I have a 72 F250 with automatic and a 390. Ever since I owned it beginning in 76 it has had 16.5 steel wheels painted white from the first owner. The spare is a 16" split rim wheel so I have assumed that was factory OE. I have BFG AT 16.5 inch tires on it with good but old rubber. May not hold up much longer. I had been thinking it might be smarter when I need to buy new tires to also buy new wheels but only if I thought it was a good idea to go with some 16" wheels. My truck is stock except for MSD ignition, MSD adapta-cap, and MSD sparkplug wires. Any ideas?
Joe

 

Well Herman..I dont know how long 16.5s are going to be around..You can see My 70 F250 in my gallery...I also have 16.5s and BFGs but im running the old Turbine style wheels..and here before long I am going to upgrade for a different look..I have had this set up for about 30 years...I am going to 17" wheels 10' on the rear and 8" on the front..and run a 305 60r on the back..the Nitto 404s..i havent decided what tire for the front yet?

Russ

 

I have a mid 70's Dually motorhome that came w/ 16.5's. I was having difficulty locating (affordable) 16.5 tires. I ended up buying 16" rims which were plentiful at swap meets, etc. I called a guy that had originally quoted $50 per wheel (truck salvage) to see if he wanted to buy my old 16.5's...I believe he is still laughing... but did offer to let me throw them in his pile of other 16.5 wheels. Now with 16" wheels I can even get a tire at Wal-Mart in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.

 

I'm agreeing with the others. I got some 16.5 tires a year ago after spending all day on the phone. 3 were at a dealer near me, 1 matching tire came from their affiliate 150 miles away (2 days shipping time). I was surprised at how difficult these were to locate, and I live in a large metropolitan area (I'm 70 miles from Chicago). These are just standard cargo van-type radials, not a very aggressive tread pattern ($95 a piece). The other alternative was mud bogger tires with soft rubber good for about 30 or 40k ($235 a piece). Go to the boneyard or swapmeet and get 5 used 16" rims and clean 'em up good and paint 'em, and then get some really good tires. That's what I'm going to do when these tires wear down a bit. I was worried about my hubcaps, but I have the dog-dish kind and they fit. I really like the stock look.

 

Well, hadn't really tried to find 16.5 inch tires. If they are that scarce and expensive, that will "drive" me to another size. I would think the 16" wheels since I tend to like the factory look. So what width? I will also check out the 17" wheels mentioned but whatever I got I would want the same size wheels and tires all the way around.
Joe

 

If you like the stock look, then you'd like the 16" rims. The 17"s are gonna cost you; both rims and tires. The rims would have to be new or almost new, and not stock-looking at all, think more hot-rod. 16" rims go for $20 or a little more at the boneyard (and accept my stock hub-caps), the 17" will be many times more expensive. As for tires, mine are LT 9.5 x 16.5's (in the realm of stock for my "70 Camper Special). I would have preferred 10 x 16.5, but they were NLA. My '70 shop manual actually doesn't say what size, or else I'm looking in the wrong place. With 16" you will have many options from below 9 x 16, up to and beyond 12 x 16, and all very affordable; they are also listed by metric, like 225 or 235 x 16. 10 x 16 is more "stock" than 12 x 16, but it depends on what you like: thinner has better handling and gas mileage, thicker has more weight load and looks cooler, but too thick make steering much harder and might even rub at the more extreme sizes. Also, if you put a 12" tire on a 10" rim, the tire will be squeezed outward and ride only on the center tread, which decreases road contact and makes the tire wear in the middle.

 

I don't mind spending top dollar when what I get is really worth that to me and maybe even to others somewhat. Other than that my kids think I invented cheap! This definitely makes me select 16 inch over 17 inch wheels. Will also check and see how the tire prices compare with the 16.5" tires you are still using. Thanks.
Joe

 

If you do any driving away from home it is good to run tires that you can get replacements on easily. You don't want to be stuck somewhere waiting three days for a tire to be shiipped to you. A spare is good and you can drive a long way on a full size spare but it has been my luck that Murphy will be waiting around the corner with another flat for me and then what....

I run 16's and I usually carry a simple plug patch kit also.

 

On my 68 250 I'm running a wheel package from a friends 79 1 ton, 9.50 front
12:00 rear X 16.5. Wheels and tires new truck from dealer with 18 miles for $100 in 79. My truck had 7.50 split rims so this was a great swap, the rims are Budds 6.75" front and 9.75" rear, many trucks and fleets run the 9.50 x 16.5 that tire size is common and in highway tread, the 12.00 x 16.5 will only come in M & S tread as manufactures want this tire to be used "off road". There have been many reports in the tire industry of people (idiots) installing 16.5 tire on a 16 rim and have a blow off not out, on the road. The 12.00 tire will grow at speed and wear the center out with only 20 psi. Someone stated the 16" package gets 25-40,000 mile tire life, with 12.00's I get 16-20,000 max with minimal barking. If we must switch to 16" rims it would be great to have a follow up to what fits when going the max in tread width and the rim back spacing. NUFF SAID, Carl..................o&o>........................ .........

 

I discovered the 16.5 vs 16 problem after I retrofitted my 72 F100 w/73 F250 axles. I bought a set of of white wagon wheels with a 5" backspacing 8" wide. The additional back spacing was for the slightly wider track of the rear axle and the 8" width was wide enough to go with 10" tires and narrow enough to go with 7" inch tires.

 

My nephew is looking for a set of 16.5 turbine style wheels for his
77 F250...he'd be interested in buying a set if you wanted to sell
them?

 

Hoss, You have posted to a thread that is 5 years old.




John

 

uuhhhh,
I get the "Idiot of the day" award. Must've forgot to look
at the date...do I feel stupid! Thanks for the heads-up.

 

Shoot i forgot all about this thread.... well If your nephew is seriuos..I still have the wheels on my truck.. and they have only had about 1000 miles put on them since this post....I have done alot of other re-storing on it..

I guess you have already looked in my gallery and have seen how clean they are... and they still have the BFG all terrian tires on them front and back.. 33x12.50x 16.5's on the rear and 31x10.00x 16.5's on the front..chrome valve stems.. they would need new center caps..and I would replace the lug nuts as the chrome didnt hang around long..

But the wheels new from American Racing wheels were $180 each for the rears and $149 each for the fronts "not including" caps and lugs.. and I cant remember what i have in the tires when new? there still 75% tread.. you would have to look that up..

And you caught me at the right time...As this fall I'am getting ready for new paint and chrome..and then the new tires and wheels and bed cover..


Let me know...

~Russ

 

Yeah John, But I'am still here !! LOL