Wheel Bolt Pattern & Specs on 46-47 Hudson 8

[Deleted User]

Hi All,

I thought this would be easy documentation to find but perhaps not.....anyone know the bolt pattern and specs for the 46 Commodore 8 wheels?

Thanks,

Keith

hudsontech

If you're talking cylinder head there's a 1942-1947 shop manual in the online library.
Go to http://hetclub.org/burr/lithomepage.htm - manual is in the 1940-1947 file under manuals.

Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN

[Deleted User]

Sorry I didn't make this clear, I was talking about the bolt pattern for the wheels. Looks like they are 5 x 4.5" from what I've seen.
Now the question is: I understand that the hubs have little dowel pins that locate the wheel on the hub and that you can only get replacement wheels that have this type of setup (i.e. small holes between the lug nut holes). Is this right? Can anyone recommend some modern wheels for a 46 Hudson (yeah i have the original TUBE tires and just want to scrap all that and put some model wheels & tires on)

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Park_W

You can use recent year (at least through the 90's, I think) Ford/Merc/Lincoln wheels, with a minor mod required: Where the hudson brake drum rivets would make contact with the back side of the wheel, drill a small depression in the back side of the new wheels so they'll seat fully on the face of the drum. And either cut off the original Hudson locating pin or drill a hole in the new wheel for it. Mopar wheels also have the same bolt pattern.

[Deleted User]

Yikes! That's that a lot of work! But then again nothing is ever easy is it? Maybe I'll just keep the original wheels, clean them up and paint them, and put new tires on. I can't believe I still had tube tires on the car! The guy at the tire shop said they are at least 50 years old!

I was looking at getting just some regular Cragar or Centerline or AM Racing wheels, nothing exotic just a decent looking upgrade.

[Deleted User]

Wheels for 39-54 Chrysler products are the same as Hudson including the guide pin. Also I believe Kanter has custom wheels in their catalog for Hudson.
Roger

[Deleted User]

I live right by Kanter HQ I'll have to take a stroll over there and check it out. I might just throw modern tires on there and try to polish the heck out of the original hubs I have and call it good so I can move on to other aspects of the project. However if anyone has had good experience with some specific wheels, feel free to let me know!

[Deleted User]

Upon further inspection, it looks like someone already chopped off the dowels, other than one.....oddly enough I guess just so they could still have one to mount the original wheels.

commodorecollector

Keith,
Hudson had only one guide pin per brake drum. It looks like the drum you are showing in the pictures has the guide pin at the very top but you will run into the occasional Hudson that is no guide pins on some of its brake drums (my 49' Commodore 6 is missing two, one in the front and one in the rear). Heh, then it become quite 'fun' trying to put the tires back on!

[Deleted User]

Are you intimating that it's going to be tricky to work on this? hahaha.
Most likely I'll just shave off the guide pin though I guess I could just drill a hole in the rim (however, if I do that, it renders them kinda useless for other cars)

[Deleted User]

Anyone know if the backspacing is 4" ?

Park_W

Are you referring to the "inward offset" of the actual rim portion? If so, it's only about 1" on the Hudson wheels, i.e., if you reverse them you gain 2" toward the outside, 4" total increase in the tread measurement.

[Deleted User]

I'm talking about the distance from the mounting pad of the wheel to the edge of the inboard flange. What I'm trying to say is will a stock Hudson hub accept a wheel with a 4" backspace.

TwinH

I have custom steel wheels on my 49 Commodore. By custom,I mean original Hudson centers
're-hooped' with 15x 6 rims. Back-spacing on these are nearly 4". NOTE: rallyamerica.com/How_To_Measure.html Backspacing is measured from the hub mounting surface to the tire
bead mounting surface. This set-up retains the factory clips on the centers for hubcap mounting
and holes for the alignment pin. You will learn to appreciate the alignment pin when installing
wheels on stud-less hubs. "Wheelkid" at the Rallyamerica link posted above probably has the centers in stock and can set the backspacing to your spec, (within reason ).

[Deleted User]

Seems like as long as I have a 4" backspace there should be enough room to mount them. I came across some fairly inexpensive black AR wheels so I'll give them a shot and if they don't work I'm not out much and I'll just re-sell them