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Old 05-02-2011, 05:48 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Aluminum covers on steel wheels

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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Old 05-02-2011, 06:43 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Looks sharp.

I'm planning on aluminum pizza trays which I found for about $20/set online after shipping. Still deciding on how to attach.
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Old 05-02-2011, 08:31 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Looks real good.
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Old 05-02-2011, 08:42 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by justjohn View Post
Looks sharp.

I'm planning on aluminum pizza trays which I found for about $20/set online after shipping. Still deciding on how to attach.
16 inch pans at Wal Mart are $3 each.

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Old 05-02-2011, 09:20 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Old Mechanic -

Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Mechanic View Post
16 inch pans at Wal Mart are $3 each.

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Are they aluminum? If not, then they'll get rusty pretty fast.

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Old 05-03-2011, 01:11 AM   #6 (permalink)
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Yeah, cause all I found at wal-mart were steel, and they were closer to $4. Maybe they were just out of stock?
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Old 05-04-2011, 02:16 PM   #7 (permalink)
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You could always paint them. Bare metal including aluminum may not look good for too long anyway.
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Old 05-04-2011, 06:37 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Saw them yesterday, they seem to be coated steel, which from what we have seen wont last long. Suggestion is to paint them. Or if you want to spend more about $8 ea they also have the Oneida ones coated in teflon that shouldnt rust.
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Old 05-04-2011, 07:30 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Take a magnet along when you go shopping. I like the teflon coated idea.

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