I have a rear crinkle hub that has a slight gap between the two halves where they come together. It seems one or more of the rivets may have loosened. They come back together when clamped.
I was thinking of drilling between the two halves at the joint in 3 or 4 spots with a 3/8" drill bit almost down to the inner sleeve, then welding in the hole to fix the two pieces together.
Anyone think of any reason why I should not do this?

It would be pretty disastrous if the hub came apart. I would consider taking the wheel apart, if it isn't already. Dissembling the hub, including drilling the rivets, to confirm what the actual problem and then fixing that.

Ed from NJ

Try mikesclassics@bigpond.com he has lots of spares phone 61738040055 he is inQLD.

There are many of these hubs around, and rather than go to the effort of repairing this old one, why not find another?

With the swede on this.

The wheel is already apart.
The hub is not about to fall apart. The gap is really minor and would probably be ok as is but would be better repaired of course.
We're talking a couple of thou. in one spot only.

It is/was a well known problem with the earlier 3 piece BSA hub for the rivets to shear and the center splined section to spin free. Fact is I had a 'near death' experience with a competitor's hub coming apart.... In later years BSA replaced the counter sunk, flush rivets with a rounded head. Because of this issue, as a precaution I and others had tack welded the hubs together on either side.

More discussion on BSA crinkle hubs: My first 'spool' hub for my Goldie dirt tracker was made from the 2 outer flanges of a hub with a machined alu center holding the bearings pressed in and secured with screws into tapped holes in the center. A modified axle was required.

Hi there is one for sale on eBay under bsa goldstar parts.

As I recall there are three versions of the crinkle hub, plunger type, pre unit swingarm type and the later threaded speedo drive type. Many vendors do not know what they are selling.

Gordo

I'm not sure what type of hub I have. It has flush rivets and a threaded bearing retaining ring on one side only.
The hollow spindle looks different to what is in the manual.
The bike is a plunger GS but a bit of a bitsa so who knows what the hub is from.