What year did Ford stop making Widow Makers? I am looking at a 61 F350 online and want to know if it has widow makers?

 

I could be wrong and would never want to be quoted but I believe about 1955 was the last of the "WMs" on the smaller F series.

Since Stu and the experts here have indicated the split rim was available much later, I will retract my statement that '55 was the last of the "widowmaker" and multipiece wheels on Ford trucks. I have a '73 F250 with the original 16" locking rims. Somewhere I saw a brouchure that listed different wheel options for the mid '50 s Ford trucks and the single piece tubeless wheel was an option listed, thus my statement.

 

Truckdog is the guy to contact directly. He has all the literature on truck wheels you need.

If possible have the seller take a couple of close up pictures of the concave side of the wheel. It's pretty evident once you know what to look for. The big give away is the thick band that runs on the inside of the concave side of the rim.

 

I have a '68 F600 with them.
A '61 should have them unless they have been switched out.

 

The 61 F350 should have 16'' drop center wheels with a small, solid lock-ring on them. I had a 61 with these wheels and had to deal with them occasionally.

 

Budd and Motor Wheel Corporation, complying with industry's agreement with the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety (IIHS), stopped selling them in 1972. Kelsey-Hayes continued to sell them through in 1977. Stu

Edit - Now that I'm back to a real keyboard (not on the phone) I should clean up this answer. In the early 1970s the IIHS (translation - Ralph Nader) was hot on the wheel manufacturers' tails lobbying for a recall of the Firestone RH-5° outer rims as used on disc type wheels, as well as the Goodyear "K" type rims as used on demountable Dayton style wheels. Agreement was reached between the insurance group and industry leaders that these outer rim designs would at minimum be discontinued. IIRC this was to occur in 1972. It's clear from the old catalogs that Budd and Motor Wheel did eliminate them. Kelsey-Hayes, however, continued to sell them. I have a 1976 K-H catalog where they were still listed, and the IIHS Status Reports show that K-H continued to sell them through 1977. The recall effort ultimately failed in around 1980 when OSHA ruled that industry must provide additional tech training on the handling of all multi-part rims. Stu

 

Here is a pic of the truck. Don't know if you can tell if the wheels are widow makers.

 

Hard to say. It sorta looks like the outer rear dual has that raised band like area that Bob Jones described. Better pics would help. Otherwise the '61 looks like a great truck. At worst you'd have to find replacement wheels. The wheels of choice for the 6 lug x 7.25" pattern would be the tubeless 17.5s that were an option on F-350s of the era. I can tell from the rim lips that the truck does not now have these tubeless wheels. Stu