I was watching extreme 4x4 this morning and saw something that really peacked my curiosity. They had taken rockwell axels and wheels to fit a priject they were working on but had changed the lug patterns over. To get the wheels to fit they had a plate made with there new lug pattern size and simply cut the center section out of the old rockwell wheel and welded in this new fabbed up piece. Could I do this with persay the hummer wheels and tires to fit my 78 spr. cab F150? I guess in theory it looks like a great idea, does any one have any experience or ever heard of it?

Nick

 

i've heard of this. i wouln't trust myself to do it,but i've seen it done. guess it all comes down to what you can do. i would be afraid of having problems balancing them and keeping them straight.

 

If one is doing this type of mod. tire balancing is not an issue, since the solution only adresses mounting other tires, and does not address the most important thing, brakes.
Pinion brakes are decent for an all off road vecicle with locked, or welded diffs, but should never be considered for highway use. Drum brakes are just no the way to go. Those things are crazy heavy.
A few companies do use F600 rotors, and chevy style calipers to solve this problem, and there is even a very good thread open right now that has a link for a complete disc brake, and 8 lug conversion for the ol duece and a half axles.
While $750.00 ea. (US) might be a bit steep, it would allow the use of existing beadlocks if you have them already.
While some kits still use the big six pattern and disc brakes, this is a fairly reasonable alternative to making adapters. The factory axle is wide enough already, and using an adapter does make it worse, while you could turn the hub itself around backwards, that does require some fabrication, and that takes money.
Once you add up all of the little things that it takes to make the rockie work for the street, a whole new hub does not sound all that bad.
If you don't have a good set of beadlocks already, you are going to have to have a set made anyway, so the cost would be spent on wheels anyway, so why not just keep the big six.

In the original post, using Hummer beadlocks was mentioned, and plenty of companies make wheel centers with big six patterns. Easier to change the wheel centers than making some funky adapters.

 

actually changing the wheel centers is just what I was talking about. lmao, as long as all the measurements are straight than all should be fine right?

Nick

 

Yes, however offset is something that they did not take into consideration. Again the axle is pretty wide, and most narrow the axle down, sometimes quite a bit, enough to use two short side factor axles.
If the width is not much of an issue, then changing the wheel centers is a very common thiing to do.

What are you planning on doing with the brakes?

 

I was just planning to use the stock brake set up. Why, what would have to change?

Nick

 

> welded in this new fabbed up piece.
> To get the wheels to fit they had a plate made with there new lug pattern

It is not just a "simple" thing on your Ford F-150. You use 1/2" acorn lugnuts. Not a 5/8" two piece flat clamping nut. That means you have to counter sink each hole exactly on center with each other and the hub. All I can say for that is good luck trying that at home!

Now, I know people that use to take two Ford wheels, cut the beads off, weld them together, and then weld a Ford center section from another wheel (8 x 6.5) where they wanted it for the correct offset. When you are a race team, have all the toys, certified welders, etc. this certainly is doable. It is also not road legal.

A hummer wheel is very heavy along with the 36" tire. There is a reason why F-250 trucks have 8 lugs and F-150 trucks have five. The stock F-150, imo, is totally unsuited to run a heavy 8 lug rim and large tire. I would guess about 140 pounds per tire, those hummer rims are heavy.

imo, The F-150 drivetrain does not have the strength and the brakes on the 1978 are certainly too small. Big difference between the single piston F-150 and double piston F-250 when stopping from 35 mph!

I just wouldnt spend the money to retro fit 8 lug wheels to a five lug axle. If you search enough you can find 5 lug 16.50 rims for sale. I saw some on CL in Atlanta selling for $50 for four! That would let you run the 36s until you upgraded your truck or budget. You can find the older F-250s around here, 4x4s, for well under $3,000. I would buy that and sell your truck unless you are really attached to it.

Or go to pull a part and get a complete Dana 60 F-250 axle, drum to drum, for only $135. They even have the later years now with the Sterlings in them. At least in the Conley yard, you can usually find the shuttle buses with the massive DRW Dana 70/80? under them that would be perfect for the hummer wheels.

In the FWIW category, stock Hummer wheels have the wrong offset for use on a stock Ford axle.

 

I hear yah bro. And by the way, I have 2 machine shops that sponsor my dirt track car with more than certified welders etc. IF it can be done, the my team could do it. I appreciate the advice though.

Nick

 

Flipping the hubs on a rockwell doesn't require fabrication. You might have to grind the back of the studs.

Running the hubs flipped in, Rockwells are around 70" WMS to WMS... only a couple more inches than a stock D60. However, running them out, makes ~79.5" WMS to WMS.

Here's a great link where a guy made his own rims basically from scratch, but this guy is f'ing macguyver:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...lding+rockwell

 

Rawpower, that is ****in awesome. I dont think Ill be needing to do any of that heavy duty fabbing. I think id do an exle swap first. but that is truly great work.

Could you guys think of another country in teh entire world that would pull something like that? God Bless America.

Nick

 

Grant is the man. I don't know him at all, but I try and find as much as I can on his work. He made his own welder too out of alternators, some CB parts, and something to feed the wire. He may have constructed his own plasma cutter too, I know there's one guy who did that, and it wouldn't suprise me if he did also. If you look closely at his plasma cutting machine it also looks like its been constructed by himself, as it has a plasma torch on it, rather than something a little more normal. I dunno, maybe they sell kits that you strap your plasma cutter onto and then it move the torch around...

power drill + belt + reduction box = lathe haha i love it

 

haha yea no kidding, he was talking about making a plasma cutter out of dagum hairdryers or something. I guess theres alot of time up there in AK lol

Nick

 

Yeah, you're probably right... Its that dark season (winter) where you can't do anything for 2 months really.

Edit: I just reread my post prior to this, and the part about the plasma cutter machine doesn't make much sense. Its set up to fun like a CNC machine... Now read that part, and it might make more sense.