| ngrimm |
05-02-2011 05:48 PM |
Aluminum covers on steel wheels
4 Attachment(s)
My 88 BroncoII has 15x7 deep dish aftermarket steel wheels so I decided after advice from another thread I should make some smooth wheel covers. I really like the looks of the mud guard style posted earlier but I had enough free aluminum for two 3/16" thick16" discs. First I made a cardboard template and cut the aluminum a 20 tpi metal blade in my jigsaw and used the bench grinder to touch them up. Like most steel wheels there is a groove about an inch in from the bead that looked like a good place to latch the cover. For each wheel I used three 1/4" threaded coupler nuts with a four inch piece of round stock welded across the top that pops into the wheel groove. I bent the round stock just enough so have to loosen the 1/4" stainless allen head bolts that go through the holes in the covers and screw into the couplers. Once the covers are in place I tighten the bolts and that seems to make the covers pretty snug. I had to cut out for wheel weights. Not saying this is the best way to mount the covers but it is working so far. I may go with four or six holders next time instead of three but I have to think about missing the valve stems. The couplers and nuts cost about $6 per wheel and the aluminum cost about $9 per wheel.
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