Welding and re-drilling hubs

Is it doable? Has any one done it? What I have is a 4x100 and going to 5x114. I also have two holes the size of quarters that will need to be welded in the hub. I want to try and use stock hub and rotor, just dill out the rotor as well. It will keep the bracket I use so I dont have to use washers to shim it out, and then I can use a duel piston caliper. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'm not a welder (machinist by trade) but I do know if you weld it it'll probably pull/warp the flange, everything warps when you weld it, it all depends how much heat you throw in it. If you know someone who TIG welds, that would cause the least warping and you might not have to remachine the flange. If it does warp, it is no big deal to chuck it in a lathe and take a skim cut of the face to make it flat again. What kind of diff is this axle out of?

You could PM DrDiff on this board and ask his opinion, he's the resident expert on all things differential

Just reread your post, is this the rear axle or the front hub?

Have had it done by guys that know what they are doing and have had no problems with it. Thing to do though is use screw in stud instead of the knurl shoulder press in studs. It takes a much smaller hole to tap threads in that to have an over-sized hole for the knurled shoulder. Using the screw in stud leaves you a lot more meat on the outside of the stud.

to get an idea of what you need---knock out the 4 studs---place the 5 stud pattern on the hub and rotate it till the most new holes are in virgin metal----if there are holes to be filled dont fill them with welding rod--cut a piece of solid rod to fill the hole then tack (tig) it into place----as said before drill and tap the studs like they do for race cars---finish the tig welds-----your machinist will charge you some for the time to set up his machine to drill the pattern but when set up it runs like an assembly line----my machinist would redrill all the rotors i wanted free because the setup was done---bob

Its an import rear hub (honda). the plan is to put the 440 in a crx, but need bigger/larger brakes for more stoping power. Rim sizes makes me go 5x114.3 which is the 5x4.5, now I could use a differnt hub, but it changes everything, and is buy no means safe for what I need to do.

If you used a compass & made a 114MM dia circle on a piece of thin stiff clear plexiglass then made a mark at any point in the circumference (mark #1) then made mark #2 67MM away in a straight line tangent & so on (3 more) & now you have 5 equally spaced marks on a 5X114MM circular pattern (check that each mark around the circumference is 67MM away from the next mark in a straight line). Drill a mini hole thru each of the 5 marks with your smallest drill bit. When the template is properly located you'll set the plate on the hub & drill into the drum at 5 places just enough to live a witness mark so you can remove the plate and drill it to size & yes as said use threaded studs. Easy so far. Now the prob is going to be locating the plate concentric & I'm not a draftsman. Either make 4 marks on a smaller 100MM circle and drill them out to the exact (miked) OE stud dia then cut the center register out (dont have to be exact) & slide the close fitting template over the existing 100MM studs & it will locate your new 5X114MM holes exactly & use a mini bit on your drill press to make 5 witness marks thru the plate & on the drum then remove the plate & drill em to size or if there is a drafting method to find the exact center of the register and line up the center of the 5X114MM circle with that point then the new circle will be located concentric.

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to get an idea of what you need---knock out the 4 studs---place the 5 stud pattern on the hub and rotate it till the most new holes are in virgin metal----if there are holes to be filled dont fill them with welding rod--cut a piece of solid rod to fill the hole then tack (tig) it into place----as said before drill and tap the studs like they do for race cars---finish the tig welds-----your machinist will charge you some for the time to set up his machine to drill the pattern but when set up it runs like an assembly line----my machinist would redrill all the rotors i wanted free because the setup was done---bob

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,, but I leave my original holes there in case I want to go back to small bolt pattern