Best type of reamer for opening a snowblower tire wheel from 7/8 to 1"?

[gellfex]

Like golf, too much analysis create paralysis. This describes this forum to a tee.

True in this case, but we all know of cases when diving in ignorant has resulted in disaster, or at least crappy work. Here's a story:

Many years ago my shop was in a Tribeca basement loft with one of those sidewalk elevators that pushes up the sidewalk flush doors with an arch over the lift. One day it suffered a catastrophic failure, falling and wedging itself. I found the problem pretty quickly. This thing was driven by a DC motor the size of a beer keg that had to have dated to when Edison wired Lower Manhattan. It had a coupling from the reducing gears to the lifting winches that was cast iron, nearly a foot in diameter and on a 2" shaft. It had cracked.

I studied the situation and found that the way the 2 shafts nearly butted there was no coupler on the market that could replace it, and there was no room to cut the shafts and install a modern coupler. The Landlord was annoyed, as I had said that if it broke I would fix it. Eventually he said he had someone to fix it. I was impressed, I couldn't wait to see how they did it. The horror. He simply arc welded the cracked cast iron coupler to the shaft! Fixed! No one would listen to me about how stupid that was, you don't repair something in a way that is not only irreversible but likely to fail. It was working! Ignorance is bliss.

[Tungsten dipper]

Like golf, too much analysis create paralysis. This describes this forum to a tee.

[gellfex]

Just to add closure to this thread, today I took it on today as snow season approaches. Mea Culpa, I was even wrong in my OP about the size, it was needing to open it from 3/4 to 7/8, not 7/8 to 1". I only have a stubby 7/8 S&D with just 2" of flutes, but the hub is only 4.5" wide. I put a 5" 3 jaw lathe chuck with the back resting on 3 1" blocks on my DP table and grabbed the hub of the wheel, put the belt on the slowest speed, set the VFD to around 2-300rpm, and went for it. Little rough and grabby, but worked. Flipped it over and did the other side. Slid onto the axle! Did the other and was done.

Sometimes the only thing to fear is fear itself. And being overly anal.

[Arcane]

gellfex, do you not have a mill?

[old mart]

As already mentioned, a 1" core drill would do it easily. You turn up a pilot for the core drill to fit nicely in the hub which will hold the drill concentric.

[nickel-city-fab]

Many people will suggest a method of doing what you require from experience using the equipment at hand. My first choice would be to buy new wheels from the OEM if available. Barring that option I would simply interpolate the larger holes in a mill. Accuracy is not very important.

Before ranting that home shop machine hobbyists do not have CNC mills remember that many do have machines that will walk off a .865-.885" hole in minutes.

Bingo and amen. My first choice would be to just get a different rim. I've noticed that 7/8 and 1" seem to be the two standardized sizes on medium-sized equipment.

[Richard P Wilson]

I hate using carbide burrs in an air die grinder because of all the little swarf needles generated. It would do this job if that's what you have.

I'm a big fan of step drills too but it's easy to burn off or damage the cutting edge so watch out for that.

But really, what's wrong with a cutting torch? Clean up a bit with a grinder and done. Seems about the easiest. I doubt you would put enough heat in to explode the tire unless you are really slow with the torch but fair warning...

Never, never heat a wheel with the tyre on it, at least not with the tyre inflated. The least is that the tyre will burn, the worst, which happened on a site I was on , the tyre exploded and killed the fitter working on the wheel.

[strokersix]

I hate using carbide burrs in an air die grinder because of all the little swarf needles generated. It would do this job if that's what you have.

I'm a big fan of step drills too but it's easy to burn off or damage the cutting edge so watch out for that.

But really, what's wrong with a cutting torch? Clean up a bit with a grinder and done. Seems about the easiest. I doubt you would put enough heat in to explode the tire unless you are really slow with the torch but fair warning...

[Black Forest]

What size are the rims? I recently had to mount a new tire on my two wheel hand truck. 4" rim. This rim really was a pain in the ass to mount. Demounting the old tire was not hard at all. Trying to get the new tire on the rim had me cussing at it in every language that I speak! The final solution was two C clamps on on side about 3" inches apart. Then pry the tire over the lip of the rim with two small polished tire irons. The reason for half the stress was the rim was still mounted on the truck with me sitting on the truck while it was layed over on it's side. To take the rim off the truck would have been a destructive removal. The way they are mounted they are not meant to ever be taken off. The C clamps hold the tire bead down in the deep grove while you pry. An octopus would have a much easier time to do the job. I had the tire squeezed between my knee's to keep it from spinning. It was more of a wrestling match than a tire change. I know why the guy at the lawn mower shop was not real interested in the job! Because you can unmount the tire from the machine you have an advantage. Put a bolt through the axle hole tighten a nut real tight and then mount the part of the bolt sticking out in a vice to keep the tire from spinning.

I found a video showing exactly what I did to mount my tire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVi2qV0cKLg

[epicfail48]

Pretty sure the right tool for that job would be a core drill:

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/01585645

Course, you can find them cheaper elsewhere, but im lazy. Core drills (least this type) are meant for enlarging existing holes, exactly what you want to do

[Willy]

The secret to mounting and de-mounting these little rascals is to, 1. have them securely affixed to something so that the wheel is stationary, lest you be chasing the little pig
around the shop.
2. proper set of tire irons, makes things sooo much easier for you and the tire!
3. once the beads are broken make sure that both beads are in the center, or depressed portion of the wheel this makes a huge difference as it gives you the room needed to lever the bead over the rim
not doing so will be hard on both your spirit and likely worse for the tire's bead.

If I was to open up the axle mount bore on one of those my first choice would be the mill. I know you say that it's a hassle but probably a lot quicker than any of the other options, and you won't have to deal with that A-hole at the lawnmower shop.
Heck you'll probably have it all done in under an hour, all the while singing...let it snow...let it snow ...let it snow!

[tom_d]

Gonna try it because I literally have nothing to lose, the wheels are worthless to me as is and not worth trying to ebay.

Sparky_NY I think there's enough meat to drill it, it has cross pins on both wheels.

Going from 7/8" to 1" by holding a twist drill is a bit of a risk. It's gonna chatter and grab and most likely spin in the drill chuck. Modify the 1" drill into a step dill by freehand grinding a 7/8" pilot dia. Won't be pretty but it will give you a round(er) hole than a normal twist drill and be easier to control.

[Bented]

Many people will suggest a method of doing what you require from experience using the equipment at hand. My first choice would be to buy new wheels from the OEM if available. Barring that option I would simply interpolate the larger holes in a mill. Accuracy is not very important.

Before ranting that home shop machine hobbyists do not have CNC mills remember that many do have machines that will walk off a .865-.885" hole in minutes.

[Sparky_NY]

Gonna try it because I literally have nothing to lose, the wheels are worthless to me as is and not worth trying to ebay.

Sparky_NY I think there's enough meat to drill it, it has cross pins on both wheels.

I once had a snowblower that had that cross hole worn oval and kept breaking the drive pins, in was IMPOSSIBLE to drill a new hole, the bore is recessed below the outer edge of the rim, couldn't get a drill in there. Better check ! Everyone hates bad surprises !

[gellfex]

This is a snowblower, right? Am I correct in assuming that it won't be used at highway speeds?

I'd just drill it out with a 1" drill and, if necessary, clean it up a bit with a rat tail file. These wheels will probably never travel more than five miles in their lives - you don't need a perfect fit.

-js

Gonna try it because I literally have nothing to lose, the wheels are worthless to me as is and not worth trying to ebay.

Sparky_NY I think there's enough meat to drill it, it has cross pins on both wheels.