Actually I made it from a 122 front hub that had been the site of a spectacular
wheel bearing failure on the notorious "Li'l Red" while I was in Panama.
The interior of the outboard end was severely damaged and the bearing bore
was enlarged and gouged pretty seriously. (She came home complaining that
it was noisy and the brake was dragging on that side.)
I had access to a lathe but not to welding equipment. I just turned off the
small end of the hub, faced it flat with the outboard side of the flange and
bored it sufficiently to clear the rear hub, and faced off the big (inboard)
end to the appropriate length. The end plate is 1" thick (some scrap we
had around). The only "welder" I could find was actually a Jamaican carpenter.
I wasn't particularly happy with his work (I was qualified at the time as a
GS-13 Welding Engineer) but I haven't been able to damage it thus far, about
18 years later. It is indeed simple, rugged and effective, if not elegant.
If for any reason it doesn't pull the drum far enough off, I can always remove
it, put a spacer inside and try again. I have never had to use a hammer on
it. Just tightened down the lug nuts all the way around about ½-1 turn at
a time and it pulls 'em right off, usually with quite a pop. I had originally
dreamed of putting a big screw in the end but decided not to when it worked
so well "as is".
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!