37 years ago, I had the front hubs and rear axles bolt pattern changed from 5x4.25" to 5X4.5" to bolt up Weld Draglite wheels on my Volvo 1800. The wino machinists under the bridge welded up the flanges and lug bolt holes, turned them down, and re-drilled them in the same previous location. The rear axles are basically Dana 44's that have the extra holes to bolt the backing plates on, so they had to go in the same location and I don't remember why the fronts where done that way. They got the new lug nut bolt holes so berkeleyed up that they had to machine .10" off of the diameter of the mag shank lug nuts to bolt them up.
As you can imagine, everything is out of round which pretty much sucks. The Weld wheels have lug hole openings of .687" and their mag shank lugs diameter is also .687". These wheels are lug centric and the hubs and axles don't have any hub shoulders. I want to try and redo them and need advice on getting things corrected accurately. What are my chances of finding someone who can do that? I have been thinking of sending them to Dutchman Axles but wonder how it would be accomplished. It's been 20 years since I last talked to them.
YouTube videos show people using plastic bolt hole pattern templates to mark axles and then using a drill press to drill the hole, but I'm hoping there is a much better way.
How would you machinists do it? 
zordak
Reader
5/3/22 10:09 a.m.
Personally I would take the hubs to a really good welder and have the holes filled in, go to a good shop that has at least digital read outs if not CNC and have the holes put in properly.
I agree with Zordak, but if I were to do it I'd use an indexing head to get the proper pattern. Would be very difficult if your hubs do not come off the axles though.
Indexing head:
A few of my Mills have a Digital read out that can take inputs for hole patterns. Indicate on center, tell it where to start and how many holes, it guides the operator from there.
Move the pattern to some vigin steel and leave the old ones for speed holes.
Thanks guys. I never got to hang out and watch any machinists do their thing. I assume that through the ages that what you guys do has to be more precise than just drilling accurate holes like as in different kinds of gears.
The wino machinists under the bridge expanded into a modern pump machine business with CNC mills but won't touch anything related to automotive suspensions.
I just want some assurances and guarantees that on my second attempt, this comes out perfectly the second try. So, it's no big deal to drill 5 holes so that the exact same size mag shank lug nut will fit all five same size holes? I'll go take some photos of my hubs and axles so we can see what I have.
I'm not sure how the holes on the axle can be moved. The Volvo lug spline holes are quite large and I want 3" ones but I'm not sure that there is enough meat on the front hubs for screw in 1/2" lugs.
The axle flange is 0.33" thick and the hub is 0.31 (the HF digital gage only reads to 0.00") at the recessed area around the lugs. The photos are of spare Volvo rear axles (1031) (Dana 44 axles and bearings and Dana 35 R&P as far as I can determine) and front hubs (vented front brake disks) from the Volvo 164 sedan.
I already have installed the 164's rear axle and want to install the 164's front suspension sub frame into the 1800.
How many times can you weld up an axle flange? I don't know what the 1800's front hubs look like but what do I do about that hollowed out part of the 164's hub where the lugs fit when I move the lugs out 1/4" (or isn't that an issue)? I suppose I can practice with the already modified 1800's hubs and if that works, do it again with the 164's hubs when I get around to installing the 164's front sub frame.
I think that there might be a work around to just install the 164's hubs, brakes, and calipers onto the 1800's spindles with caliper offset brackets, but I have yet to try it.
Here is a link to VolvoClearingHouse's Volvo 1800es aborted V8 thread where he demonstrates converting vented 164, 240, 260 rotors and calipers onto an 1800 spindle, I think. Have to re-read it, courtesy of volvoclearinghouse and NoHome, I think.
Volvo 1800ES: Engineering a Resurrection
