F600 Wheels
 

I have seen a lot of discussion about my wheels here. Many different options. But I am needing a set of wheels for my 64 F600. Mine are hub centered (not lug centered) widowmakers. Have had local tire shop suggest some new 22.5" but they are big dollars. I think I have seen a UPS truck or two that have a very similar lug / hub. But no luck finding any salvage yard that has UPS wheels.

Any help would be appreciated.

Joe

AFAIK, the current UPS trucks are built on the F53 stripped chassis.

The previous generations were built on the 1975/91 E350 chassis, prior to that, UPS trucks used the 1951/74 P500 (Parcel Delivery) chassis.

What is the exact size of the wheels and tires your truck has? Also...look on the wheel near the valve stem for a stamped ID number.

Current tires / wheels are 8.25x20. I will check tomorrow for the stamped numbers on the wheels.
Here are the numbers from my door tag

VIN:F60CH455833
WB Color Model Body Tr Ax
156 J F602 181 F F2

Thanks,
Joe

I have a 74 that was supposed to have 20's on it but it was equipped with 22.5 s when I got it. Does yours have the 6 lug budd style wheels? I have been thinking about making this a low boy and I too am looking for different wheels. I noticed the UPS trucks too. Are they not 19.5s? If anything, I could use some wider 22.5 s to accomodate 11R's.

Yes I have 6 lug wheels. I am a little confused about what budd wheels are. I only have one lug nut on each rear wheel. Not an inner and outer lug. My lugs are not beveled they are flat faced where they touch the wheel.

I think you are right... the UPS truck I saw also had 19.5's. I think they were also non-beveled lug nuts like mine.

F60 = F600 2WD (Gas)

C = 292 2V

H = Lorain OH Assembly Plant

455833 = 1964. Assembled September 1963.

156" Wheelbase

J = Rangoon Red

F602 = F600 2WD (Gas) / 20,000 lbs. Gross Vehicle Weight Rating

181: 1 = Silver Grey Crush Vinyl & Light Grey Rib Vinyl // 81 = 81A Standard Cab

F = Borg Warner T-98 4 Speed Manual Transmission

F2 = Eaton Two Speed Rear Axle / 6.33-1/8.81-1 / 15,000 lb. Rear Axle Capacity

8.25-20 tires: The wheels are prolly 6 lug on an 8.75" bolt circle, and could be 6" or 6.5" wide.

Mine are definetely budds with an inner and outer left and right hand threads. But I have also seen this lug pattern on early military vehicles didnt get close enough to see design. assume same diameter. can you get pics?

You said you seen alot of disscussion on your hub centric wheels ours must differ??? mine are lug centric

I posted a picture of my wheels in my album. Hope you can see it.

Sorry I mislead you. I have seen alot of discussion about wheels here. Not specifically about my hub centered. Actually I think yours are much more common based on what I have read. But I am a rookie.

Your wheels are exactly as you've described. They are hub piloted having 6 lug x 8.75" bolt circle. They are technically named the "Firestone RH-5°" design but are more commonly called "widow makers". Here's your wheel.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...hubpilot20.jpg

Here's what a widow maker looks like unmounted. You can see the how the wheel halves connect at the middle of the rim. No reputable shop will work on these anymore for insurance and liability reasons.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...5degreetop.jpg

You mentioned that your tire shop said you could buy new tubeless rims to replace your widow makers. If that's true I'd suggest you jump at that option if they are "new old stock", i.e. left over new wheels that just happen to still be on the shelf. Because I don't know of any company that still makes that wheel with a hub piloted mounting. Accuride still makes a tubeless 22.5" with 6 x 8.75" in a stud piloted mount, but that won't do you any good. To check myself I just went through the Accuride and Hayes Lemmerz on-line catalogs and found none fitting your description. Accuride is the old Firestone Steel Products company. Hayes Lemmerz now owns the old Kelsey-Hayes, Budd, and Motor Wheel brands.

Finding used wheels fitting your description will be real hard. You might try military surplus places because the Army used that bolt pattern a lot, but the ones I've seen were stud piloted.

Your other option is to have wheels custom made. And as I think about it, this might be what the dealer you mentioned had in mind. Accuride has affiliates across the country that will custom drill your bolt pattern into new wheels. Since you live in Indiana, a good company that's close is Wheels Now up in the Milwaukee area. Another option is to pull the centers from your widow makers and have them welded into new tubeless outer rims. There are several companies that do this. The best known is Stockton Wheel in CA. Another that I've dealt with and think highly of is American Wheel Specialist in Pasco, WA. No getting around the fact that custom wheels, whether new or remounted, will be expensive. But as you're experiencing now, you can spend a lot of time and gas chasing around salvage yards getting nowhere. Hope that helps some, but I wish I had easier solutions for you. Stu

Stu... thanks for posting my picture and the info. How do you post a picture like that? I tried last night with no luck.

I will have to confirm with my local shop that they do indeed have the correct wheel in mind. But a set of wheels and tires cost way more than my truck is worth (aside from the sentimental value of being my dad's truck). And I guess if I have to get some fabricated... that is likely to be even more.

Are you familiar with the UPS truck wheels? From a quick glance and measuring with a tape measure, seems like they are the correct pattern. However they were 19.5's. Do you know if those would work on my truck?

Another thought I had... do you know how long Ford used this bolt pattern? Might help my search if I could expand the years I ask for.

Joe

Joe - To post a picture you'll either need to join FTE as a supporter and pay, I think it's $20 a year, or set yourself up a free Photobucket/Flicker/Webshots or similar on-line account. I put your picture in my Photobucket file and copied it into my post. Here's a thread that gives guidance on posting pics.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...-pictures.html

I'm not gonna be much help on the UPS truck angle. Except to say that a 19.5" on a modern truck is likely to have a metric bolt pattern that won't do you any good. All of my information on your era truck is from the wheel manufacturers rather than from Ford. Bill (N.D.) probably is gonna be more help on that than me. The last I show wheels sold by Accuride with the hub piloted mount and 6 lug x 8.75" bolt circle was 1980. There were several offered in either tube type "lock ring" 20" designs or in the tubeless 22.5" size. I don't show any that were 19.5s with that bolt pattern. Interestingly, there were two different hub piloted center bore sizes as well. Some had a 6.25" center bore (hole) and others had 6.75" center bore. I suspect Ford used one and probably GM used the other. Also interesting to me, the very next Accuride catalog in 1981 has none of these wheels still offered. So I'd guess you're probably gonna find them on 1970s era Fords at the latest.

While I was out this morning on the way back from breakfast with the guys I stopped in at our local Stone Wheel distributor and asked them if they knew of any of your wheels still in existence. Nope. Then I went by the local big truck tire shop because I remembered last time I was in there that they had a used set of 6 lug 22.5s in stock. As I suspected, though, they are stud piloted. Anyway, I tried.

You're right that you'll have more in the wheels than in the truck. Happens all the time with these big old ones. There are cheap solutions for some of the stud piloted trucks, but not that I've found with yours. The hub piloted aspect is the problem.

I just remembered an old thread with a guy that had your same problem. Maybe you can private message him and see if he found a solution. If he did, please come back and let us know what it was. Here's the link. Stu

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...er-wheels.html

1956 thru at least 1994 (1994 is the last year I have a big truck parts catalog).

You might try U-Haul, they have all sorts of parts they are selling they stocked for older models that are now long gone from their fleet.

Ford offered (at least) two different one piece Firestone wheels in the 6 lug, 8.75" bolt pattern.

One wheel is 22.5 x 6 (B7T1015B) and was used 1956/79.

Another wheel is 22.5 x 6.75 (D8HZ1015M replaced by D8HZ1015P) was used 1978/94.

Both of these wheels are obsolete, no Ford Dealer or obsolete parts vendor has any.

Try here: Southern California Truck Wrecking located in LA LA Land (Los Angeles). One family owned and in business since 1929. Give Marty a call at 323-587-3144.

SoCal is closed weekends. This is a HUGE dismantlers yard, so...they saved everything. I've been hittin' this yard since 1967, still haven't seen...or found it all.

I took a fellow FTE member there several months ago. Up in the rafters, he found a brand new genuine Ford 1960 F100/600 upper chrome grille. I had no clue it was there.

Great info Bill. I'll call them too to see if they've got my odd ball 17" Budds. Thanks. Stu

Thanks Bill. I will give them a call on Monday.

Do you know if either of those part numbers were hub centered?