Hi guy's ..just an update ..my 54' now has the first pair of 19.5 .6 lug rim's on her ,,found the stock 17 rim centers fit in the 19.5 rim's ..found a good set of GoodYears an' they look GREAT ..yes pictures soon .....so the widows are now being recycled and my truck is still getting better ..she may not be everything yet ..but she is coming along ..how are your's coming along ...??

 

So your sayin' all you gotta do is grind off the rivets, bump the centers out of the 17" rim and do the same with a set of 19.5s and swap and weld? Any photos of the end result?

 

I've known, and mentioned in threads, that this works on the 5 lug x 8" DRW 17" centers with 19.5" rims but it's good to know it will also work with the 6 lug x 7.25" wheels. Glad this is resolved. Stu

 

yah Stu I listen ,and yes it works.just money and time ,,and the right help takes a while to get together all at once

 

Now I want to make up a set even though I'm now 8 lug and don't need them. I have all the pieces. I guess you need to weld up the holes because of the tubeless thing. You could even adjust the offset a bit if needed......

 

any pics of this operation? My 350 has 17.5 tubeless rims. will those centers fit in 19.5 rims? I have 6--19.5 rims and would love the bigger tire size, especially running that 5.14 rear ratio.

 

No, a 17.5" center will I'm sure be too small. The 17" tube type is the size equal of the 19.5" tubeless, which means a 15" tube type is the equal of the 17.5" tubeless. There's 2.5" difference in the tire bead seat of one style to the other due to the drop center of the tubeless rim. Stu

 

I will get the guy's to do a few shot's of the operation ,,my son Jason set this up he is into Extreme 4X4 ..and has gotten to know some very talented people ..I will let them know we want to learn how they made it work ..

 

If the center of a DRW 17" with 6 x 7.25 pattern is the same diameter as the center of a 5 x 8", which I have to think it would be, it fits perfectly inside the 19.5" rim along the drop center. The set that bought from American Wheel Specialist was made that way. Stu

 

I'm guessing that won't work because we are dealing with flat rims and 'drop center' rims, and that's why it works......

 

Going from flat center to drop center is why it does, or at least should, work. But going from drop center of the smaller 17.5" to drop center of the 19.5" won't work. Stu

 

That's how I meant it Stu. I was replying to that earlier post but it took me 1/2 hour to get around to it. Geez, the wheel guys hop right on this stuff!

 

I'm with you. This picture of a tube type next to a tubeless illustrates it pretty well. The examples in the pic are 20" and 22.5", but the same concept applies to the 17"/19.5", 15"/17.5", and 14"/16.5" combos.

BTW, GB, have you looked at your PMs? Do you want the guy to contact you about your 17.5s? He's not a forum guy so would need an email address or phone. Stu

 

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but rather than start another widow maker thread I'll ask here. Here are a couple of pics of my wheels. What do I need to do to get these safe?

I put a tape across the wheel, it is about 22.5". The centre piece is about 19.5". Markings on the inner piece are 'Firestone 20x60 RH5o Max Tire Size Pat Pending Made in USA 4-50 2'

 

Simplest way would be to just replace them. Find some lock ring 20s from an older Ford, or same era or later Dodge or IHC. Seems Ford was more likely to use the widow maker (RH-5°) rims than were Dodge or IHC. The other option is to pull you centers to have remounted into new 22.5" outer rims. The gotcha here, though, is finding outer rims that are narrow enough to work on your truck. When I visited American Wheel Specialist years ago I was told that the narrowest they can get are 6.75" wide, which is perfect for a 9R22.5" tire, but at the time they had trouble finding rims that narrow. Anything wider tends to rub. A third option is to find a set of used 22.5s, but they seem to be harder to find than the 19.5" x 6" Budd #89340 wheels that we've talked a lot about. The 22.5" tires would be about the same 37" to 38" outside diameter as your stock 20s, but the 19.5" would be shorter at 33.5" to 34". That about covers it in a nutshell. Stu