REPAIRS – Wheels, pt. 5

I’ve decided to build a jig to hold a wheel while I’m installing rivets. The basic plan is this:

  • Use a piece of steel plate as the base. Mine was about 1/16″ (1.5 mm) thick.
  • Weld the rivet install tool, and two wheel support pipes to the steel plate
  • Create two wheel hold-downs out of pipe with nuts and washers.

For more information, see Wheel Repair, pt. 3

On the wheel hold-downs, I was going to put a bolt through the top to act as a handle, but they seem to work well enough without it. I can always add them later. I did need to weld a washer under the nut, on the bottom side of the hold-down; just a pipe with a nut would not tighten-up enough against the wheel.

For the wheel supports with the VW lug bolts, they too seem to hold up when tightened, and don’t turn. I could weld them to the pipe, or hammer the pipe flat against the bolt to keep it from turning, but as of now I think it will work without that. Plus, I won’t be damaging the lug bolt and will be able to return it to use in the future.

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