Will original 1954 F100 16" wheels work with tubeless tires. I only want to use them to move the truck around no road use.
Elmo

 

They weren't designed to seal and hold air. You could try, but I doubt you'll have any success.

 

According to the parts book, the original 16" wheel B4C 1015A was used for both tube type and tubeless. Of course they would not have been rated for radial tires.

 

I am very surprised at this. Especially since tubeless tires were not standard equipment of cars until the mid fifties. But, it's good info since tubes are getting very hard to find without going to specialty houses.

 

There's no reason you can't run tubes in the tubeless tires, it was a common practice in the 60's. I bought some 16" tubes from Walmart last year. Ordered them online and picked them up at the store. When I picked them up, the girl behind the counter was all flustered..."we can't mount or work on tires with tubes.." I got a kick out of that one.

 

Both the old tube type wheels and later tubeless wheels have the same outer rim profiles. They both have what's called a 5° bead seat, and a use variety of drop center rim designs. The only potential reason I see where the old wheels may not be ideal for tubeless tires is the risk of air leakage at the rivets or valve stem holes. Later wheels have the center disc welded to the rim rather than riveted. Using something to seal along the inner rivets could help, and naturally use of quality new stems. Stu

 

This is exactly where my original post was coming from.

 

I had radial tubeless tires on my original 16" rims on my truck from 1999 up to about 5 years ago; no problems, no leakage.

 

Yeah, there's no reason to not mount them. If you're worried smear some JB Weld around the rivets in the drop centers. Stu

 

B4TZ-1015-A (replaced B4C-1015-A) 16" 'innie' wheels were used thru 1966 on F100's, also used on 1966 Bronco's.

btw: The 1966 FWD Olds Toronado was the first US vehicle to come with radial tires as standard equipment.

Pic: 7th entry under tubeless tire listing from 1964/72 truck catalog.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I am only use them to move the truck into and out of the shop. I don't care if they leak or not as I have an air compresser in the shop and a tank if if is our of reach of 200' of air hose. The tires that I am going to use are very worn. I saved them just for this.
Elmo

 

I know a guy who has used tubeless tires on his daily driver 53 F200 with orig. rims for years.