blow holes through the rivets & punch them out,then knock out the center/hub and discard. Plug weld the rivet holes in the rim. Cut 4.5" off the split ring side of the rim I just removed the rivets from. Grind the split ring lip off of the welded center rim ( well, almost all the way off, I did cheat, and trim alot of the lip off with a torch,much care is needed here or you can ruin the rim). Drive the 4.5" piece onto the rim that I just ground the lip off of. The added 4.5" actually laps onto the host rim almost 1.5", ended up with a 10.5" rim. I now need to mount it on my trailer axle, spin it looking to make it run true. The hub and largest part of the wheel is undisturbed, so truing the added peice shouldn't be too hard ( I hope ).After getting it running true, I will weld it inside/outside.It took almost as long to get the the stupid tires off the rims as it did to do all the cutting/welding/grinding/fitting, I think the tires had been on there since moby was a minnow. I actually had to cut the tires off! I will post pics of the process on one of the next rims. I think this is a 6~8 hour per wheel project ( for the first one anyway, it will hopefully get faster by #4).Although,I spent 1.5~2 hours just fighting with the stupid tires. I know alot of people will probably flame me for running homemade wheels, but I have more time than money, and am a very competent welder.
Click to expand...
Looking at that bead I would say your a super welder! Nice job...........
 
C

ccf460

Member
327
1
18
Location
granite falls/N.C.
Thanks for the compliment Carlo, my father in law taught me this valuable life skill. I thank him for it at every opportunity.
I would like to think the 1.5" overlap of the wheel sections is carrying the load, and the weld is just having to deal with separation forces.
 
rchalmers3

rchalmers3

Half a mile from the Broad River
Steel Soldiers Supporter
1,925
30
48
Location
Irmo, South Carolina
ccf460,

Great job on those rims. I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind shooting a photo of the truck from the front and from rear down one side, so we can clearly see where how tires line up with the front fenders and bed.

I'd like to do this mod myself because I have plenty of stock rims, welding wire and time! but I must make sure the tires do not stick out past the truck for road inspection purposes.

Also, are your rear hubs flipped? Those rims seem to stick out further, at least in the (ahem) only photo you provided.

Thanks again for posting,

Rick
 
C

ccf460

Member
327
1
18
Location
granite falls/N.C.
Here is a frontal shot. If you are using a deuce bed, I think they will tuck under just fine. My rear hubs are not flipped yet, soon.
The tires should track together when flipped, but I think they will still poke out from under a 105 bed a little, but maybe not?
deuce 003.jpg
 
Last edited:
C

ccf460

Member
327
1
18
Location
granite falls/N.C.
I flipped the hubs last night. The rear tires stick out less than an inch from the M105 bed, keep in mind ,I added 3" to the side that is now facing out. If you add a little less ,or go with a smaller tire, you should be clearly under the fenders. Also, of note, the rear tires don't have much clearance from the wheel well on the bed.
 
jimm1009

jimm1009

Well-known member
1,163
68
48
Location
Louisville, KY
ccf460 said:
Pics up! I started widening my wheels today/tonight/this morning......

I bought some 52" michelin XL's from the classifieds, realized that stock rims are not the way to go. I decided to follow Cidrich's plans and widen my stock rims. I am using one riveted rim and one welded rim. Blow holes through the rivets & punch them out,then knock out the center/hub and discard. Plug weld the rivet holes in the rim. Cut 4.5" off the split ring side of the rim I just removed the rivets from. Grind the split ring lip off of the welded center rim ( well, almost all the way off, I did cheat, and trim alot of the lip off with a torch,much care is needed here or you can ruin the rim). Drive the 4.5" piece onto the rim that I just ground the lip off of. The added 4.5" actually laps onto the host rim almost 1.5", ended up with a 10.5" rim. I now need to mount it on my trailer axle, spin it looking to make it run true. The hub and largest part of the wheel is undisturbed, so truing the added peice shouldn't be too hard ( I hope ).After getting it running true, I will weld it inside/outside.It took almost as long to get the the stupid tires off the rims as it did to do all the cutting/welding/grinding/fitting, I think the tires had been on there since moby was a minnow. I actually had to cut the tires off! I will post pics of the process on one of the next rims. I think this is a 6~8 hour per wheel project ( for the first one anyway, it will hopefully get faster by #4).Although,I spent 1.5~2 hours just fighting with the stupid tires. I know alot of people will probably flame me for running homemade wheels, but I have more time than money, and am a very competent welder.
View attachment 426911
Click to expand...
Did not see but could have missed it. What size are these tires going on?
jimm1009
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
108,262members
163,596threads
2,301,988posts
1,656online users
Top
✖
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks