Has anyone ever tried to widen the OEM wheels with new shells?

[SMG]

This may be a crazy idea, but I’ve been wondering if this might work. I am in the the market for some 15” x 8” steel wheels with custom backspacing and would like to run the factory FJ40 hub caps. I came across these 15” Bart wheel shells and was wondering if anyone has ever tried welding in some OEM wheel inners. I have some old nasty factory rims that I could use as the donors. It looks as if the ID of the factory FJ40 OEM rim is really close to the ID of the Bart wheel shell. With the price of the shell being relatively cheap, I may go ahead and buy one to see if it would be possible.

 

[whitey45]

Widened some stock wheels 20 years ago to 15x10! Early riveted wheels work well, grind the rivets, send the centers to a wheel shop and they can build whatever you want!!

 

[RustyNailJustin]

Widened some stock wheels 20 years ago to 15x10! Early riveted wheels work well, grind the rivets, send the centers to a wheel shop and they can build whatever you want!!

Truth, works well.

 

[CRZR45]

Stockton wheel can build them for you I believe

 

[jim land]

look like a good idea , make sure it's perfectly straight ,and weld
i always think about weld-on beadlock on OEM wheels , the one i use on my wagon spoke give me about 1'' more width

 

[c2dfj45]

Going on 20 years with my 15x8 Stockton wheels. Chevy bolt pattern. I thought about hubcaps at one point but never felt like welding on clips.

 

[White Stripe]

I've never done it personally but does not sound hard. Remove old wheel centers, weld them into the new shells. Sound easy to me, I say go for it. I want to go to 17s and was going to look into building my own but can't find steel 17 shells.

 

[SMG]

look like a good idea , make sure it's perfectly straight ,and weld
i always think about weld-on beadlock on OEM wheels , the one i use on my wagon spoke give me about 1'' more width

I will try to remove one of the centers without doing any damage. (Unfortunately, my stock wheels are the welded type). If that goes well, I will try and get a better measurement before I buy the shell. I have a small surface plate where I can mock everything up before I burn it in.

Can someone tell me the ideal back spacing for 35’s x 12.5” with SOA?

I am thinking 3” because I don’t want them sticking out too far. I won’t be doing any rock crawling and I perfer the look of a narrow stance. I figure I can always add thin back spacing plates to make small adjustments.

Thanks

 

[White Stripe]

What about just putting the tires on as is first to see how it looks and works? Just an idea. If u want to widen them you can flex it out and see what adjustments you want to make according to what interference you have with fenders.

 

[jim land]

3.5" BS 15x9 on my 40 with 35 x 13.5 -15

 

[thebigredrocker]

Someone posted the name of a good wheel shop that was signifantly more affordable than Stockton. If I recall correctly it was more of a old school mom & pop. I’ll see if I can dig it up.

The other option I told about is: slice your Toyota barrels in half, weld them back together with a steel ring inbetween the two halves. This way you can choose exactly the width you want. Not sure if my source of info was full of hot air or not.

 

[thebigredrocker]

This is a rim @pbgbottle posted. His shop was in canada. Guessing you are stateside SMG. Also, Woytovich posted a shop on the East coast that widened his.

Try these guys, they widened my stock wheels a couple years ago, I think they charged about $50 a wheel. Its are a very small shop in So Cal.

Bolton's Classic Wheels
310-763-6621
View attachment 285435

Black worked for me!!! 15" x 10" 35" MTR's

Bolton Classic Wheel
16516 S. Western Ave. Gardena, Ca.
(310) 538-5046


Mike
View attachment 500453View attachment 500454

 

[SMG]

This is a rim @pbgbottle posted. His shop was in canada. Guessing you are stateside SMG. Also, Woytovich posted a shop on the East coast that widened his.View attachment 1584133

Thanks for the info.

One would think with me being in Indy there would be a wheel shop here locally that could widen some wheels.

I figured for $37 bucks it would be worth a shot. Worst case scenario, I can always buy some smoothies and do with out the hub caps.

 

[thebigredrocker]

You think Speedway’s barrel opening is the same as Toyota’s? That’s the key, the challenge and my understanding why shops sometimes just widen rims by welding a hoop in the OEM rim. Is Speedway able to give you an i.d. of the shell/barrel?

 

[thebigredrocker]

Sorry, I see you stated it is close. Hope it works

 

[Pierps]

Someone posted the name of a good wheel shop that was signifantly more affordable than Stockton. If I recall correctly it was more of a old school mom & pop. I’ll see if I can dig it up.

It would be awesome if you could find that!!

 

[thebigredrocker]

@Pierps I think it was the quote I posted above who did nicksfj40’s for $50 per rim. I wanna say Stockton quoted me $200 per rim but I could be completely way off on their price. Appologies if I am.

 

[GA Architect]

Thanks for the info.

One would think with me being in Indy there would be a wheel shop here locally that could widen some wheels.

I figured for $37 bucks it would be worth a shot. Worst case scenario, I can always buy some smoothies and do with out the hub caps.

I called these guys last year about welding in some Toyota OEM 15" center's into a new 16" steel rim that would have been 8" wide with 3.25" backspacing. However, I never worked up the nerve to send them my extra set of OEM rims.

Diamond Racing Wheels

 

[MOTOV8R]

They periodically come up for sale in the classifieds. I bought and sold a set that way.

 

[Pierps]

@Pierps I think it was the quote I posted above who did nicksfj40’s for $50 per rim. I wanna say Stockton quoted me $200 per rim but I could be completely way off on their price. Appologies if I am.

Duh! missed that. Thanks @thebigredrocker