I've located a manufacturer who will make 19.5 inch steel wheels to replace the 18 & 20 inch, 5 hole on 8 inch bolt circle wheels. Wheels would be powder coat finished in a color of your choice. The trouble is they want $425 each for them or $2,550 for a set of six. If anybody is interested in wheels like these, maybe a stronger voice would help get the price down by showing them there is a bigger market out there than just me. I know I can't afford them!! If you want more info on the Mfg, email me and I'll try to help.

What do you folks think??

Fran

'52 F4 Dump Truck w/snow plow

 

I have a set of those exact wheels on my F-5... I got them off of a motorhome at the wrecking yard very cheap...
Joe

 

Joe,

You should be so lucky to find the motorhome wheels. I believe they are off of a Dodge chassis motorhome...very rare. I wouldn't go driving by a Dodge RV reunion, they'll probably take them off your truck as you drive by!

Fran

 

 

There were two rim styles available for the larger trucks - split rim (also known as "suicide" or "widow maker") and lock ring. Not sure how long either type were used on the larger trucks, but definitely '48-'56 Ford, and also most of the same years for Dodge and International.

The split rim is essentially a two piece that press fits together and stays that way under pressure. The problem with changing them is that they tend to blow when re-pressurizing if they have any rust or deformations - just about a given for any rims today. OSHA prohibits shops from changing them in many states, and most shops won't anyway because of insurance issues.

The lock ring rim is a large one piece hub with a 1.25-1.5" flat (mostly) retainer ring that fits in a corresponding groove on the hub. There is a .25-.5" gap in the ring to pry it out. There should be plenty of these around in old yards with F-4 through F-6. I seem to recall reading the F-7 and F-8 use a 6 or 8 bolt instead.

When I bought my F6 dump over the summer I had 5 split rim and one lock ring. Needed to put new tires all the way around for the drive from central Minn. to Seattle (that's another story...). There's a fantastic junk yard called Windy Hill Auto Parts (New London, Minn. 56273 - phone 320.354.2201) that has over 160 acres of parts. Found five good rims within 30 minutes of walking around. I think they were $75 each.

Tons more to tell about Windy Hill. They will pull parts and ship. We saw the front end of a ~40's FWD heavy duty, a fairly complete '50 F-8 wrecker (with T98 tranny intact), tons of really old stuff and more F-4 and up chassis than you can imagine. I have no relationship to Windy Hill aside from enjoying an August afternoon looking around the yard.

There is a a small yard in Poulsbo, WA near where I live that has a pretty rusty F-6 (early '48 239 V8 w/ mid head water necks) with OK looking lock ring rims and what might be a decent 2-speed rear axle. There's also a F-3 dump in bad shape, but unfortunately it has the smaller 17" rims. I don't have the name and number handy, but if anyone's interested send me mail: stanlanning(No Email Addresses In Posts!) and I'll look them up.

Sorry for the ramble. Hope this helps...

 

THis is for Stan Lanning??? Do you know the name of the yard with the rusty F6 in Poulsbo. I am up on Whidbey and have been looking for 20 inch rims with the locking ring. So far everyone has sent me to Interstate in Pasco to have them built. Not what I want to do.

Thanks

Kevin

 

Kevin F600

You are looking for 20" Lock ring wheels? I have a few of them. One truck I purchased a couple of years ago came with 2 full sets of wheels and tires, and somehow I think they mulitplied. I would like somebody that needs them to get them out of my barn. I live in Spokane. We just have to figure out how to communicate off this forum to see how this might work for you.

Let's try this. The first part of my .... mail is robertr, and after the "ampersand" (isn't that what that little wierd letter is?) the providers name is icehouse, and the stuff after the "dot" is net. Hope you can figure all that out. (grin) If this is nuked by the forum, we'll try something else ok?

Bob in Spokane

 

Bob,

Hopefully you got my message on the tires.

Kevin

You don't by chance know the original weight of a standard '48 F6?

 

I have the 17" split rims on my 52 Ford F3. I tried getting a spare mounted and no one would touch them due to the safety concerns. Therefore, I am trying to find new wheels to replace these. So, I will have five of these 17" wheels available. You can see them on my truck in my gallery. Let me know if you are interested.

Help me out with replacement possibilities. The tires are 7.50 X 17, but I am considering smaller wheel diameters (16" or 16-1/2"), though I would like to keep the tire diameter at about 33" The wheels must be 8 lug on a 6-1/2" bolt circle. The hub hole is 4-3/4" diameter and the offset (wheel mounting plane to edge of wheel) is 4-1/8".

 

I wasn't so sure you guys had this right. So yesterday I threw (wrestled) one of my wheels into the Jeep (those things are heavy) and went to a couple of big truck tire shops around here to check on new tires. I had checked into this 18 years ago before my engine died and it didn't seem to be a problem. Now nobody will touch them. Should we contact Ford and see if we can get them recalled?

Fran, Im too new at this to E-mail, but if you need a louder voice my money is talking.

 

Craig:

I like the way you think. I will try contacting Ford to see if they are interested in recalling these wheels to get them off the road. I'll send this thread a copy of my note to Ford. The more of us that contact them, the better.

 

Steve:

I'm starting to see some possibilities here. Maybe we should point out to Ford the PR potential of a recall on 50 year old vehicles. You know standing behind their products and stuff like that. We could probably help them find some nice old trucks they could rent at a reasonable rate to film an ad campaign.

I don't know. What do you think? They'd probably be more interested in your truck than mine.

 

I sent Ford a email note yesterday asking if there was a recall, and what they would suggest doing for wheels on my F3? I will let you know what I hear from them.

 

I just noticed this thread was started over three years ago. Timing is everything.

 

I've got a 1950 F4 flat bed and agree with you guys about those rims. It would be nice to have modern rims. I was able to pick up new tires for all the rims. I'm now in the process of putting a 351 engine in. But the problem is I want to convert the front brakes to disc brakes. I know they will have to be fabricated. Do you had any leads who does this?