Maching front disks to fit a smaller center hole.

[btalley63]

Hello All,
I have a set of steel wheels that work fine on a truck with drum brakes.
When I put them on the truck with disk brakes, the center hole is too small.

Has anyone ever machined down the center hub on a front brake disk to fit in a smaller center hole?

What little I know about a brake lathe looks like it could be easily done.

I need to get some calipers out to see how much material would have to be removed.

Thanks for the info.

B.

wheel.jpg (13.63 KiB) Viewed 1068 times

[Toyz]

Be aware that, depending on the wheels, caliper clearance may also be a factor.
Paul

[ICEMAN6166]

i would say it depends on how much meat is removed so that proper support for the outer bearing still exists.

[Truckrat]

Bill, if the center hole on the wheel is a little small
why not machine the center hole out to fit the hub instead.
But, if the wheel is not a disc brake wheel you will have
interference between the wheel and caliper. A disc brake
wheel has more clearance on the back side than a drum brake
wheel because of the clearance needed for the caliper.
Might be a better idea to find some disc brake wheels off
a later model truck or through the aftermarket if you want
to run the innie style caps. TR

[62bigwindow]

When I put front discs on my 56 Ranch Wagon I had to machine down the hub to clear stock wheels. As long as there is plenty of material I'd do it that way.

[Roger Carter]

I machined the bearing snout on the front rotors to allow my wheels to clear. As I remember I took about 3/16" off the outside of the snout, back about 1 1/2". I did this almost 20 years ago and there hasn't been an issue.

I was using an original set of American Torque Thrust wheels, and machining them wasn't at option. The "hub hole" in the Americans was tapered, larger at the mounting surface, so a partial trim on the bearing snout was all that was needed. Clearance for the caliper wasn't an issue.

Good luck.

[Toyz]

Just put 15 x 7 Torque Thrusts, (probablty TT II's), on my CS with the '77 suspension/brakes, no hub clearance issues. Wheels cleared the caliper until the stick-on balance weights were applied. They then rubbed. I was able to find some thinner width balance weights and put them as far inboard as possible. Problem gone, but it is extremely tight clearance.
Paul