I am waiting down the line somewhere to replace old split rim tires, so in the mean time I found a lot of good 8 bolt rims that fit my f-3 perfectly, even over the huge back hub, they almost seem custom, I imagine they will also fit other trucks. They can take a tubeless 16'' tire and you can find those much cheaper and you the others as show rims for originality. These rims don't have a inside stub for caps though, it does have them outside the hub ring, i haven't discovered what fit them yet though. I have read all the split rim stories and seen where some don't won't them at all, where here is agood alternative. don't know if mailing them is practicle but i can probably point out to you where to find some cheap. y the way I have changed split rims for over 20 years now and have seen some seating problems, but the danger realy comes form when you are inflating them. Once they have been deflated, tear down is pretty safe and straight work. reassembly is critical, but if you have it seated right and a clean rim surface, and you can tell, inflate it in a cage a safe distance away. They are not all that dangerous when done properly. the problem is the reassembly and the safety procedures.

 

Hello F2fan;
I'm looking for some help with my split rims. I have a 1950 F68 (Canadian version of the F3) with two thousand original miles. It drives well with the original wheels / original factory tires. The wheels are 8 bolt 17 inch split rims. It doesn't pull or shake or shimmy.
Contrary to the advice of many on the 1948 forum, I decided to go with split rims when I bought new tires. I purchased 4 new BF Goodrich Silvertown 750X17 wide whites (set me back $1976 Canadian.....I had to budget for that for a while!). I bought four used split rims identical to the ones on my truck. The wheels had tires on them, two were holding air. I took these wheels to the tire shop where I purchased the tires, and they took the old tires off, inspected the wheels, and deemed them to be in very good shape. I had the wheels sandblasted, primed and painted; took them back to the tire shop, and they put the new tires on them.
The truck can't be driven with the new tires on it. It goes into a violent shimmy at 35 mph, or even at 15mph if I hit a bump. When the shimmy starts, I have to brake hard to almost a complete stop. I've had a friend drive in front of me; and he says that the wheels are shimmying back and forth (not up and down).
When I put the original tires/wheels back on there is no shimmy. It drives well, even at 55mph. Yesterday the tire shop tried balancing the wheels; but the problem is still as bad.
To me, the wheels appear to be seated (but I guess I don't really know what to look for!). When I picked them up from the tire shop they were inflated to 20 pounds. I put them on the truck and gradually inflated them to 35 pounds. It seemed to me that I could hear the tube finding it's position inside the tire.
Should I try to inflate the tires to about 50 pounds to ensure that the wheels are seated; then let the air completely out, then reinflate to about 35 pounds? I dont have a cage, but I thought I would bolt two tires together back to back, using 8 bolts through the mounting holes, lock the air hose on the valve stem, and plug in my compressor (from a good distance), and let the compressor run until it builds up to 50 pounds, and then turn it off; then repeat for the other one, then deflate, then mount them on the truck and inflate to 35 pounds?
I'd really appreciate your advice. Thanks.....Keith.

 

UPDATE: I took off the wheels, one at a time; completely deflated them, inflated them to 55 pounds to attempt to ensure that the wheels were seated , completely deflated them again, and reinflated them to 40 pounds. They still shimmy.
I guess I'll tear down the original tire/wheels, and try hanging the new skins on the original wheels.