Making New Style Metric 8-Lug Alloy Wheels Fit Old Pattern:

There seems to be a lot of new style 8-Lug metric alloy wheels and tires that are new truck take-offs for sale in the market place. Has anyone modified these new style wheels to fit the older 8-lug F250/F350 bolt pattern?

If so, what was done to make them fit?

Thanks in advance.

Ken McWilliams
Dayton, OH

 

i think that would be very difficult to do. The old wheels are 8 on 6.5" lug pattern and i think the new wheels are 8 on 180mm (just over 7"). I think youd be better off buying new wheels in old style instead of modifying new to old, or vise versa.

 

f350xlt460 is right, it would be difficult or impossible to retrofit. The new wheels are 8 on 170mm which is 6 11/16"s and the bolts are 14 mm which is 17/32" the old trucks have 8 on 6.5" and 9/16" (18/32") bolts. the backspacing is still 3.625" though.

 

sorry, i thought 180mm sounded wrong.

 

Yea, but:

The new style wheels are centered on the hub, and the new style lug nuts use the intergral washers under them. Thus no countersink at the holes.

The new style is 170 mm which is 6.693" bolt circle verses the old style bolt circle of 6.5".

With the aluminum alloy wheels, the web thickness is quite substantial. Therfore, drilling the old style pattern between the new style pattern seems to be a viable way to go. There are a lot of aftermarket wheels that use the multi-patterns. Why can't I do the same, by drilling an extra set of holes between the existing holes? Particularly since I can do it on a Bridgeport milling machine.

Alternately, if someone has made a drill jig to locate the holes in respect to the exisiting holes with drill bushings at the desired locations, then it could be done on any drill press.

Anybody have an alloy will to donate for experimentation?

Ken McWilliams
Dayton, OH

 

your only talking about .193 inches of material, and going up in diameter 1/32. I dont see why you couldnt do it. On a mill, it wouldnt be a whole lotta work. My question is, does someone make new lug (170mm) wheels in 16.5 diameter, so u can run military spec tires? if not, i can see a need to upsize and old wheel possibly. again, it seems like a lot of work to do if ur buying new wheels, but if you have a set laying around, creativity and action are the mother of some of the best inventions.

 

If it wasn't done exactly right, could it be possible to have a wheel out of round? That would probably vibrate pretty bad. I did find some 8 on 6.5 that were takeoffs for a late model E350 van. According to that website, the vans still use the old pattern on Dana 60's. These takeoffs were going for $270 for a set of 4 including the center hub caps. Wouldn't that be cheaper and easier than buy the wrong pattern a re-drilling? Unless of course you just want, like you said, a multi-pattern wheel. Or maybe it's a good challenge.

 

This may sound a bit pricey but if you are close to needing new rotors all around anyways (like I am), could you swap to the later metric pattern rotor/hub assembly in front and change to axles with the metric pattern in the rear? Assuming the 8 x 170 front rotors will fit the earlier spindles,this would be a safe way to get the 170 metric pattern on a vehicle that currently has the 8 on 6.5" pattern. I'm sure the interchange books show this as a no-go due to the bolt pattern but does anyone know if this is possible? Did the front spindles change with the change to 8 x 170 rotors?

 

That was my question, as well.