I picked up a set of Isuzu snowflakes, I've always liked these wheels. The wheels have a new set of 31" all terrains mounted, and I got a fair deal. I was ' la la la '-ing, got out the tools this evening to chnge out my wheels on the Raider because one tire was shedding tread.

The rears went on without issue, had the front wheels off to check the brake pads and wheel bearings (time for the V6 front setup soon), went to put the Isuzu wheels on, clunk clunk, no fittae'!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> Dosh garnet! Then someone's post flashed through my head about some of the wheel manufacturers not using a 4" center. Duh! I got out my little scale, 3.7" center. Damn! I really like the snowflakes and just may pay my local machine shop to resize five rims for me.

Advice?


Fuzzy picture, sorry:


<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Having them turned on a lathe would be the RIGHT way to do it. But ....

I did a set of steel wheels with a hand held jig saw. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />

Note that it is nice, but not critical, to have the center hole round or perfectly centered. If you ask, good tire shops can do a "lug-centric" balance when you need the tires balanced. That is, they use a collar on the balancer that locates off the lug holes instead of off the center hole (I had this done twice with no problem).

A jig saw probably won't work so well on the thicker center of an aluminum wheel. But, you could probably make a plug (wood, plastic, metal?) that fits tightly in the center hole. Then, assuming you can find the right size, you could use a hole saw to cut a larger hole. (the plug is needed so there is something to guide the center drill of the hole saw).

There is a welding shop that my company does business with, very nicely outfitted for custom projects. They have a big lathe inside and I would try to jigsaw the aluminum...I know I'm not that steady, square, etc. Nope, shop work required if I want to use these wheels. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

So, this was you tonight then.

Man I feel for you Russell. I too have been eying those rims, but haven't gotten around to it. Didn't someone on the wire use a die grinder to get the hole larger?

Mount wheel on rear. Spin wheel. Mark .3" out from rim of center hole with pencil. Grind to mark. Repeat 4 times. Rebalance tires with lug-centric machine. Any offance in the grinding should be very minor that close to the center.

That would be grinding about 1" wide aluminum.

Nissan has smaller center holes too.

I've got die grinder drum bits that long in the abrasive.

Old Toy and GM wheels fit. I "think" that old Zu wheels do, too, but I'm a steelie fan...

Good idea.

If it were me, I might give the above a try. I might even put the truck up on stands and let the engine spin the wheels for me. Kind of dangerous though if you're not real careful. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/mrt.gif" alt="" />

On the other hand, if the machine shop you speak of does really nice work and can give you a good price, why not let them do it right?

For me, it would depend on the amount of cash the shop wants to do the work.