Hey, its been a while. Been crazy lately and I realize I move really slow with everything these days...but I figured I'd post up my new shoes. Next month will make it about a year since it's been legal and road worthy and my tags are coming due. I think I have put on a little over 600 miles so far

There is a long story that goes with the wheels and tires but maybe I'll save that for later.

Hope ya'll had a great Turkey day.

I'm thankful to all of you who have helped me over the years.

 

Dang brother that thing is looking awesome! Rims and tires look just as good, and compliment the amount of lift.

 

That's one badazz truck... nice proportions. The color really makes its cleanliness **POP**.

 

Yeah what they ^^^^ said! Very nice truck. Would really like to hear that story though. Ya can't tease us like that. It's not nice. Hehehe.

 

A few years back when I was dreaming up what I wanted my big bad lifted Ford to look like I had dreams of monster tires and without putting a too much thought into it I jumped on a set of new 16.5x12 Eagle Alloys from an E-Bay seller. These are beautiful wheels and after they arrived I opened one up and mounted it.







Whew doggies these are wide and will look sick with some macho big rubber



That’s about 4” past the fender.


While I am lucky enough to have a set of NOS Bushwacker flares, I’d really like to mount up a tire to see how they’ll look. And so the search rubber begins. Oh did I mention I got the 16.5” old school wheels? Noob.


After many searches and phone calls I found out that nobody in Houston seems to stock 38 x 14.50 that will fit on a 16.5 rim. My online searches started telling me this was going to be a significant investment too because these were going to be 6-700 per corner plus a spare, plus shipping and they are going to weigh a lot too. I debating back and forth and came to the conclusion that I made a wrong move. I thought about the Military take offs that could be found fairly cheap but they probably would not look very good on a 12” wide rim even if I could get them to fit. I sank into a slight depression. Do I just buy some 16.5x10s and then get the Military tires?


A lot of deliberation later, I decided to bite the bullet and just get some 16” rims. This time, I’ll go with 10 wide so I ordered one Eagle Alloy from Summit for a test fit. After I got it, I unboxed it and mounted it but I just was not too thrilled with the finish. I was surprised because the 12” wide rims look great. So I promptly ordered one Mickey Thompson Classic III to see side by side which was better.





M/T Vs. Eagle Alloy


Here we go... The Mickey has slightly larger holes that are not spaced closer together and just seem to have a much better polish on them, particularly in the large outer hole areas. The casting of the Eagle seems to be of better quality though as the casting marks seem more crisp and there was a bit extra machining on the backside of the rim. I selected the Mickey Thompson and ordered 4 more so I would have a matching spare. I returned the Eagle back to Summit.


Now, it was tire time and after a lot of searching, I decided on a BFG Mud Terrain 345-75R16. I found some online at a 4WD shop and placed my order. My money flows out of my back and into the account of the retailer. Thank you very much for your order they said… In my order confirmation they sent was a link to their site where I could track my order. “Processing… turned into a back order with a 6 week lead time. Seven weeks go by and guess what… my date changed again to another 6 weeks into the future. I called and spoke to one of their friendly staff who said that was just what Michelin was telling them… I said “What! I ordered B.F. Goodrich tires not Michelins!” They said yes, Michelin owns B.F. Goodrich. I was like oh duh. Shocked now… like finding out your Ford is made by Chevrolet or something. Apparently this happened when I was sleeping back in 1988 and I had no idea. Anyhow, I accepted this shocking news and that I would just need to wait a bit longer. And longer I did because you’ll never guess what happened 6 weeks later. Nope it was not a shipping notice it was another date into the future. This time when I called it was not just with the retailer but I talked to someone at BFG and expressed my deep concern and anger over having paid them for my tires and then waited for months only to be lied to repeatedly but was told they do not have a firm production date and only get the dates provided by their factory planners. I said great, congratulations I will never buy a B.F. Goodrich tire or Michelin tire ever again.


I cancelled my tire order and was promptly refunded my money but I had to wait about a week for my PayPal to put it back into my bank. Nice huh. Stuff flows out really fast though. I don’t know why some retailers will take your money and then no delivery product but that was experience enough not to place another order with them for a different tire. Okay another depression phase sets in and after gathering my composure, I set out on a new tire quest.

This time before releasing any cash I verify inventory. I tried a Dick Cepek Extreme Country (RIP) but… I was getting the backorder. Then it was Toyo Open Country… They make a nice 385/70-16 but I can’t seem to get them. Next it was Mickey Thompson Baja Claw TTC Radial in a 315/75R16 but lo and behold there wasn’t any to be found either. I was beginning to think I was just snake bit on this tire business or the world was coming to an end. Then I came across the Baja MTZ in the same size and they were available in a couple of days. I told my local Discount tire shop to get ‘em, I want to see them. No money exchange hand yet and the price wasn’t too bad even with the warranty they sell.




They filled up the back of the wife's Tundra





Finally, no more rusty old wheels and tires. They look great I think but feel like they have about 60psi in them and my truck feels like a buck board… not that I’ve ever been on a buck board but you know what I mean. After I get some wear on them, I’ll start airing them down and hopefully I will get a little smoother ride.

I put my old set up for sale on craigslist and managed to sell ‘em for 300 and got plenty of calls and interest but the closing deal I had to deliver but the buyer gave me an extra 50 for the trouble which makes this a happy ending! I gave him my old lug nuts for free. The old tires will probably last another 5 years but given that they are old, I did not want the risk of getting a blowout.







Sold!

So the new tires are not as big as I once wanted but I guess that is just okay. I still have some floorboards to install some metal in the bed to replace, a spray in liner to get and probably a paint jobso spending thousands extra just to have a bigger tire that would have probably needed more gears and a Dana 60 Front.

Anyone want some new 12" wide Eagle Alloys?

 

Quite the rim and tire story...want or really NEED those 12x16.5 rims? lol

Big 16.5 tires here, but yes $$$ Jeep & Truck Tires - 16.5 - 4 Wheel Parts

I will say that the new shoes really look good.

 

This truck looks incredible....been a favorite of mine for a while.

 

Hot damn that's one purdy truck!

 

Hey Kikkup, looking to put similar rims on my 79 250. Do these rims have an offset to them? Anyone running 14.5 on 17x9, or is that to wide of a tire?

 

14.5 on a 9 is too much....should be 12.5.

9" wide is perfect with 5" BS...just inside wheel well lips on sheetmetal.

 

Alright thanks. Was looking at putting these on the rig.

Eagle bullet hole wheels 17x9 8x6.5