Got kind of a wheel problem, any ideas?

[Roadrage]

So I recently bought some 20" Polished Centerline Smoothies from Craigslist for my truck and went to try them on.. Well the center caps won't fit.. My bearing hub is too big. Should I have it machined down to fit the center cap? What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance!

[JohnC]

Some guys go without the center caps. Others run spacers for the wheel itself. I guess you could machine down the hub, but I wouldn't personally.

[sailed2japan]

I'd toss a spaer in there it would be 10x easier and probably 1/2 the cost

[cableguy0]

wheel spacers are never a good idea. they put the whole on to the wheel studs instead of the hub which can and will cause the wheel studs to sheer off and you lose a wheel

[Roadrage]

Originally Posted by sailed2japan

I'd toss a spaer in there it would be 10x easier and probably 1/2 the cost

I don't understand what you are trying to say.
I have the heavy duty brakes, so the hub is huge and sticks way out, so I was thinking maybe having a 1/4" machined off the whole length of it.

It defeats the purpose of having a solid polished wheel and leaving the center caps off.

Please help. Any machinists? Anybody done this?

Or does anyone know of a 1 1/4" thick rotor 5X5 lug that doesnt have such a big bearing hub?

[cableguy0]

Not sure how much room you have before you get into the bearing surface. im assuming you already popped the dust caps off. if you have the space between the bearing race and the end of rotor you could probably probably get away with just grinding it down. just take your time so you dont overheat the hub itself.the worse thing that happen is you end up out a set of rotors. and hafta do a brake job.

[joe231]

There are some guys one here that have made them work.
Protrash64 had them on his older burb with the newer five lug rotors, he used a grinder and beveled the rotor so there is room for the cap.
I think I have some pics if you need them.

[fiddy9apache]

take a grinder to the rotor, it wont take much.

[Roadrage]

The problem is the cap won't fit on at all. The cap is a tad bigger than the hub, but not enough to get it to even begin to slide on....
The way the Smoothies go on there is about 2 1/2"-3" sticking out from the wheel. I need to get some pics maybe tomorrow.

[fiddy9apache]

Originally Posted by Roadrage

The problem is the cap won't fit on at all. The cap is a tad bigger than the hub, but not enough to get it to even begin to slide on....
The way the Smoothies go on there is about 2 1/2"-3" sticking out from the wheel. I need to get some pics maybe tomorrow.

the snout of the rotor is to big which isnt allowing the center cap the go all the way inside the wheel and allowing the o-ring around the center cap to hold it inplace. take a grinder and take some material off of the snout of the rotor. ive had my smoothie for 5 years and have had them on many different trucks.

[Roadrage]

I wish.. The problem is that mine won't slide on at all. Maybe with the Heavy Duty brakes my hub is a bigger diameter? I was reading some posts about Centerline making newer caps that fit but I don't see how that would be possible in my case.. From the dust cap back abot 2 1/2" I probably would have to have them milled or something. Then if they slid on, hopefull they would go all the way on before hitting the dust cap. This sux..

[joe231]

you can get shorter dust caps or take them off all together, and beveling the rotor snout will allow the cap to fit.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by Roadrage

I don't understand what you are trying to say.
I have the heavy duty brakes, so the hub is huge and sticks way out, so I was thinking maybe having a 1/4" machined off the whole length of it.

It defeats the purpose of having a solid polished wheel and leaving the center caps off.

Please help. Any machinists? Anybody done this?

Or does anyone know of a 1 1/4" thick rotor 5X5 lug that doesnt have such a big bearing hub?

I was a machinist for 13 years. Does that count?

The 5on5 rotor has the same bearings as a 1LE third gen Camaro 5on4-3/4 rotor which has the smaller hub diameter but I don't know if the hub on the truck rotor can be turned on a lathe down to the smaller diameter without taking some measurements of the two.

Chances are that the Centerline wheel is not hub centric and rides on the wheel studs anyway so opening up the center of the wheel for the next larger center cap should be no big deal. It will cost a lot more than modifying the rotors but is a whole lot safer. GM had to have changed the hub diameter for a reason, they aren't Ford who changes things for no reason at all.

The trick will be finding a center cap that fits and you like the looks of and modify the wheels to make it fit that cap.

[joe231]

here are a couple pics, and by the way...the 1" and the 1 1/4" rotors use the same outer bearing.....

[N2TRUX]

Even though the 1" and 1.25" uses the same outer bearing, the snout is smaller. Converting to a 1" hub may be your best solution.

[joe231]

Yeah I hear ya Ken, my point is that the small amount you have to remove isn't going to effect the strength of the rotor. I would much rather have the bigger rotor with the small amount of material removed than convert spindles out to have the smaller ones. That is, of course, JMO....

[Roadrage]

Thanks for chiming in guys. My "snout" I guess it's called is alot thicker due to the HD brakes. So I was thinking about buying a new set of HD rotors and take them to a machine shop along with the center cap and have them machine them down til the center cap fits. My only other option is to buy the light duty rotor, spindles, caliper and brake pads. Is that correct?

[joe231]

Does anyone know for sure the 1" rotors will clear?
Maybe you could tale a wheel to your local parts store and test fit to see if it will solve your issue.

[Roadrage]

Are you guys saying that the light duty rotors will go on my heavy duty spindles? Will the calipers still work? I wonder what really is the difference between HD brakes and regular brakes partswise... I really need to solve this or get rid of the wheels.

[smashingchuck]

Originally Posted by Roadrage

or get rid of the wheels.

I know what I would do. Those wheels just aren't cool enough to have to modify anything to make them fit.

[Roadrage]

Yeah I hear ya. I like the look of my truck with Rallys but, I really don't like running stock wheels on any vehicle. It sounds like a contradiction but I can't follow that golden rule of "If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it".

[joe231]

You would need new spindles.....
I really like the smoothies........

[Roadrage]

I think they are pretty sick looking wheels on certain trucks, especially ones slammed on bags. I wanted to at least run and see if I like them.
I may have a set of drop spindles for a light duty truck that I bought on accident, but I may have given them to my nephew, not sure.
But if I have light duty spindles and light duty rotor can I still run H/D calipers and pads?

[joe231]

I believe you will need new calipers and pads....but the whole thing is moot, unless you can find out for sure the 1" rotors will solve your issues.......

[copperchevy]

Like fiddy9apache stated, just grind it. After seeing this post, i got some motivation and did my front 22's and 1 1/4" rotors. I grinded them little by little test fitting the cap on there till it was all the way in. Just take your time grinding evenly at a back and forward motion. The further up on the rotor you get the more you have to grind. Just have your cap with you to see where you're at. I also dented the wheel bearing dust cap a little.