Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

i have a 51 200 and purchased smoothie wheels for it. only problem is they are lug centric. i know i read some info on the topic, but i can't find it again. does anybody have any first hand experience with this. the wheels i got are wheel vintiques smoothies. one of the problems i have are the brake drum rivets and alignment pin. can i just grind these to fit? the lug bolts are 9/16, so im not really worried about them shearing off or anything, but i would like the car to roll down the road somewhat smoothly. thanks a lot.

not sure what you mean by "lug-centric." The lugs'job is only to bolt the wheel against the drum. The weight is supposed to be borne by the hub. If the wheel opening is bigger than the hub, it should be shimmed to fit.

G'day elevator_man,
to PackardInfo.

I invite you to include your '51 200 in the Packard Owner's Registry here on PackardInfo!

Elevator:

If you grind the rivet heads off the drum the assembly will probably fall apart while going around a bend in the road while applying the brakes. The result will be a crash.

The locator pin allows for the wheel to be installed using lugs bolts rather than studs. I don't know what "smoothie wheels are, but if the plan is to street rod the car you might as well change the car over and hold onto the parts. They are worthless if you grind the pins and rivets off.

If you plan to keep the car stock then I would have spacers made for the wheels and drill a pilot for the locator pin.

Agree with Tim on the rivets and spacer. One poster already found the hard way on his "new" 48 that touching those rivets was not a good thing for a previous owner to have done when trying to remove the drums. He wound up having to find new assy's.

As for the locating pin, that you could probably remove although holding the tire up while you manipulate a bolt and get it started gets old in a hurry.

thanks HH56. I may have been a little unclear. I don't want to completely grind off the rivets, but I need to clearance them a little so my wheels can bolt up. I also understand that everybody would have me keep it original, however I don't have the $160 dollars a wheel that some Packard parts dealers sell and I had the smoothies, so I want to try and use them. just trying to figure out a safe way to do it also, its not so much a street rod, as maybe a mild custom. nothing crazy. at least I'm going to run the 288 L8. just got that back from the machine shop. I'll post some pictures of that when I get a chance.

Wheels? How large of a stack would you like? $40 apiece plus shipping for 5.5" wide (junior) or $50 for 6" wide (senior).

That way you don't have to mod anything. PM if interested.