Good morning all! I suppose this may be big news for a lot of us big truck owners that want to turn their widow makers into plant holders. My '56 F500 needs two new rims and six new tires/tubes. I've been scouring the net looking for sources.

The rims:
The dude I was talking to at Wheels Now Inc was crunching a lot of numbers for 5 lug 6X20 rim replacements when I called in this morning which made me nervous...and for a good reason. $454 EACH!

They're new and made to order. 5 Lug, 8" bolt pattern with 5.875 inner diameter and sized 6.5X20 Budd style (which I understand will still fit and will definitely fit the 7.50X20 tires.)

Budd Wheel R68710-3

On tires:
I bought two new Akuret Cargo Highway 7.50X20 tires from Tires Easy for $148.90 each and about $30 each for ground shipping. They include flaps.

Akuret Cargo Highway 7.50-20 E/10PR - tires-easy.com


If you're in the southern new England area you can get these tires for $160 from City Tire and they'll mount them on applicable rims too. I know Pete's Tire Barn will also mount them.

Delta Akuret Cargo Highway Tire from City Tire Co.

Tubes:
A fella on eBay sells the tubes for $24 with free shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380594572768?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Hope that helps all of your big truck owners out a bit!
Calvin

 

Although not as original as the options above, I lucked into the following. I was able to score a 70's Winnebago motor home , not the van based, but the big wooden box, about 25 ft. It had a set of 8 x 19.5 tubeless wheels / tires on it, even a spare. They fit on my 52 f6 COE perfectly. The one problem is they are shorter ( smaller diameter ) than my widow makers. Even though I have a 2 speed rear, top speed has suffered. I am hoping to find something taller in 19.5 to bring it back up. Maybe hop up the flat head!!
I was lucky in that it had no title, but a great 440, and tight auto tranny so was able to send it on shod with the old snap rings to a guy needing that motor/ trans. Good luck to all we will need it.

 

Wheels Now has been a known resource for some time. Just too expensive to really be a viable alternative. Those Class A motor home wheels have also been the subject of much discussion here. They are Budd #89340s. The shorter diameter of the 8R19.5s impedes their highway use, but for rural use they are fine. And generally less costly. That motor home could also have donated it's rear axle. Probably a Dana 70HD having a 4.56/1 ratio. I know of this swap having been done twice now. Stu

 

It's a misconseption that the two-sp rears give better highway gearing. They have a low, and an even lower axle ratio. In other words, the better of the two ratios is about the same as a single-speed rear would have.

BTW, welcome to the forum!

 

Albuquerque, I'll bet your just downhill from me. I'm in nw nm Aztec, to be precise. My question is, what would those two original ratios be? Maybe I messed up letting the motor home rear ( with the correct wheel pattern ) get away. Dog gone it !

 

I've been meaning to get up to Aztec for the ATHS show, maybe this year?! You can add your location to your profile under UserCP, Edit My Details, it helps others who may be near you.

There were a couple of different axles available, but a typical two-sp has 5.83 and 8.11 ratios. Another is 6.33 and 8.11. Not exactly "overdrive"...

 

Actually, the second one was 6.33 / 8.81

The single speed ratios for F500 for 1956 were 6.20, 6.80 and 5.83 on the Eaton D100 axle. In the earlier years the F4 and the F5 axles were interchangeable which is why the 5.14 was available on the F5's but in 1956 there was only one single speed rear axle for the F500