Wheel Help

[helowrench]

Personally, I would not sweat it one bit.

[mountainkowboy]

That's what I was thinkin, that's 1/2 inch of thread in the drum.

[Piledriver]

If in doubt, pick up some of the bolts made for alloy wheels.

A much better solution would be convert to studs, but most folks resist this as it isn't strictly needed for a DD, costs $ and requires work.

[Marc]

I might go with it on the front but I don't like it at all for the rears...have you found out yet if you'll need any spacers for the sidewalls to clear the coil springs (by at least ¼")?

Some alloy wheels need "conical" lug bolts rather than the "ball-seat" style used on VW steel wheels. Your new rims probably don't, but enough do that it must be mentioned to check the contour. I used to have a couple of late `70s/early`80s Audi 5000s which used ball-seat bolts on their mags (there was a warning decal in the trunk concerning the difference between bolt styles because other available rims for the cars used the conical type.) ...they're a good source of longer 14mm lug bolts which'll solve problems like yours. The most they should project inside the drum is a thread or so, since dust buildup can make them hard to remove, but it's not hard to cut/grind them shorter for a specific application.



IF the drum were made of the same steel as the bolt, the minimum acceptable thread engagement would be 9.1mm (65% of the 14mm nominal bolt diameter) but since it's made of gray pearlitic cast iron you want all the thread engagement you can get...21mm (150%) would be ideal, but the drum isn't that thick.

[mountainkowboy]

The old FV mag wheels are ball seat style and I will be going with a 23mm thread shank bolt. I measured the stock wheels bolt bite and found that the factory 17mm shank had a bolted stick-out of approx. 3-4mm past the drum inner face. Going with 23mm shanks should net me the same spec with the FV wheels.

Thanks

[mountainkowboy]

Well I had 2 tires mounted upon the FV wheels today and was going to put them on the front.................the tire hits the spring on both sides and I'm at max camber on the arms....lol. I ordered spacers and longer lug bolts today.

[Piledriver]

You should be able to install the 2.5" springs on those shocks...

[mountainkowboy]

You should be able to install the 2.5" springs on those shocks...

The stud for the ball joint is also scary close.

[Marc]

I like to have at least ½" clearance from the sidewall to anything pointsy that might rip it open on contact - ¼" is barely adequate since if the tire starts to go down it'll bulge more and you might not realize there's a problem before the tire is shredded. But you are dealing with a positive scrub radius front end, so try to avoid having much more than that.

[mountainkowboy]

They roll with just a slight rub on the spring, the ball joint bolt doesn't touch, but I doubt that there is more than a few thousands clearance. I went with 3/8" spacers for a starting point, I don't have the front aligned yet, but I'm pretty close. I'm guessing these wheels are ET37 or ET40. They look dam good though.