My '63 C10 "I'd rather be driving" Project

[lower50's]

Nice job buddy. A few friends of mine use them on there Jeeps they off road and have never had a problem. How long did they take you to make?

[aerotruk63]

You obviously have skills,, why not cut out the center out of the wheel ring and set it to the offset required to the truck to eliminate the wheel spacers?

[aerotruk63]

My apologies, your truck looks amazing. You've really set the bar with your build.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Nice job buddy. A few friends of mine use them on there Jeeps they off road and have never had a problem. How long did they take you to make?

Thanks Bob. This was one of those jobs that I regretted starting. In hindsight, I could've bought a pair of Hubcentric 1-1/2" or 2" spacers on ebay for $53US, and free shipping in the US. Then I'd have to drive to Niagara Falls NY to pick them up. With those, I'd have to bore the backside to suit the 3.532" OD of the axle hub... and they'd come with metric wheel studs.

By making my own, my only expense was $30 for 7/16" wheel studs. In hours... I probably have 12 hours in them, between designing, programming and machining. Way too much effort.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Originally Posted by aerotruk63

You obviously have skills,, why not cut out the center out of the wheel ring and set it to the offset required to the truck to eliminate the wheel spacers?

Unfortunately Aerotruck63, I may have "some" skills but they're not always "the" skills that are required. I really need to work on my welding to get consistently good results. I did consider cutting and repositioning the wheel centres myself, but fixturing a wheel this big would be a problem, and I don't know anyone with a big enough lathe to get them running true. There's a fellow in London Ontario ("themaintenancedepartment" on instagram) that's offset, widened and narrowed many of these wheels. I considered asking him to do my rears, but its expensive and I'm a little leery about how durable these wheels will be. I don't want to invest a bunch of cash then bend a wheel hitting a pothole.

Thanks for the compliment on my truck... but I keep telling everyone that its not that nice!

It really isn't. It looks good from across the street, but it needs to be stripped, restored and repainted.

You sir, I must commend for all the information you provide on the forum. I know I've benefitted at different times from all your reference material.

[aerotruk63]

I'll let you know how mine turn out. Got them yesterday. I'll be mounting them on my 63 4WD Frankentruck. After seeing oem4me's 4WD with 19.5's, I was smitten.

I widened the 16" that are on my 2WD and have done a few others.

I got a 4WD hub assembly off a newer truck and machined the center to mount on my brake lathe. I cut everything with a grinder and cutoff wheel mounted to the cross slide of the brake lathe. The bigger the diameter the more room to work.

How to mount the stock hubcap is the question of the day. All my spares are 7 5/8" clip style. 4WD's never came with hubcaps but dress them up so much when their installed.



Plenty of room to move the center portion from the 6" stock backset on the 22" transports to a 4 1/2 backset like the 16" wheels I did in the past.



Recouping from a triple bypass for now, but there's plenty of future ahead and some strategy thinking to do. lol

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

The things you learn here! A brake lathe would be perfect for doing this kind of work. Hmm... wheels turning.

Just yesterday I came across this pic posted on IG by @psukraw. Its kind of what I was thinking as a hubcap mount, tubes over the lugnuts... but I was considering rare earth magnets as a means of the holding the cap and bracket to the face of the lugnuts. Maybe this pic will give you some ideas?

Recovering from bypass surgery... don't rush into anything strenuous. the 22's can wait. All the best in your recovery.

[aerotruk63]

Hopefully not hijacking your thread.... the centerbore of a stock wheel from the early sixties is 3.625".
The centerbore of the 22" Transits are 78.3mm or 3.082

Can I ask what 3.532" as you posted above pertains to? Does this reflect the stock axle outside diameter.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Aero, my axle hubs measure 3.532", or maybe slightly larger, like 3.535". I assumed that they were 3-17/32". The diameter that locates the brake drum is larger, but i don't recall the size. My axle is a 1965 12 bolt. I was running the 70's 15x7 Rally wheels. I read that they were only used on 4wd vans. Maybe you can advise if that's correct.

[aerotruk63]

4WD vans were quite rare, but 3/4 ton vans had 6 lug axles. You would see Camper Conversion vans with this setup.
Both my trucks are at a Buddy's farm since I needed the room to build the new Garage. I'll have to pass by and take some measurements.
Found a thread on this site stating that you can reverse the center portion on the ring but can't push it back as the ring tapers and you lose material.
More measuring on the wheel will be required to see if I could shim the center to the larger diameter required, as not to reverse the ring and change the look.
Thank you for the info.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I'll stop by the shop on my way home from work tonight to measure the ID of my old rally wheels. I really don't want to remove the rear 22" wheels off my truck again. Its a pain jacking up the truck, lowering the axle, then wrestling the tire out of the wheel well. And heavy!

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

I took a look at rockauto.com and found that the brake drums for a 1965 C10 1/2 ton shows a pilot bore size of 3.564". That would lead me to believe that the axle hub diameters were 3-9/16" at the drum, stepped down to 3-17/32" at the wheel.

It's very difficult to find this info listed anywhere. Any wheel-specific information I could find only goes back to 1967, and I don't see anything with a 3.532" or 89.7mm centre bore.

[aerotruk63]

I scoured my GM literature to no vain. No dimensions mentioned anywhere.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Well, I checked the ID of my 15x7 rally wheels and it measures 3.533".

I couldn't find a part number on them, but I assume they're the 6lug van rallys.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

For the UK guys...
I was surprised to see a right-hand drive mini on my way home. I was even more surprised to see a Rover nameplate on the back. Until I googled it, I didn't know that Rover owned Mini for a short time in the '80s.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

For the UK guys...
I was surprised to see a right-hand drive mini on my way home. I was even more surprised to see a Rover nameplate on the back. Until I googled it, I didn't know that Rover owned Mini for a short time in the '80s.

You would be surprised at the routes some companies take in ownership or development

Rover also had a bunch of Honda cars a badged up as Rovers, I am not sure about all the power plants, but if you Google Rover 25 or Rover 45 you go to a whole new universe.

I regularly spot and photograph Minis formTa2Don as he like them a bit.

I am sure the one you spotted probably went to the US as a personal import, or maybe someone saw a decent profit and took it over.

[aerotruk63]

Thanks for posting the measurement. The difference between your axle and wheel are so close the wheels have to be hubcentric.

[aerotruk63]

Got a ride to where the 63 4WD is parked. Digital vernier gave me 3.489" on the snout of the front hub. If your wheels are 3.533 that would give it a sliding clearance of .045".

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Today I loaded up my unfinished Ironhead Sportster and headed out to the Unfinished Nationals in Paris Ontario, 25-30 minutes away. After raining all night, the forecast said it would be dry for 3ish hours, then rain again. I packed a tarp and bungees in case the rain started... and it did 5 minutes into the drive. After a while it stopped and eventually we saw some sunshine. Early in the afternoon, there were thunderstorm warnings, and I ended driving thru some heavy rain on the way home. Good time though!

I met up with Bob (lower50's), and I got to see the fruits of his labour up close for the first time. It's pretty cool! A lot of work! His Pinstriper was putting on some finishing touches at the show.

I bought an event t-shirt that featured the lower50's GMC.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

There were a few other 60-66 C10's that I've never seen before, as well as the 3-door Crew Cab that has been posted in the 60-66 spotters thread. I had a good chat with the owner of the Crew... he told me that it is original, not something he put together. He restored it, added the newer dually fenders, and modified the left-rear window to crank open, same as the 3rd door. Its a very nice truck that gets driven everywhere.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

And there was this '62. This C10 belongs to Richard Ruiter. I'd met Rick a couple times, the last time was when I purchased the low-hump out of his truck. He showed me how he modified the frame, removing the centre X, then using the X sections as boxing plates for the framerails. Lots of beautiful metalwork... Custom dash with Vintage Air and Dakota Digital cluster, smooth firewall with recessed brake booster, stainless fuel tank, handbuilt one-piece windows channels, etc. The engine bay panels are all metal. The fenders have a "tubbed" section added that matches the patina on the exterior of the truck, then the inner tubs, engine bay, and truck interior are painted.

Ten years ago, Rick built a '55 Chevy Convertible named Xvette that competed for the Ridler award at the Detroit Autorama. Google xvette for more pics, and checkout @xvette on instagram for more build pics of the C10.

Other pics are of a recent article in Truckin magazine, and a pic of xvette 55.

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Wet & dry.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge

Wet & dry.

Love the last pic.

Angle is just right to make me want to see more.

Looks like there were some nice rides.

The dually crew cab is very tasty.

Thanks for sharing.

[lower50's]

Thanks for the compliments John. It was great chatting with you again Your rims look even better in person you did a great job.

[mjh1965]

There are some nice rides there thanks for sharing