Been with this 1951 F3 my whole life. Fact is my Mom was rushed across the many miles of rural Ne to the nearest hospital lots of years ago to have me with my Dad at the wheel of the old 51. Not old then. Anyway, my problem is I want to put on radial tires and don't want to lose the original hub caps but don't know what to use or where to purchase safe wheels that will fit the big brake drums and still allow for the original hub caps. Widow maker wheels don't bother me, like I said been with the old 51 forever, but really want to have radials.

 

It's late and my lap top just dumped my first complete reply to your question. Maddening. So I'll start over giving my input in segments coming back to edit as I go so as not to have it happen again.

First my welcome. Glad to have you, and what a great story about your truck. I wish I had such memories of my trucks. Second, widow makers should bother you. They are killers.

Before going into your options, are you sure you have 14" rear drums? From 1948 until sometime in mid '51 all F-3s had the 14" rear drums with the parking brake located at the backing plates. In late '51 and '52 Ford switched F-3s to 12" Bendix rear brakes and moved the parking brake to the back of the transmission. If you have a late '51 your life will be much easier. One way to easily tell which you have is by the location of the parking brake handle. If it's on the left under the dash, you have the earlier system. If it's on the right side of the gear shift you have the later design.

Your options, that will all accept your stock hub caps, are as follows. If you have a late '51, with the 12" drums, you can use the 16" x 6" wheels that were sourced on all F-2s/F-250s from 1948 until at least 1958 per my wheel records. These are Ford #7RD 1015B / Kelsey-Hayes #31282. They accept your stock hub caps and have, per member comments, been strong enough to handle the lateral loads imposed by radial tires. Naturally tubeless radial tires didn't exist back then, so these wheels were originally to have bias ply tires with tubes. Here's a picture of one.



Your second option is a 17.5" x 5.25" tubeless wheel optional on F-250s from 1956 until 1966 (per one source or 1969 per another). These are Ford #B8 D 1015-A or Budd numbers 70720 or 73240. These two Budd numbered wheels are visually the same, so it must have just been a number change. These wheels are described in this old thread and pictured on member CarlH's truck. They would use an 8-17.5" or 8R17.5" tire which would have about the same 32" outside diameter as a comparable 16" tire. Below is the old thread.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...9-ford-f3.html

I should add that these wheels, like the above 16s, were never designed for use with radial tires. These 17.5s, as with the following 19.5s, were specifically excluded from Budd warranty coverage if fitted with radial tires. I have a 1970s Budd reference that shows that radials exerted more lateral loads on wheels than did bias ply tires which could cause wheel cracks and failures. Whether that applies today I don't know. I know that many members use radials with these and other similar tubeless sizes without problems, but I mention it to allow you to decide for yourself.

Here's a picture of one and of a set of four that I have listed in the FTE classifieds.







Your third option is a 19.5" x 5.25" tubeless wheel that was also optional on F-250s from 1956 until 1966. It is Ford #B6D 1015-B or Budd #71410. This wheel is the direct replacement size for your stock 17" widow makers. An 8R19.5" tire will have a 33.5" outside diameter which closely approaches the 34" diameter of a 7.50 x 17" bias ply. These wheels are very hard to come by but do show up occasionally on Craigs List. They were also used by Dodge and Studebaker. Here's a picture of one of mine.



A fourth option would be custom 17" wheels to match your originals. Our member Mike Goldsby had Stockton Wheel pull the centers from his stock widow makers and had them remounted in tubeless 17" outer rims. The end result looks very good and nearly indistinguishable from originals. I'm sure the cost was considerable, but the outcome was very nice. These would be your surest way to ensure the wheels would stand up to the radial tires.

 

Thanks for the advice.
First, I guess maybe saying widow maker wheels don't bother me is inacurate. It's just that I have changed or repaired so many of them (all our farm grain trucks and this 51 had them) that I am used to all the cautions we always took with them.
To be honest I like the option of pulling the centers from the stock wheels and installing them on tubeless outer rims. I have two more full sets of these so I could send 5 of them. Is this Stockton wheel a business somewhere? And yes I do have the park brake near the shift lever. Didn't know the difference. But I do believe, if I remember correctly, the rear in this 51 Dad put in out of a 50 years ago when something happened to the original. It does have the park brake cables in the backing plates which are cut near the plates.

 

Stockton Wheel is a very old custom wheel company located in Stockton, CA. For many years they were the main player in the trade, but in recent years their reputation has taken a big hit. IIRC somewhere in that long thread I linked is mention of them, and a link within the link to a thread about them on the H.A.M.B. That thread is many pages long with nothing but gripes about Stockton (cover your ears). In recent years the company closed following the death of the owner, but it has now reopened under new ownership. You can probably find all you need to know by doing a Google search.

As said, Mike Goldsby did a thread here describing his wheels and is very happy with them. I've tried to find that thread but haven't had luck yet. Alternatively, another of our members recently bought some of their "Power Wagon" series wheels and hates them because the offset is wrong for his truck. Whether that's his fault with measurements or theirs we can't know. I'll continue to look for the thread about the 17s and edit when I find it.

There are other custom wheel companies that guys have had good things to say about. One is Wheel Vintiques, also located in CA. Another that I've visited and bought wheels from is American Wheel Specialist located in Pasco, WA. AWS is primarily the custom wheel wholesaler to the huge Les Schwab Tire chain that blankets the western states. I believe the owner also told me they have a similar contract with a company named Commercial Tire. AWS will work directly with you if you live east of the Les Schwab or Commercial Tire service areas. If you live within those companies' service areas you have to work through them. Since you are in NE I'd guess that's far enough east. The company is owned by Juan Murillo, and helped run by his son Shawn and I think daughter (missed her name) who runs the office.

Hopefully others will speak up about their experiences with such companies. When you can we'd love to see pictures of the truck. You have a distinct advantage having known the truck from new, and knowing what changes were made to it over the years. The rest of us seldom have good things to say about prior owners! Stu

 

Here's the thread that mentions the Stockton Wheel 17s. Mike includes his phone and email there if you wish to discuss them with him. To my recall I haven't seen him visit here for a long while. In that thread I didn't mention the 19.5" Budd #71410s because at that time, while I knew of them, I'd never come across any. Since then several sets have surfaced. Stu

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...questions.html