Narrowing the track on a mk3/4/5 - so i can fit wide wheels!

[Luke]

I thought i'd start a separate thread on this rather than continuing it on my progress thread so it can be followed easier from start to finish and as it's a bit specialised, most people will find it a little boring but for the benefit of those who dont ..................... read on

For those who dont already know i have fitted the mk4 ifs to the front of my van! in doing this ive widened the front track by 70mm my alloys (16x7 mercedes) only just fitted under the arches before so now they stick out 35mm each side, normally i'd just fit some flares to arches, but for this van i want it to look "factory" so i really want them under the standard arches

to start with i measured back and i could see instantly that i would need to do some serious work! the wheel needed to go that far back that the caliper was in the way
my 1st idea was to mount the caliper out and this would allow it to be mounted further backas the hub would no longer be in the way, the only downside meant i would need a dis of around 330mm after checking i found that they were available i looked further into this option but found that the position the caliper needed to be in made a 330mm disk catch on the track rod end

i also looked into thinner calipers but to find some so much thinner that it would give me enough they were no where near powerful enough - as transit calipers are quite beefy

so i settled on my final idea of machining a bit of the back of the caliper carriers, a bit of the mounting face - this should move my calipers back far enough and have some new hubs made from scratch that were a lot thinner

so far ive had the carriers machined down - ive forgot the pics but i'll add them to this as i go on

enough typing for me for now - i'll continue this later

[steady72]

if your making new hubs why dont you use the idea i thought of a few years ago.You need to use split rims and have the centre bit made up to take halo instead of disk breaks that are mounted to the wheels.use the hub as the centre of your wheels and you can put the calipers on the outside!!

[Luke]

if your making new hubs why dont you use the idea i thought of a few years ago.You need to use split rims and have the centre bit made up to take halo instead of disk breaks that are mounted to the wheels.use the hub as the centre of your wheels and you can put the calipers on the outside!!

problem is the calipers wouldn't go back any further as the hub was in the way and i allready have the alloys ready to go on

[Luke]

Here's the pic of the caliper carriers

Before machining them in the miller i surface ground the rough cast on the opposite side to garentee they were perfectly true

The 2 plates are holding them together to make sure both are the same and to help stop any movenent, and also they were clamped flat with the plate you can see in the centre



ive progressed with the stub axle assembly - so far ive made a jig so that can be held flat in the miller, i'll post up a pic of that too just got a few more measurements to make to be sure before i machine it

[rover]

Good to see you making progress with it mate

Most folks go to some length to get their wheels further OUT by the way

Rover.

[steady72]

nice work

[Luke]

I'm almost convinced now this is going to work ive spent the afternoon with the hubs on/off the van and making cardboard templates etc. measuring up to be sure and i think i can get it 35mm narrower a side

so my dad is going to take this lot and mill it, hopefully he'll get some time in the week

this is the jig i've made basically to hold the stub axle flat, the plate bolted to the top is just so it can be leveled up accuratly once fitted on the machine bed



then it will be removed and the 2 carrier mounting faced will be skimmed



doing this will only move the caliper in a bit, the majority of the distance will be taken up by the new thinner hubs i will be having made, i couldnt take the caliper in anymore as the disk will hit the track rod end

[Luke]

I'm having a nightmare with this now the hubs are harder than the calipers and the miller is struggling big time

i'm gonna do a hardness test on it tomorrow but if there is anyone on here who has experiance machining and would know what hardness a carbide tip tool will go through let me know either reply to this or PM me

just im thinking of buying a tool just to cut through it and i dont want to shell out for one if it's not gonna touch it

[steady72]

Id imagine in the final stages of production that this part went through a serious heat treatment program to anneal it. Possibly harder than carbide? Perhaps run a oxy torch over it till its white hot (without melting it) and then get it re-tempered afterwards.
Id advise checking with a engineering company with forging equipment. They will know.

[Luke]

Id imagine in the final stages of production that this part went through a serious heat treatment program to anneal it.

you would expect so but i did the hardness test and this is actually softer than the carriers - its only 38 rockwell
so it looks like any hardening would have only been done to the actual stub axle

so now my dad thinks it might be due to the vibration that caused the cutting problems so i'm gonna reinforce the jig and he's gonna have another go

but having looked at the finish it's not really good enough so if its no better this time i'm gonna have a go at surface grinding it - a little awkward due to the stub sticking up but i think its possable

[Luke]

still makeing (slow) progress - my dad has done the machining one one, i reinforced the jig but it was still no good - the finish is far too bad the be acceptable

so i'm gonna surface grind them - i've made this bracket now



the idea is i will put that on the mag base - run over it with the grinder to make it bang on then bolt the hub to it ( one hole at a time) and take the remainding ½mm off

getting there but slowly

[carnut1100]

Col! I whish I had access to a surface grinder again...... you can make every little project just so much nicer in the finish

[Luke]

i've not given up on this just having a few probs i managed to grind the jig ok and get the hub mounted on and started to grind it but it was late and the lads at the machine shop were locking up so i left it - anyway in the mean time someone has damaged the grinding wheel he says he's gonna give me a ring when its changed but he's not done so ive spoke to one of the lads and its still got the damaged wheel on
i even offered to buy a new wheel myself - but i dunno if he's messing me about either way it's held me up big time so my alloys wont be on for this weekends meet

[Luke]

well i put this job on hold to build the mk6 cossy for north weald and in all that time this grinder is still not working so ive decided he was messing me about

so yesterday i took 1 hub to a local firm and had it done picked it up this morning on me way to work and on me way home fitted it to the van

no pics sorry but ive got a hub and caliper bolted up i tried the wheel against it and its just in line with the arch

next step is to do a drawing of the hub (part the wheel and disk bolt to) and have a pair made

not going to be cheep but it will be worth it

[AlanN]

no pics