[WP1]

So I had the lugs come loose on the left rear of my F350 DRW and elongate the stud holes a good deal before it was discovered (thanks crummy bumpy roads).

So these are hub piloted wheels with flat stud holes, not the lug piloted wheels with tapered lug seats. To make it more fun it's one inner steel wheel and one outer forged AL wheel I need to repair.

I plan to weld the holes shut and re-machine. I have an adequately equipped shop with TIG welder, Bridgeport mill, rotary table, etc. so I expect it shouldn't be particularly difficult especially since the stud holes aren't all that critical on a hub-piloted wheel.

Looking for any tips / advice from those who have done this before.

Thanks!

 

[brakeeater]

I have been short on time to work on this, but I got the steel one completed with no issues. I expect the AL one will be more of a pain, looking at cutting some AL inserts to fit the holes and welding in, should be easier than filling with weld.

 

[brakeeater]

All done, new tires mounted and on the truck. About a day of work overall, certainly better than buying new wheels. If I ever have to do this again I'll skip the rotary table and just use the DRO bolt circle function. With the extra height of the rotary table it was quite a challenge fitting the setup on a Bridgeport mill without a riser. I'll post a pic or two when I get a chance.

 

[klhansen]

Did you rebore the holes in the same place or put new ones in between the originals after plugging the hogged out holes?
What's the DRO bolt circle function? I assume something built into the mill controls.

 

[brakeeater]

Did you rebore the holes in the same place or put new ones in between the originals after plugging the hogged out holes?
What's the DRO bolt circle function? I assume something built into the mill controls.

I rebored at roughly the same location. DRO is Digital Read Out, digital position display for the mill, they have many common functions including bolt circle calculations so you can drill a bolt circle without having to use a rotary table or do manual calculations to find the hole positions. I wanted to used the rotary table for flycutting the faces flat, but it's really not required. Miling back and forth will give the same flat surface, just without the nicely circular cutter marks.

Installing new tires I shuffled the repaired steel wheel into the spare position so the repaired AL wheel is paired with an unrepaired wheel. At this point I have ~700miles on the repaired AL wheel and it shows no issues. I inspect it daily.