MTFCA Forum

So, there are a few rim manufacturers out there that will roll new lock ring rims, but only 1 of them makes the actual lock rings. They are a custom hot rolled steel profile that gets rolled to mate up to each rim diameter. 2 profiles are traditionally available, “heavy” for the larger cars, and “light” for our more nimble autos.

As my luck would have it, I tear down a set of wheels that were in need of “light” lock rings, confidently contact the manufacturer, and am told “no longer available”. Uh oh! Some of you already know that I have a tendency to do things the hard way, so I started planning. I need a lathe that can swing 26”… nope! I need a mill that has 26” of X and Y travel… nope! But wait…! I have a mill with a rotating table! And turns out I had about 1/2” to spare inside the machine. It wasn’t easy, but the first one is done!

That is pretty awesome. Could you post a picture of the setup to machine that? Just curious what was the machining time? Always enjoy reading your posts.

Very impressive work Kevin.

Thank you for sharing.

Made a fixture to cantilever out from the table to almost twice its diameter. Material is welded to fixture as there is no room for clamps. Programming was a nightmare as the machine is not technically large enough, so had to use extra long/short tools holders and creative tilt angles to gain access to the part.

Part is made in 1 operation complete. This is the tool that severs the part from the base material, leaving only a few thousands of material holding the part on. 3/16” endmill in 10” long holder and operating within about 1/4” of the max machine travels. Pop the part loose with a screw driver and a couple minutes with a grinder to finish

Ingenious!

TXGOAT2 wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 09, 2025 12:37 pm

Ingenious!

Here is a true machinist.

Well, isn't Kevin just a "whiz-bang" !!!

Got er split and notched

Well, now you’re just showing off.

Andy

"No longer Available" = Kevin Pharis "No problem, hold my beer"

I have 25in hayes wheels on my 1919 dodge. Been looking for 3 years for just 2 lock rings I feel your pain. I did find 1 24in and 2 26 inch I plan on re sizing those to fit my 25s. I did find 1 25inch heavy ring at hershey so now at least the car has 4 wheels on it still hunting for a spare.

Mind officially blown.
That is not thinking 'out of the box' that is ignoring the existence of the box.

Karl Von Neumann wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 14, 2025 5:59 pm

I have 25in hayes wheels on my 1919 dodge. Been looking for 3 years for just 2 lock rings I feel your pain. I did find 1 24in and 2 26 inch I plan on re sizing those to fit my 25s. I did find 1 25inch heavy ring at hershey so now at least the car has 4 wheels on it still hunting for a spare.

I have a ‘24 Nash with 25” Budd disk wheels. Yur not kiddin, near impossible to find rings in 25”. Re-arching a lock ring is less than fun. The imbalanced profile of the ring tends to curl, rather than change diameter, when bending. May need to build some sort of fixture to hold the ring flat… Good luck!

Correct me if I am wrong Kevin since this is your specialty but weren't the originals produced while hot as hell with a compensation roll to allow them to lay flat when they cool?

Inquiring Minds

Henry K. Lee wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 14, 2025 7:30 pm

Correct me if I am wrong Kevin since this is your specialty but weren't the originals produced while hot as hell with a compensation roll to allow them to lay flat when they cool?

Inquiring Minds

Without specifics of the original process… I believe you are mostly correct. My suspicion is that material lengths were hot rolled (forged) into profile, then cold rolled into rings of desired size. I lack the specialty equipment to perform either the forging or the rolling, so ventured down this familiar road in search of success.

Apparently the steel mill wanted a minimum order of 1 ingot (5 tons) to produce custom profiles. There may be other mills that will produce smaller batches, but that’s his business, not mine. For now, I’ll simply make what I need.