I have a set of cragar ss wheels but the bolt pattern is 5 on 5". Can you drill or file the holes a bit to make it 5 on 4.75"??? They fit on the car but you cant put the lugs on properly. Anyone done this before?
Elongating the bolt holes on Cragars
Will Speedy
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I have a set of cragar ss wheels but the bolt pattern is 5 on 5". Can you drill or file the holes a bit to make it 5 on 4.75"??? They fit on the car but you cant put the lugs on properly. Anyone done this before?
NO!!!
If doing so you need to machine slotted wheels..
Sloted cragers come with their own locating wahes....Even so they do not centralise the wheels everytime.
The way to centralise slotted wheels is to intially use tapered stud bolts and carefully tighten up in the slots so the wheel then centers but not to tight.
Then one by one remove and replace with the matching wheel nuts and washers...and torque up.
As you can see even with factory machined sloted mags the can and often do give issues with centraling...
If one paints drum hubs, just the thickness of the paint can cause vibrations...where the wheel binds to the hub needs to be cleaned off for steel to steel contact....
While here, another common issue is the balance plate on the drum, and the mag not quite fitting around it....espec cragars.
If doing so you need to machine slotted wheels..
Sloted cragers come with their own locating wahes....Even so they do not centralise the wheels everytime.
The way to centralise slotted wheels is to intially use tapered stud bolts and carefully tighten up in the slots so the wheel then centers but not to tight.
Then one by one remove and replace with the matching wheel nuts and washers...and torque up.
As you can see even with factory machined sloted mags the can and often do give issues with centraling...
If one paints drum hubs, just the thickness of the paint can cause vibrations...where the wheel binds to the hub needs to be cleaned off for steel to steel contact....
While here, another common issue is the balance plate on the drum, and the mag not quite fitting around it....espec cragars.
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Will
Welcome to Team Camaro.....I agree with the above "NO's" do not try and elongate as the accuracy of such work would have to be spot on and even then the engineering of the wheel may be compromised......A small error can result in a fracture or vibration and the lost of a lug or worst the possible loss of wheel.
Would be best to just sell and shop up a new set of rims..... Sorry, not what you want to here but safety first....
Welcome to Team Camaro.....I agree with the above "NO's" do not try and elongate as the accuracy of such work would have to be spot on and even then the engineering of the wheel may be compromised......A small error can result in a fracture or vibration and the lost of a lug or worst the possible loss of wheel.
Would be best to just sell and shop up a new set of rims..... Sorry, not what you want to here but safety first....
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Find a shop that has the tools to install conical inserts. They will be able to tell you if they can change the bolt pattern using the inserts. I had them installed on 200s wheels to allow for using conical seat lugs instead of one pair being uni-lug and all 4 using sleaved lugs and washers. Here's what one looks like...
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With uni-lug style wheels they have an oval hole and fit many bolt patterns. There is a sleeve on the lug and an oval shaped washer with a specifically placed hole in it depending on what bolt pattern you have. In essence the washer does position and align the wheel...
I overlooked the "chrome" in all this but it does play a big role, the wheels would have to have some significant meaning to the owner to persue this... How much would it cost to re-chrome a wheel?
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My uni-lug Cragars use 'nuts' with a long shank that go deep through the openings and locate the wheel as I put them on. Is that what you mean?
And the washers are round, not oval... and the lugs end up in the center of the slots.
Work like a charm.
And the washers are round, not oval... and the lugs end up in the center of the slots.
Work like a charm.
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Yes, Cragar used just a slot with a sleeved lug-nut and the shoulder of the nut was 'supposed' to triangulate the location and mount the wheel in the correct location for multiple patterns - the system sucked :sad:
The run-out is terrible on most of them.
If the backing plate is at all dirty or off the the wheel will never seat right and they are prone to comming loose.
Most sanctioning bodies outlawed them a long time ago.
American, Keystone, Western and other's used the 'washer' system to locate the correct pattern for multi-pattern wheels.
The run-out is terrible on most of them.
If the backing plate is at all dirty or off the the wheel will never seat right and they are prone to comming loose.
Most sanctioning bodies outlawed them a long time ago.
American, Keystone, Western and other's used the 'washer' system to locate the correct pattern for multi-pattern wheels.
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Backing plate?
the tapers fit down onto the hole...as each is added and each tightened evenly the wheel moves to siut the taper on each hole...so long as the tighning sequence is done lttle by little....just enough to hold the wheel centered but not enough to damage the top edges.
The crager waskes in therory should fit neat between the the ting locating lumps on the wheel...they dont there is a couple thou movement.
Like I said 9 times out of 10 they will locate the wheel...the other time you end up with a slight vibration..like a wheel thrown a weight...and cant find.
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Sorry - should have said 'backing plane' ...
If the brake drum or Rotor surface the wheel sits against is slightly warped, dirty or damaged then the wheel mounting flange will not sit right and it will move and loosen while driving.
Cragar issued a warning letter to purchaser and it was posted in many speed-shops I went into back-in-the-day ...
We used to pull the drums or rotors and wire brush the mount surface clean before installing the wheels.
They later changed the design to the "Uni-Lug" system that used the same basic wheel slot and lug-nut design - but, they machined the back of the wheel to take a die-cast 'locator' ring for the given bolt circle pattern - the ring helps keep the wheel centered on the lug pattern and not have to rely on the lugs to center and retain the wheel.
Good luck finding any of the 'rings' for older sets of wheels - most of them broke in use or got lost over the years ...
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Thanks for the info.I wonder why they haven't done away with this slot system on the ss cragers? I agree it sucks. I understand you steptoe{although sometimes it's hard}LOL. Tommorrow I'm putting the car on the lift and dial indicate my cragers just to see how far they are out.I don't have any problem with them but I'm curious to see what I get for readings.
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I'm not hereing a lot of "yeah go ahead it's just a 1/4 inch difference"I'm just so pissed at myself for not noticeing they were 5on5 not 4-3/4. I got them used and they were advertised as such(4-3/4). They were in such incredible shape my eyes just lit up and I went home with them. That was 2 years ago. They have been sitting in my garage covered up since. Was going to put them on my 80 z28 but i just got my 68 and they scream for cragars. The 14" rallies do nothing for me.
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