Yes, the rims I purchased are for up to F350 trucks. No help with the larger trucks. If anyone is interested, I purchased my rims at Ed's Tire Factory in southern Oregon. Ed's is a local/regional chain of privately owned tire shops.

 

I am assuming DOT rims mean they meet some kind of DOT certification. Do they actually have a stamp on them? Is there a place to look to find the stamp?

 

I think that's right. Rims that do not have DOT cert somewhere on them seem to be sold for "offroad" use only.

I know from the split rim fiasco that I had at the local tire dealer that they categorically WILL NOT put tires on illegal or unsafe (in their opinion) wheels. Costco for example will not even put oversize tires on cars & trucks unless they were available from the OEM.

Everybody is worried about liability these days I guess....

Regards,


./Rick

 

I don't think it is the liability issue. It is the issue of tires blowing up on them while inflating and a workman's comp issue. Most places are not set up to do a split rim ( in a cage). I've seen split rims blow up in those cages and it isn't pretty inside the cage.

 

The person at Les Schwab http://www.lesschwab.com/ , told me that some years back that they broke some widowmakers down for a customer. They told him that they were unable to put them back together for him because their insurance company wouldn't allow them to put them back together. They gave him the wheels back and he took them home and had one of the people on his farm assemble them and put them on the truck. The guy was killed when one of the wheels came apart when airing it up on the truck. The family sued Les Schwab Co for negligence and they settled out of court. Les Schwab now does not allow condemned (unsafe) wheels out of their shop. Sounds like they don't want to be liable for someone getting injured or killed. I was convinced. Maybe I could've insisted that they give me back my rusted 2 piece split rims. I didn't want them back anyway. They recycled them for me. The rebuilt rims weren't that much money actually. About $225 each including the powder coating, shipping, etc.


The bad thing about the splits is that they can come apart while you're driving down the road. That would not ba a good thing.

 

Even if you can find someone to work on the split rims, I recommend getting rid of them.

I was referred to a local truck tire shop that works on everything. The owner walked with a pronounced limp; he told me that he missed 18 months work when when of those split rims seriously injured his leg many years ago. He also pointed out a smile-shaped mark on the 20 foot ceiling overhead, where one had left it's mark. His shop works on a lot of truck tires, including the lock-ring wheels made by Bud and others. He said that those wheels are safe and stable once they are fully inflated (in a cage). The split wheels, mine were made by Firestone, can come apart in use, non-use, deflation, etc.

I think that the military liked them because they could be taken apart and put together with muscle and hand tools.

Though wheel accidents are uncommon, I did not want to play that lottery, so I got some modern wheels and tires.

 

Thanks to all for your advice and suggestions. I've run out of warm weather and will have to wait until spring to deal with new tires and/or wheels. More details on the options for replacement 16 inch wheels, dually for the rear, that have the OEM look, would be appreciated.

My F350 is a PA farm truck - and I would guess, based on the "frozen" state of the lug nuts, that the wheels haven't been removed for 15+ years. A naive question: The Ford Parts book lists right hand and left hand lugs. If this is the case I would assume then that the right/passenger side lugs are removed counter clockwise and the left/driver’s side lugs come off clockwise. Is this correct? Thanks, Tony

 

Correct; the lefthand threads (CCW to tighten) are on the driver's side. I've seen some left hand thread studs that are marked on the end facing you with an "L" (underneath that rust).

 

Correct. They are marked L and R and are still used on modern trucks. I've purchased replacements at the local IH dealership and at a local trailer equipment dealership. They use the exact same design as was used on my '52. Even the dually stud adapters and outer nuts are the same. Stu

 

Thanks.

I've been treating the fronts with PB Blaster and heat for a month or so and there's still no movement. I'd prefer not to twist the studs off so I'm going to give them another week or so until the high torque efforts.

 

I'd go at it with an air impact wrench; more even distribution of torque, which will give you greater chance for success and less chance of breakage. I would try torquing them tighter first.

 

What worked best for me, after soaking and heating for a long time like you have, was the use of an inexpensive (under $10) special Budd type wrench that allows you to use your biggest hammer to break them loose. It's got the 1 1/2 hole to go around the nut and has a three inch tongue on it. The tip of the tongue is beefy to take the hammer's impact. As I sit here looking at it, it's made by Ken Tool and has a number TX9 and 30609. I bought it at the Farm and Home store. And hitting it hard lets you work off your anger. From my experience, I sure wouldn't worry about breakage. Unless it's your knuckles. Stu

 

Still not answered is are they Wide 6 or 8 lug?

For duallys Ford had 17.5 tubeless 6 lug on mid 70's F350's; I went back a few days late for a set on a 73; it was already crushed. I believe that 16 and 17" were both stock on the 56?? My 54 F350 still has the 17" original widow makers, no problems getting them broken down at a large truck shop.

I get the lugs broken loose with a 3/4" breaker bar and a 4' pipe helper. I use a 1" bar on my friends 50's eras F600-900 fleet.

 

I had trouble getting the stud nuts off of my F-4. The first one I applied heat to I applied a lot of heat to and it twisted as I tried to take it off. That one I heated the entire stud. The next one, and every other after that, I heated just the base of the stud and it came off without a problem. I went back to the first one, the twisted one, and did the same, that one came right off too. I assume the stud was "welded" to the rim by the rust and once I expanded the stud with the heat it broke the bond. Like I said, I did all of the studs in this manner and they came off very nicely.

 

I went to the Ken Tool web site and found this:


30609