I had my Halibrands milled.....

[Flipper_1938]

...to work with stock wheel studs.

When I bought them (used) they came with centers that were 1.5" thick. There were no threads on the wheel stud beyond the hole in the wheel. They were only held on by the threads in the lug nut shank....nothing in the head of the lug nut.

I fixed that. I had pockets milled into the wheels to get full thread engagement. I now have little windows where the lug holes hit the center hole, but that is minor compared to failing lug nuts at highway speeds.

before

after

with nuts

 

[super56]

nice!

 

[Old Iron]

Flipper, those are not windows, those are cooling ports that you intentionally had milled into your custom built wheels [ddev

Jim

 

[Flipper_1938]

Flipper, those are not windows, those are cooling ports that you intentionally had milled into your custom built wheels [ddev

Jim

I just hope they don't end up being brake dust applicators!

 

[Timeless softshoe]

so you really did that to halibrands, let us know how it works out,

 

[Flipper_1938]

so you really did that to halibrands, let us know how it works out,

Relax. They aren't REAL Halibrands (50's-60's Indy wheels).

They are the 90's versions that were made for a Dodge Dakota. I bought them off of ebay for cheap 5 years ago.

Fronts are 17x7, rears are 18x9.5. They should look nice on the 41 Dodge (on a dakota frame) that is on my list of stuff to build.

 

[Rusty one]

Nice look a likes...good find!

 

[rainman]

I may not be understanding what you're saying, but why didn't you just install longer studs?

 

[Flipper_1938]

I may not be understanding what you're saying, but why didn't you just install longer studs?

Nobody makes longer studs for the front of a 2001 Dodge dakota.

 

[Flipper_1938]

Having a thread on the HAMB with milling halibrands in the title is very similar to having a thread asking how they like your Rat Rod

1,000 views and 32 responses (mostly negative) in the first couple of hours.

 

[rainman]

Having a thread on the HAMB with milling halibrands in the title is very similar to having a thread asking how they like your Rat Rod

1,000 views and 32 responses (mostly negative) in the first couple of hours.

Did you expect any less?
Didn't know that about the Dakota!

 

[jfg455]

Soooo.... I hate to be a negative nancy, but you don't see a problem with taking over 1/2 of the wheel center thickness away? And bored into the wheel center? I would think that it would be a very real possibility that the wheel center will crack and break. I think I would have drilled the hubs/axles to fit a longer 1/2" wheel stud. My Torque Thrusts would not fit over my rear axle centers on my chevelle. American Racing said no way no how to just turning the center of the wheel larger as they said it would comprimise the strength. But then they are 5 spokes and not a solid center like yours. [P

 

[Flipper_1938]

from the HAMB...

 

[Flipper_1938]

Soooo.... I hate to be a negative nancy, but you don't see a problem with taking over 1/2 of the wheel center thickness away? And bored into the wheel center? I would think that it would be a very real possibility that the wheel center will crack and break. I think I would have drilled the hubs/axles to fit a longer 1/2" wheel stud. My Torque Thrusts would not fit over my rear axle centers on my chevelle. American Racing said no way no how to just turning the center of the wheel larger as they said it would comprimise the strength. But then they are 5 spokes and not a solid center like yours. [P

If they were wheels like a centerline autodrag and the centers were 3/4" thick, would you have any problems running them?

These wheels are roughly .400" thick between the big holes in the wheel face. The wheel mounting surface is still twice as thick as other points on the wheel center.


Just looked at Billet Specialties....they recess the lugs on their wheels.

 

[jfg455]

Haha! Yeah the prok and beaners must have lost their minds over this. I guess it comes down to what and how you plan on using them. I wouldn't auto cross with them but in a mild light street rod they should be ok.

 

[sneakysnake]

Unless Im mistaken, (6 on 41/2-1/2) Why didnt you use a mag shank lug nut on them?

 

[Gastrick]

Looks like a good solution. I'm no engineer, but I don't see an issue. There is still plenty of support left. I've seen unmodified aftermarket wheels with much less.

 

[Flipper_1938]

Unless Im mistaken, (6 on 41/2-1/2) Why didnt you use a mag shank lug nut on them?

I don't trust mag wheel lug nuts unless the studs go up into the hex.

The NHRA doesn't trust them either. That is why they specify open ended lug nuts. They want to verify that the stud goes up into the hex part of the lugnut.

With just the shank screwed on the stud, there is a chance that the head can be broken off of the shank and the wheel is no longer secured.

 

[JeremyL]

I don't trust mag wheel lug nuts unless the studs go up into the hex.

Yeah, me either. I had a bad experience with them on my old 72 F-100. Tire store guy torqued the pi$$ out of them. Luckily I felt a little shimmy and stopped before I lost a tire. Three were completely stripped of threads and the other two weren't much better.

Guy I went to high school with wasn't so lucky with his Trans-Am, he lost the left rear only a mile or two from the tire store and it really mangled the quarter panel.

Love those wheels, by the way.

 

[Flipper_1938]

Having a thread on the HAMB with milling halibrands in the title is very similar to having a thread asking how they like your Rat Rod

1,000 views and 32 responses (mostly negative) in the first couple of hours.

2844 views and 54 responses (at least a few of the newer responses were positive) in the first day