Thanks for the heads-up. Too bad they won't fit, as that is a great deal.

If you've still got the 19.5s when I have money to buy wheels, maybe we can make a deal.

 

LOL , Ya now that you mentioned it again for the 13,000th time I do vaguely remember you talking about the 17's not fitting over the rear drums!
I for one am glad you don't tire of answering the same questions over and over again. Thanks!

too bad those weren't 19.5" s that would have been a good deal.




Josh

 

Stu, I wonder why the front drums are smaller than the rear? I'd have thought they would be the same size. Interesting.

I have a LOT to learn.

 

It is too bad they don't fit because a 7.50 x 17" tire has the same 34" +/- outside diameter as does an 8-19.5". These are the two sizes I use on my trucks.

Your front drums are 14" x 2" while the rears are 15" x 3.5". Don't know why the difference. All F-4/5/6 models used the same drums.

If you want to look at continuing to use 18" wheels on your truck there were "lock ring" style multi-part wheels made back in the '40s/'50s that would be good replacements for your widowmakers. Tires could be bought from somewhere like Universal Tire. Below is the Universal listing for their 18s, and below too is a CL ad now active in Rapid City, S.D., for a set of 18s (the ad says 17s but the 18s are there too). You'd have to investigate to make sure the wheels are not widowmakers, have no cracks or bad rust, and no wallowed out lug holes. But if they are in good shape the price sure is right. Stu

SIX 7.50-17" truck tires & wheels
https://www.universaltire.com/truck-...transport.html

 

What year did widow makers no longer come stock? I will want to look in junk yards as well as CL and eBay for newer wheels, but I would like to know how "new" the vehicle needs to be (if they're still mounted) before research.

I have found myself for the past week (since I opened this thread) looking at truck and motorhome wheels everywhere I go. I'm obsessed.

 

The Firestone RH-5° came on the market in the latter half of the 1940s, and was the dominant rim used by Ford through to the first half of the 1970s. Under threat of a government recall the wheel manufacturers agreed in 1972 to stop selling them, which Budd and Motor Wheel Corp seem to have complied with, but K-H was still selling them in 1976. If your intent is to find replacement "lock ring" type wheels, you're really better off looking for donor vehicles made before widow makers came on the market. The 5 lug x 8" bolt pattern was very common in the 1930s/40s and was used by Ford, Dodge, and Studebaker in large numbers, as well as by other smaller manufacturers.

If your intent is to look for tubeless 19.5s or 22.5s, these came on the market in 1956 and were used by Dodge and IHC as well as Ford. The 19.5s were Budd products and came in 5.25" and 6.00" widths. The 22.5s were made by all four manufacturers (Budd, K-H, Motor Wheel, and Firestone/Accuride). The earliest were 5.25" wide, later ones were 6.00" and 6.75". The last record I have of the 19.5s being available with your bolt pattern is 1979, and the last of the 22.5s was 1982 by Firestone/Accuride.

It's not a bad obsession. There's three or four of us here that swap emails/texts/private messages because we're always on the look out for them. We'll know you have it bad when you start talking wheel part numbers. Stu

 

You answered the question I meant to ask (availability) as well as the one I did ask. I will be looking for 19.5s or 22.5s. I read another of your posts about the height not really being different between the two, and I'm not concerned about that anyway, as long as whichever tire size I choose fits the wheels. I don't have a bed yet, so there's nothing to rub or bottom out on.

I just want safe wheels that I can have blasted and powder coated.

I'm not able to buy them yet, but want to be prepared when I start shopping. Your help is immeasurable.

Thanks again.

Joe

 

I think I know what you meant, but just in case. The tire height of a 19.5" will be shorter than the 22.5". The 19.5 will be comparable to your 7.00 x 18, or to a 7.50 x 17, at 34" O/D. The 22.5 will be comparable to a 20" tube type at 38" +/-. Stu

 

They look very close to early 32-35 ford passenger caps which are made repo.

 

I'm thinking I would need to be looking for a Class A motorhome to use 19.5 inch wheels, right?

 

Correct. Stu

 

Josh - I should edit this to correctly give credit and say that Chuck and I have tried it. He and I went together a few years ago on an eBay wheel purchase. A guy not so far from Chuck had 22.5s and 17s listed at the same time, so Chuck bought the 22.5s and I bought the 17s. When I visited and picked up my rebuilt axles and transfer case, I also picked up the 17s. We checked the rear fit using one of Chuck's drums. (I also picked up Mark's special Ranger back seats. I shoulda had Lloyds of London insure them for the trip home!!!)

I have, though, seen one of my 17" Budd 59340s on the front of the below F-4. Just a truck I stopped to check out on a road trip a while back. I tried to talk the guy into parting with the wheel but got nowhere.

Joe - This, too, will show you what 8-19.5s will look like on your truck since they are essentially twins to the 7.50 x 17s. Something you'll want to be alert to as you do your search for that class A motor home, many 19.5" tires will be the newer metric sizing. The replacement size for the 8-19.5", or 8R19.5", is a 225/70R19.5". These will have a good deal shorter profile than an 8-19.5" or 8R19.5". To me the metrics look too small for a truck, but maybe that's just me. Stu

 

Stu, I'm once again confused. I have compared the picture you sent with my wheels, and I don't see any difference. Aside from the 1" in diameter, how can you tell the difference between these wheels?

 

Joe,

If you look closely you will see a break in the outer ring, there is also a inner lip the outer ring snaps into:

 

Bob's got it exactly right. First thing you can see from a distance is that the front wheel has a Goodyear split locking ring which would not have been original to the truck. Then, as I walked closer to the truck, I could see the tire size was a 7.50 x 17, not an 18". To learn whether the wheel was the one I look for for my trucks, though, I had to get on my back and under the truck to find the wheel part number on the inner rim lip. As best I've been able to tell from the catalogs there were only three 17" wheels made back then fitting the description, so odds weren't too bad that it'd be the one I look for.

The rear wheels on this truck are the stock Kelsey-Hayes widow maker 18 x 5s, same as on your truck. The Ford number for them is 7RTL 1007 and K-H is #31126. I can tell that because they have only 5 hand holes, as used by Budd and K-H. Motor Wheel Corporation wheels had 6 or more hand holes. Firestone didn't sell complete wheels back then. They sold only the outer rims to the other manufacturers and didn't start making complete wheels until many years later under the Accu-ride/Accuride names. Same with Goodyear, but they never did start selling complete steel truck wheels. Next, I can tell from the catalogs that Budd didn't make any 18" wheels having the RH-5° outer rim, only K-H did that. All of Budd's for a lot of years had Goodyear split ring rims. Seeing the rims from the back side makes it pretty easy to tell that they are widowmakers. Stu