Agree. When Bob comes to pick up his wheels and tires at my place in a few weeks I'll show him a set of mine that are each about 5/8" thick and were made to work with the 5 lug x 8" pattern. Stu

 

Love it! This is pretty much my desired end state--but with a new paint job! :>)

 

What you have sounds like what I should have made. I'm not so sure that with the thickness of the inner dual and a small spacer that I can't even get by without changing the lugs themselves. I have about 1/8" - 1/4" of unused thread at the end of each lug, figure the wheels are about 1/8" thick give or take, and will have the bed home this afternoon to know how much space if any I really need to add--rather than doing all my guessing!

PLUS the wheels Mark is sending my way via your place might actually have less "dish" to them (though I'd doubt it), in which case it may be even easier. AND...if the bed is rusted or dented it may still get cut/repaired anyhow, so if I'm doing that and needed to lose a half inch or so on either side I can probably make that happen, but I think the bed is in pretty good shape overall and like I said, I hate to molest any of these things. Something you can bolt on and take off without making any visible changes is the goal!

All that said, too bad your spacers aren't for sale! LOL! But...maybe I could use one of them for a pattern to take to my local machine shop, like tracing one of yours and then me making a dummy out of cardboard or plywood? Pretty easy to go to a shop and say, "Can you turn this into metal, x/x" thick, that I can use to move a truck wheel out from where it currently bolts on?"

 

Mark's wheels will have dish similar to your stock ones, depending somewhat on the width of his wheels. Wider have more dish. You are certainly welcome to use my spacers as patterns. I'll explain why I can't let them go when I see you. Stu

 

Ok...thanks to the help from a couple folks on here--Mark and Stu--I have replacement for the widow-maker rims on hand. Now to make it all fit right.

I know how to change a lug nut stud--but I'm curious if these come in more or less standard sizes and if I can get them long enough to make this work without it being unsafe.

I did a bunch of measurements and then math on top of that. Without going into all of it, it looks like I'd need a significant amount of distance (big spacers, like 3" to 5" on each side) to use the stock wheels I have now as a single in back that would allow a wide enough stance to clear the bed sides and look right inside the rear fenders.

Can I get the correct diameter studs with 5" more length than what I have for one, and will they be safe with 5" spacers between the flat surface and the wheel mounting surface? My brain says the safety part should be ok as I'm not going to do a lot of heavy hauling and the mounting wouldn't be any "worse" than the way the front wheels mount in terms of how the forces/pressures holding everything together are applied (there's the mechanical engineer in me).

Any thoughts?

 

Bob - three to five inches changes the equation. I think you'll need spacers that bolt to the hub, with a separate set of studs out along the outer faces that hold the wheels. MH used similar spacers on my trucks that measure about 4". Those you'll have to have made too. If you need it I'll text you a pic of one of mine. Mine, however, adapt an 8 lug hub to a 5 lug wheel. Stu

 

Stu,

If you can send the pix, that'd be great. I assume a machine shop can manufacture what you describe, and I can refine and determine the proper dimensions to give me a tire centerline inside the wheel well that is what I need. And if you know of a machine shop up near you that you trust, I'm not adverse to driving an hour and a half; we can talk off line about that if you prefer.

I've seen conversions that add space and change bolt patterns and lug count, but they're all "modern" dimensions. For simplicity I'd probably keep the five lug hub and five lug wheels. Of course, I guess I could do a five-to-ten lug conversion and run modern-day wheels, but, heck, I have seven of those 5 on 8" 22.5" wheels now.... ;>)

The other and probably far more expensive alternative is to have two 5 on 8" 22.5" single rear wheels made with less backspace. Stockton Wheel in California has the capability with about a 4-6 week turnaround time. I could then use Mark's wheels up front with the new tires and the custom wheels in back with whatever tires I'd figure would fit. Of course, price is the issue there.

I'd still have the stock (optional upgrade for '59) 22.5" tubless and the original 20" widow-makers for if I ever sold the truck and the new owner wanted to do something other than what I'd planned/done.