Thread: D3 Rims on a Boat Trailer

Originally Posted by Graeme

Are these hubs with separate brake drums fitted? Most standard hubs & brakes these days use a 1-piece hub-drum. The boss dia of the hubs on my box trailer (no brakes) are 55 mm dia at their outer end which is 35 mm from the flange, then a smaller dia cap. If a drum was fitted to these hubs then a D3 alloy would fit. The hub's boss dia tapers smaller from a larger dia at the flange which is not necessarily the same as how a hub-drum is made.

Yes my drum hub is one piece, with a pad backing plate, indentical to this, if you look at the pic way back you'll see the bearing cap in the centre of the wheel, I'll see if I can dig up a photo of the wheel.

Thanks Baz. Obviously the 9" hub-drum casting is a diferent casting to the 10" so could easily have a larger diameter boss. Anyway, your X5 rims will fit Peter's specs even if LR rims wont. If you could find a trailer parts supplier who had a Commodore pattern hub in stock you could try one of your rims to prove the fitment.

Originally Posted by Graeme

Thanks Baz. Obviously the 9" hub-drum casting is a diferent casting to the 10" so could easily have a larger diameter boss. Anyway, your X5 rims will fit Peter's specs even if LR rims wont. If you could find a trailer parts supplier who had a Commodore pattern hub in stock you could try one of your rims to prove the fitment.

I'm searching now, if I can find a place that has the commodore 10" hub in stock, i'll go out and see if my D4 18" rims fit, that should settle this, and also gives me an alternative to the BMW rims.

An HQ pattern hub would suffice for a fitment test as its pcd is 5 x 120.5.

Baz...

Yes I have taken a rim with me and checked.

Looks a bit silly but have been told "we do heaps" by just about everyone only to find the measurements don't add up.

Then you present the actual rim and watch the face of the attendant as the boss (bearing snout thingy) touches first and prevents the hub from seating properly.

Originally Posted by Redback

So you have tried to fit the alloy to the hub, I'm assuming the boss is the bearing housing and where your refering to is where the bearing cap fits over the end of the bearing housing, yes??

Baz.

Ty

I am back in the country and while away have taken a bit of inspiration from Redback's post and may have worked out a path forward.

The stud bolts and PCD of the Discovery 3/4 are the same as a VN Commodore. The rear brake rotor for a VN Commodore is non vented, 7mm thick (we need ~5mm to clear the boss) and is a separate item to the hub assembly. Surely this is not considered a spacer. It isn't on a motor vehicle. So I will be asking for your expert thoughts on this one.

If this is deemed OK by the forum responses I may make some inquiries with Main Roads and all things moving forward, it will become the basis for stage two of the project - putting some brakes on the boat trailer.

I measured a new rotor in Autobarn on the weekend and it is ~160mm inside diameter and ~170mm outside diameter. This means that the standard 150mm Al-Ko hub would now fit inside with 5mm hang over and be a good choice as we need 160mm minimum to match the outer support surface of the rim casting.

These rotors are about $65 each at Autobarn, $75 a new pair (e-bay's cheapest) and $35 a pair used from a wrecker. So this is comparable or better to the $60 quoted for machining 5mm off a set of new hubs.

I have an e-mail in at Al-Ko checking the length of the studs so that I can work out if there is enough thread or if I need longer studs.

Otherwise, what is the general consensus?

Does this sound like a reasonable path forward?

Are there any traps/concerns?

Looking forward to the responses before I decide to check Main Roads.

Cheers PK

So close..... and yet so far.

The 14mm studs require a thicker flange (the round flat bit the rim presses up against). The bit at the bottom that secures it would extend out of the 150mm flange as it is not as thick.

This is only possible with a 190mm Flange.

Obviously this has the same Boss snout length issue as the 150mm hub and no clear way forward.

Thought I would let you know.

Would it matter that the stud shoulder protrudes? Will the nut not tighten or is the knurl dia too large for the stud hole? Are you considering the 45 mm stud with 12.6 mm shoulder or perhaps a longer stud with a longer shoulder?