Turning 10x2 Mild Steel Spacers

I have built a few wheel adapters, and hub extensions like you are building. One question must be answered early on in the design. Hub-centric or Stud-centric?

I stopped making them for people after the liability sunk in. I'm a commercial shop and I don't need any lawsuits. I also don't need cousin Pedro blasting my shop because his cousin died in a ditch. Those adapters and extentions change the dynamis of axle and suspension loading and IMO can be dangerous. Yes, I know you can buy them all day long for just about any vehicle, but I decided I didn't want anything to do with it. And once I saw the prices, there was no way I was going to risk someone elses neck for what little profit there is in them. They're too cheap over here.

When you are ready to drill the holes, we can give you X and Y coordinates, so you don't need a indexer or rotary table or anything. A bit of trig, or most any drafting program will give you the coords.

Above I mentioned possibly leaving it torch cut. Forget I said that. These spacers will need to be reasonably precise parts. What model is your Series I?


(worst ones I built were to adapt a 5 hole wheel to a 4 hole hub. Bolt circle was almost the same. Couldn't do it out of one piece so had to make it 2, and bolt it together rather than weld it in case a stud broke and had to replaced. Last set for me)
 
Hi Tony, It is a Series IIA Land rover with Full Floating Axles both front and rear. The center hole of the spacer is to go over the wheel hub. On the Land Rover Series 2 Club forum they warned me that spacers might put extra strain on the wheel bearings. But if you know Series LR Bearings, it is quite oversize. The only reason I want to put in the spacers, is just for visual effect. It will let the wheels stand a bit out from under the body. Thank you for all your input, I really appreciate it.
 
OK, then you know it has to have a boss on the wheel side to mimic the hub. That would be considered hub-centric. As long as you know the risks, I have no problem helping, and it sound like you have a support group there too, which is good.

Have fun!
 
Whilst you have it set up in the lathe scribe a light mark at your stud diameters. That will give you a starting point when drilling new holes.

Cheers Phil
 
wheels-spacers%20006.jpg

This is a 30mm spacer on a Land Rover Series with 10" brake drums. I think I must make mine the exact size. Do you think the "lip" of the hub left sticking out was intentional for the wheel to fit over? If I remember correctly (will check) the hub nuts are BSW. I didn't want to make the nuts thinner, but at 30mm width i will not be able to recess it say more than 15mm? Sorry for the Metric dimensions. The studs I am going to press into the spacers will be modern metric studs. In the picture the studs on the spacer are not in the center of the two stud holding the spacer to the hub. Do you think there would be a reason for that?
At this stage I think it might be easier to buy the spacers, but I want to hone my machining skills a bit and i think it would be just the project to achieve that, because it is precision turning and milling that are involved.
 
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