[reddman]

If you run modified drw hubs, post up and let me know how they have worked for you.

Im talking about when the outer flange is machined off, and the rotor mounting flange starts doing double duty (holding the rotor and the wheel). I have turned down a couple sets of hubs like this, and never had an issue, or heard of anyone else having an issue with the welded flange failing. Now i have heard speculation that it is possible for it to break off, but to date, thats all i have heard, unconfirmed fears.

I just turned down a set a couple days ago to go with an axle i sold, and the guy is worried they wont hold up to his ~35" tires on his blazer. in my opinion, theres nothing to worry about, seeing how my 1 ton truck (on 38.5 sx's) has been launched all 4 wheels in the air several times with the same type of hubs without incident. i have a buddy that turned his down 4 years ago and has run 42's on them since, some times half full of water, also with no issues.

So, anyone ever busted one?


heres pics of how i machined mine, for reference...

 

[reddman]

finished product, posted for the 1 millionth time on pirate...

 

[tacoma73]

I'm the guy that bought the axle, and may be using on it my wife's daily driver, full of my kids and groceries and stuff like that. Personally I think it might be ok, here's what I said in the redundant post I just deleted, my thinking on the topic:

The Billavista Bible says no, and I can see the point... BUT since the studs press through the rotor AND the hub, would the rotational force on the dually stud tabs be too much to handle? I am thinking maybe not, since the dually hubs are applying the same forces, just from farther outboard?

 

[J Kimmel]

thats how mine are. I only trail ride it, I have 40" tsls, and I wouldn't think twice about it. The surface the studs go through is pretty darn thick.

 

[freds40]

May be a dumb question and I'm not thinking it through but what is the area that "could" fail? To me they look like SRW hubs just a star instead of a solid flange.

 

[1_bad_bowtie]

sorry for another noob question, but how much does it usually cost to have drw hubs machined to srw's? and n e body know where i could send them to have it done cause the local machine shops said they wouldnt even bore rear 60 spindles so i doubt they will do this. didnt mean to steal the thread either reddman

 

[freds40]

Were they going to bore them on or off the housing? Off is super easy so I can't see why they wouldn't. To turn down the huvs, any machine shop should do it and they would simply charge by the hour for labor. My local shops tend to charge $65-$85 per hour for labor alone. I would guess 2+ hours of work to do a nice clean job without tearing up cutters.

 

[tacoma73]

Seems to me the only possibly problem is the tabs cracking if they can't take the stress... but it also seems to me that they take the same stress when running dually rims with the mounting flange still on there... so I'm not so sure I'm gonna worry about it.

at any rate it would be easy to check it once a week or something.

 

[1_bad_bowtie]

when i called the local machine shops they said they pretty much only do engine work. what the hell is that about. i found one shop that said maybe but they are HELLA pricey.

 

[Hickeyjones]

Just weld a new flange on there on top of the star flange. That would tie the tabs together. True it up in the lathe and drill some holes. Isn't that what Billavista did?

 

[tacoma73]

someone else did it, just in Billavista's article. I thought about that but then I'd have to dig around for studs LOL and barter someone to weld it... and get the damn new flange made...

It's looking like I'm gonna just run it. Reddman is claiming no issues on his. ? I'll just keep an eye on it I think.

 

[beater74]

sorry for another noob question, but how much does it usually cost to have drw hubs machined to srw's? and n e body know where i could send them to have it done

wagoneer machine shop did mine. it was close to $300 but they weld on a new WMS flange. back when i had mine done SRW hubs were going for $300 each. now they can be had for as little as $150 each. i would buy new SRW hubs and sell yer DRW hubs to help cover the cost.

 

[Sean]

Or you can just buy SRW hubs from Highonda on this site. I don't want to post publicly what he sent me via PM for price but it wasn't much more than some of the machine shop prices that have been posted here.

Sean

 

[J Kimmel]

there is a place called Ram Grinding here in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. The guys name is Donovan, He turned mine down just like the one's pictured for $100 bucks. So ya, it was worth it to turn them down. He was referred to me by another guy that he did the same for, K5 guy, knows the drill on these.

 

[reddman]

if there is any possibility of this being dangerous i dont want tacomas wife to be the one finding it out. i couldnt live with myself if something bad were to happen as a result of this. thats what im looking to find out.

if anyone can come up with just one instance where this has happened, thats too much for me and i will gladly swap him hubs. its just a p.i.t.a. for me to find time to run down to where my other axle (a factory srw) is being stored and rip those hubs off of it.

even if nobody comes up with a single instance of one failing, i will swap u if u want tacoma. it just wont be for a few weeks. god i wish there were more hours in a day.

 

[reddman]

May be a dumb question and I'm not thinking it through but what is the area that "could" fail? To me they look like SRW hubs just a star instead of a solid flange.

the difference is, on a factory srw hub, the wheel mounting flange is a cast in feature of the part, but on a drw hub the outer flange (the one i machined off) is cast in, and the inner flange (the one u see in the pics) is welded on. there are two welds on the flange, one on the inside, and one on the outide. as you can see in the pics, i turned down some of the outer weld, to make sure the wheel mounting flange would clear it.

the concern is the welded flange taking all the forces the tire and wheel sees, and the braking force. in a factory drw app, the inner flange only sees braking force. people have hypothesized (sp?) that it could fail at the welds, and i can see where they are coming from. but with all the people that have done this and abused the hell out of them, i still have never heard of a failure.

 

[tacoma73]

I think it will be ok. The dually rim is putting those loads on the hub too, just from farther away. I honestly can't see how mounting the rim on the rotor flanges is going to be any MORE stressful. But it only takes once... I'd imagine losing a wheel on a stumpy Blazer would be... exciting at best hahahah

Still, I'm hedging LOL ... I too wish there were more hours in the day. I'll let you know by say, Wednesday.... and I am in NO hurry to do anything, really. I dont' need the hubs for quite a while. My dad has some FEA software at work, I'm gonna see if he can ballpark the forces for me.

 

[reddman]

My dad has some FEA software at work, I'm gonna see if he can ballpark the forces for me.

the hub is made of cast chromo. i dont know what grade, but after machining it, i certainly know its not just carbon steel. definately an alloy. if i had to guess i would say something around 4130. just thought id let u know your failure analysys is as accurate as possible. post up the results here. i am very interested.

it really sucks to machine it cause it has all the toughness of chromo, the abrasiveness of cast, and its an interupted cut. it really beats up cutters. a tough grade of carbide wears and craters too quickly, but a hard grade chips to easily, and a mid grade wears and chips. good times.

 

[ashmanjeepXJ]

Worst case senerio?
If the weld broke, the hub would remain on the spindle.
The flange now not welded to the hub with wheel and rotor mounted.
The flange could not pull past the mounted hub? Then if all 8 studs broke after the weld broke then the rim could come off the flange...

If the weld broke and the studs did not it would feal like death wobble at highway speed. IMO not a life or death failure.

If the broke weld could allow the flange and rotor to slide past the hub that would be pretty bad.

I buddie just machined his correctly so I had a good look at it. Id run it as long as you machined the minimum you could to fit the rim. If you machine too much it could easily fail.

 

[reddman]

The flange could not pull past the mounted hub? Then if all 8 studs broke after the weld broke then the rim could come off the flange...

the way you worded all that made it not exactly crystal clear just what you were trying to say, but this is my response to what i think u said.

once the welds broke, the only thing holding the tire and wheel on would be the caliper (caliper would be held to the flange and wheel by the studs). and i think if the forces were great enough to break those welds, then they could easily tear the caliper out of its mount. the studs wouldnt need to break in addition to the welds for the tire/wheel to come off.