Anyone know what rims will fit on a 1988 f250 2wd? I was told any 8 lug rim up to 1998. This true? I want aluminum wheels on my pickup tia

 

Any ford wheels 8 lug up to 98 will fit yes. In 99 they changed from standard 8x6.5 to metric 8x170

Any dodge or Chevy stock wheels will not fit because the hub bore is not big enough. A lot of aftermarket wheels have the bigger hole so they will fit all 3

 

If you are buying at a junkyard, measuring is your friend.

What DarkOverCast said is correct, in theory.

However, I currently have one(1) steel wheel which has a prominent dodge logo on it, looks stock... and somehow fits my truck(tightly). I also have other dodge wheels which are just a bit too small, as they should be. You can grind out the center a bit and make them fit if needbe though.

 

dodge rims fit .. my rims came off a 80's dodge diesel ..

though i'll never admit it .. except this once ..

the hub area is bigger .. so they are now 'lug centric'

meaning that the rims ride only clamped on by lug pressure and not supported by the hub .. some say this is bad .. but it's been nearly 5years and they ain't fall'n off yet ..

 

The 6-1/2 inch 'bolt circle' goes way back in time but I think it changed in late 1997 to 170mm. Most of the used aluminum/alloy wheels you see will be 170mm and those will not fit!

Something to keep in mind: The maximum tire pressure ratings for aluminum/alloy wheels may be considerably lower than for the original steel rims and tires specified for your truck.

I bought a set of aluminum alloy wheels from an 88 F250 4WD truck when the owner converted back to steel wheels for off-road logging work. He was running Load Range D tires on these wheels. It was at night, I was happy to have actually found some with this old 6-1/2 inch lug pattern and drove 300 miles round trip just to buy them. I wasn't thinking about tires and load capacity although the load range D tires he used did give me a warning that I didn't heed.

Later when I was cleaning up the aluminum/alloy wheels I noticed on the inside of the rims 'MAXIMUM TIRE PRESSURE 60 PSI"

The original tires on my truck are 235/85/R16, Load Range E with maximum tire pressure at 85 PSI to achieve the maximum load capacity of those tires and the rated capacity of my truck which is "heavy duty" rated (springs, rear end etc). (Different F250 models of the same year have 2 or 3 different load capacity ratings). I think some F250 trucks came with Load Range D tires

I want to stay with Load Range E tires of the same size and if I can only safely fill them to 60 PSI, (which is OK with these tires) but with the aluminum alloy rims I will lose considerable weight hauling capacity which I don't want to sacrifice. If I remember correctly it was about a 500 to 700 lb difference.

I've looked at lots of tire options for a 60 PSI maximum tire-pressure rated aluminum/alloy wheel and so far I have not found anything that will give me that weight hauling capacity - unless possibly with a larger tire like some used on raised 4x4s (those I looked t did not show any better ratings) but mine is not a 4x4. I do not want to change the factory specified size / load range E tires because they are a perfect match for the truck and it's rated capacity.

So, in my case the decision to make was: Do I want aluminum wheels for that "appearance" which would negatively impact the working capacity of the truck? Or steel wheels to maintain the working load capacities that my truck was designed and built for.

It's a "no-brainer." I'm using the STEEL wheels. The ones on the back are similar to a wagon wheel design and those can be painted to look nice and are very appropriate for the truck. I have matching chrome ones for the front that need to be sand blasted and then painted.

I just wanted to point out to anyone reading this topic that there could be a sacrifice involved in converting to aluminum rims. You should check the specifications of the aluminum alloy wheels you intend to use and make sure they will accommodate the tire pressures and load capacities of your truck - and if you are willing to compromise that capacity just to have aluminum alloy wheels- if that is the case.

It's also not easy to find used 8 lug 16 inch aluminum/alloy rims for Ford trucks with the old 6-1/2 inch lug pattern. You're more likely to find some 16.5 wheels that are not in demand because the 16.5 tires have been phased out. One reason that used ones are scarce could be that they don't last as long as steel rims. They tend to become damaged and scratched or gouged and they also have at least two or three layers of clear coat which goes bad and begins peeling. All of that old clear-coat has to be stripped, scratches finely sanded out and the rims repainted with several coats of clear coat finish to make them look good again. That's a lot of work. Without meticulous preparation and a paint booth or at least a good clean area to paint in, the clear coat might not last very long.

You can buy brand new ones, not sure about the quality but they are expensive.


I can put $500 or more to much better use toward replacing numerous things on my truck, like for example, all of the old rubber bushings in the chassis/suspension etc. not to mention a bit of small body work, new seat upholstery and a paint job than to waste it on wheels which don't fix anything.

I can understand why people would want them. I used to really like the looks of them until I became aware of what I've mentioned above. For me they are just not worth it.

 

Had a buddy that had some Ford aluminum wheels on a dodge. Hub didn't fit, rode on the studs, trailer after 40' trailer and never had a problem. I think people forget how strong them lug studs really are.

 

Yeah, they are strong but breaking the lug studs is not the concern unless they've been damaged from a previous loose wheel, a bad lug nut or perhaps over torqued too many times. Cracking of the aluminum / alloy rims is the bigger concern.

Aluminum and 'aluminum alloy' rims have different strengths and weight ratings depending upon the materials and methods used in the manufacturing processes. Stronger wheels are forged rather than cast and probably more expensive.. A forged wheel will be thinner but stronger material than a cast wheel.

Weight ratings may be very difficult to find on older used wheels that are likely to have been discontinued many years ago.

Modern materials and manufacturing processes probably result in stronger wheels but I would not automatically presume that after-market wheels have adequate strength and capacity for your truck and intended use without seeing those specifications. Lots of people and companies that sell wheels online don't appear to make that information readily available in their advertising and listings. They don't care about you knowing these specifications before you buy the wheels because the actual specs might interfere with making the sale.

Just as an example of strength considerations:
Source: Wheels - Harper's Tire
You can see a basic overview of the different manufacturing methods and characteristics of aluminum / alloy wheels by clicking on the '+' signs.

When I took my truck in to have all of the wheels balanced we discovered that one of the rear steel rims was bent - no marks on the outside edges of the rim - it was bent somewhere within the the middle part of the wheel and it wobbled at least one inch when turning on the balancing machine.

I have no idea how that happened but had it been an aluminum / alloy wheel it probably would have been a major or catastrophic failure.

A lug centric aluminum / alloy wheel is going to have more stresses at the 8 mounting points mostly during acceleration, braking and going over bumps and rough roads. They are thus more likely to crack than a properly fit hub centric wheel and either way more susceptible to cracking than a steel wheel. Improper torque values, incorrect lug nuts or older lug nuts or studs with imperfections could also affect the strength of the wheel.

Personally, I would be very concerned about running lug centric rims, especially aluminum and aluminum alloy rims on the back of my truck with a maximum cargo load in the back which is about 2,000 lbs. if I remember correctly (with the heavy duty springs and rear end that I have) - the truck empty weighs 8,060 lbs according to the Licensing Department.

There are two stud sizes on these F250s, 1/2 inch and 9/16 inch depending upon the rear end and I think corresponding to the 2-1/2 inch brakes/drums and 3 inch brakes/drums. The torque specification for steel wheels in the 87-91 shop manuals is 135 ft.-lbs. Apparently, in later model Ford trucks it's 150 lbs. because that is what the guys at Les Schwab Tire thought was correct and that is how their air impact wrenches were set. Easy to go beyond that too if not checked with a torque wrench and I did not see the service technician use one. When I took it in later for front end alignment I asked the technician to loosen every lug nut and re-torque every one to 135 ft.-lbs. with a torque wrench.

I don't know what the torque specs are for any aluminum / alloy wheel but if they are not torqued to spec. or unevenly torqued I think that could reduce their strength too.

I am really not trying to talk anyone out of using aluminum / alloy wheels. They can enhance the appearance of the truck. I'm just mentioning some of the finer considerations. Probably in many or most cases people are not working their trucks to anywhere near full capacity anyway so as long as that is the case it probably doesn't matter much but it's good to know in any case and I personally would advise the next owner of any known limitations on tire pressures or weight capacities.

Finally, yes you can overload springs, wheels and tires now and then and get away with it without causing damage but not regularly or for long hauls without a proportional increase in risks of damage.

I guess that's all of the input I have to this topic which may be influenced in part by "my personal opinions." At least I didn't mention how insane and utterly stupid and dysfunctional lots of after-market wheels look to me. Oooops, lets not go there, it's off topic and obviously a preference of the buyer.

 

I will also point out that steel rims are a lot easier to fix than aluminum ones... because aluminum will crack vs bend.
I once clipped a barrier with my dad's trailer, totally bent the steel rim sealing lip a good 1/2" out of place. 300+ miles from home at a truck stop. Beat it back into place with my sledge hammer, filled it up with air and bent it as close as I could(with a flat spot on the inner area and obvious visible tire sealing surface). It held air. Got me home, and then ran for the next thousand miles or so until the tire tread wore out and *really* needed to be replaced.
An aluminum rim? would have just cracked and would not have held air.