Tag ford center caps

There is something really classic about those old 1980s and ’90s Ford truck screw-on center caps. They scream bullnose, brick-nose, OBS. When you see them on a truck, you know it’s an old-school Ford truck, and I really like the look. Dodge and Chevy had their versions, but these are Ford DNA. I like them enough that in my current builds — the Bronco and I think even the F-150 — I’m going to use these caps, but they have a problem. Howdy folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bone’s Garage. The problem with these center caps, as cool as they are, is that they screw on. There is no other way to retain the caps on a rim except by screwing them on. The old-school Ford rims have screw holes, but these Bassett racing rims do not. In fact, almost all aftermarket rims won’t have the necessary screw holes to install these center caps. If you want to use those caps on aftermarket wheels, you have to drill holes into the rims, like I did on these Bassett racing rims. I’ll show you exactly how to do that. It’s not that hard, but there are some things to pay attention to so everything lines up correctly — these wheels spin fast, and if it’s out of whack it will wobble. I’ll give measurements for the hole sizes and widths so you know what to look for in aftermarket wheels. Not all aftermarket wheels list these measurements, but with some numbers you’ll have ammunition to find the right wheels. Here’s a top-down view of my Bassett wheel so you can see how the cap will align. You could eyeball it and punch the holes, but there is a little bit of wiggle even when the obvious holes appear lined up. Because this is a Bassett rim, I have to use 45° conical seat open-ended lug nuts. Even with the lug nut in place, you can still wiggle the cap around quite a bit. That wiggle could make it look funny on the road or slightly affect the balance. If the ones are close, it’s probably not much of an issue. Here’s how you deal with that: you have to make sure these are centered perfectly on the rim. To do that properly, we need to mount the wheel onto the vehicle. Before we do, I’ll show what I use to get it there to begin with. I have a digital caliper and some round rubber spacers. They measure about 1 in wide and about 1.18 in (30 mm) in the middle, which is what you want for the lug. The 1 in is not big enough to fill this space, and I couldn’t find an exact spacer that fit tightly, so I wrapped Gorilla tape around the outside until it fit perfectly inside. That will help ensure the center cap is centered when the wheel is on the vehicle and over the lugs. For this step you need the wheel, the vehicle, three of the five lug nuts, the spacers, the center cap, and a good solid punch. Mount the wheel and get three lugs on in the right positions. You do this to make sure the wheel is centered; lug nuts will center the wheel on the hub unless you’re using hub-centric aftermarket wheels, in which case you’d center the hub instead. I’m not torquing these down fully, just snugging them so the wheel is centered and won’t move. Put the center cap on, then pop the spacers in; they should be tight to hold everything in place. There is enough play around the lug holes that you can’t fully rely on the lug nuts to center the cap, which is what these little plugs are for. By alternating the three and two positions, it keeps the cap in a stable spot so it won’t move while you mark it. Use a punch to make your marks, trying to get as close to the center of each hole as you can. This is a bit of eyeballing; there are methods to be more precise, but punching the marks on a bench isn’t reliable because a wheel that looks centered on a table might not be centered relative to the lug pattern when mounted. I’ve got two of the four done already; this is my third, and I’ll grab the fourth and finish them up. You bolt the wheel to the truck and use your spacers. Everything’s locked in exactly where it lives in the real world. The cap sits dead center on the hub and your lug holes are perfectly aligned around all five studs. That’s what keeps the cap from ending up just a hair off, where one screw’s tight, another was crooked, and the whole thing looks a little wonky once it’s spinning. Doing it on the truck guarantees it’s true to the actual geometry of your lugs, not eyeballed off the bench. It takes a few extra minutes, but it’s worth it to get that perfect fit. All right, time to drill and tap our wheels to accept the screws. These screws are 1/4-20 — that’s what came with my caps from Amazon. I think most of them are 1/4-20, but I’m not 100% sure. Because these are 1/4-20, I’m using a number seven drill bit from this Warrior 60-piece set from Harbor Freight. You can also use a 13/64 drill bit, but number seven is the correct one if you’re doing this to spec. When you’re drilling steel, use some tap or drilling fluid. Put a little in the little indent; you don’t need much, then start drilling. The key to drilling through metal is slow, steady pressure with good cutting fluid. If you have a drill press, you might be able to use it depending on the size, but I don’t have one. Now that you have your holes drilled, it’s time to tap. Make sure you get all your swarf out. Keeping the holes clean makes a big difference when tapping. This is 1/4-20 for these screws, so put a little cutting fluid on the tap. This tap and die set is from Harbor Freight — it’s not the best, but it works. Try to keep the tap as straight as you can, though it doesn’t have to be perfect. Stop and back out every so often to clear swarf from the threads. Nothing ruins your day faster than breaking off a tap because you left too much junk in the hole. I know it’s tedious and a little nerve-wracking if you have expensive wheels, but there’s something satisfying about drilling those holes and cutting threads by hand, especially if you don’t do machine work every day. You can feel the metal and know when it’s biting. Doing it yourself means you know exactly how deep those screws go and how much thread engagement you have. There’s no guessing or surprises when you bolt it up later. One thing I love about these old screw-on Ford caps is how mechanical they are. Everything today just snaps together — plastic clips and press fits. It feels like there’s no real craftsmanship anymore. Back in the ’80s, Ford actually threaded these holes in the wheels for those little screws. They were totally overbuilt, and that’s what’s cool. You can tell they weren’t chasing assembly speed; they were building something meant to last. At least on the wheels. I wish I could say… The same for the door panel clips. Those things bust off if you look at them sideways, but that’s part of the charm of working on old trucks like this. At least that’s what I tell myself. All right, all done. Now we can take them out and mount them inside the wheel. When I did my test fit, I noticed these screws stick out too far behind the rim and actually touch the rotor on my axle. I’m going to have to trim the screws. I’ll use a bench grinder to grind them down, then use my tap and die set to rethread them. I happen to have some wing nuts that are the right size for these screws. If I screw the wing nut on tight so it doesn’t move, the amount of screw sticking out the other end is almost exactly what I want to remove. I tighten the wing nut, grind the excess off, and the wing nut acts as a chaser, so when I pull the screw out it rethreads and goes right back in. Sometimes there’s a little burn on the end that I have to trim off, but once it cools down it should go right in. All trimmed up. I’m not a fan of these open lug nuts; I prefer the way regular black lug nuts look, so I’m going to put black lug nuts on the outside. The interior lug nuts will be torqued down and keep the wheel held on sufficiently, and then I’ll thread on the black nuts and tighten them lightly. That gives me the look I want and adds a bit of theft protection. There’s plenty of bite on these threads. To be clear about torque: the open-ended 45° basset nuts will be torqued to spec, about 100 ft-lb. Once the wheel is properly mounted, I’ll thread on the black nuts with a dab of blue Loctite and snug them to about 10 ft-lb. That’s enough to keep them from coming off by hand and adds a little theft protection, but it’s not enough to affect the main lug nuts that hold the wheel on. It’s safe and purely decorative. Screw them down, but not too tight—you don’t want to crack the plastic if it’s plastic. That’s what it’s going to look like. I think I’ll end up painting these wheels some kind of bronze or copper color. With the black lug nuts, that and maybe a fake bead-lock trim ring, I think they will look really nice. That’s how to install an OEM-style Ford truck center cap on an aftermarket wheel. Things to keep in mind: make sure the center cap is as centered as possible, use your spacers and your lug nuts, and get everything in place. Here, mark your holes in the right spots. Make sure your screws are not too long, because if they are they will impact the rotor back there. Make sure you get the right length screws; if not, you can always trim them like I showed you. Use tap oil when you’re drilling and tapping to avoid binding things up or snapping bits. Also make sure your aftermarket wheel will support a mod like this depending on its material. These are aftermarket steelies, which are perfect for this kind of mod. Any kind of five-on-5 1/2-inch steelie should be able to support this. The wagon wheels will, and the old-school Ford rims will. Anything with that big center flat area should take care of it. If you’re doing this on aluminum rims, be a little more careful. I haven’t done this on aluminum rims, but I know it’s possible—follow the same steps, take your time, and be careful. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or tips and tricks about doing this, let me know in the comments. As always, thank you so much for watching, and we’ll see you next time. She’s rough around the edges, but she’s doing fine. Take her away; getting things to shine at no garage, she’s considered divine.