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Good evening, looking at replacing my wheels, 76 highboy 3/4 ton. Picked up a set of 16" that fit, my concern is, there is only about a 1/4" gap between the wheel and the brake caliper. Weights would have to be put on the outside otherwise they would hit the caliper. Anyone running 16"? The wheel is 16x8, max tire I can put on it is a 315 75 16 which would be perfect, or sell these and go 17 or 18"
Have you given any thought to using "wheel spacers"? You could go with something like 1/4 inch and buy a little room. This solved a close wheel/caliper issue for me. No real risk to the spacers unless people go crazy with the widths.
1/2 inch is plenty of room. Even for stick on weights most are not more that 1/8th of inch thick
I did have a wheel weight hit caliper on a Chevy with Hummer wheels years back.
The caliper flattened out the weights. I also ground a little tiny bit off the top the caliper to avoid it happening again.
If it is a concern when the tires are balanced any decent machine has you set it up with where you want to put the weights inside and outside the center of the wheel, or I think it was called static balance where you can put all the weights in one location. Not as smooth of a ride when you compromise with placing the weights in different locations but with the tire size it sounds like your looking for it won't make much difference.
Depending on the aluminum wheel sometimes you have to buff a little off the caliper. I've run 16's on several of these rigs in 8" and 10" including my '76 high boy. it will work.
1/4" you should be fine, the steel weight rim clip is like 2/16" and I would think the weight body would clear. Other wise get them to use stick on's on the inside. What matters on the HB is to make sure it (the rim) will clear the tie rod ends on the drag link.
I will attach a couple pictures. I put the wheel on without the tire, the clip on weight hit the caliper so I know clip on on the inside won’t work.
At best there is a 1/4” gap between the caliper n the wheel so I’m not certain if the stick on weights will work depending on their thickness. Perhaps shaving som of the caliper will work, good idea guys. I guess if it isn’t rubbing it won’t.
spacer seems feasible as well. Take a look at the pictures n let me know your thoughts. Thnx aga
in
Also to be honest I did not look at the front side of the caliper which would sit against the flat side of the wheel. If I get a chance today I will slap it on there and check it. can't believe I didn't check that, but perhaps the 1/4" spacer would prevent that. let you know, thnx
I have aluminum 16 inch wheels on my '79 F350 in place of the original 16.5's. They are VERY close to the great big dual piston front brake calipers and in hindsight I probably should have gone with 17's. With that said they do clear but they are picky about where the wheel weights are placed and what type are used. Rears are no problem at all with a Dana 70.
The small space (1/4 inch) between your wheel and brake caliper is a problem. This tiny gap may not be enough for the wheel and caliper to move and change shape as they normally do when you drive, especially during hard driving situations. Also, because the space is so tight, you can only put balancing weights on the outside of the wheel, which limits your options.
Even 1/16" clearance is plenty. if you have thinks moving around or stretching you have a serious problem.
You may need to grind the caliper a bit, you probably won't be able to put weights where the caliper comes close to the wheel so don't . mark the wheel so they know what zone weights can't be installed. this doesn't matter it's a pickup not a GT500 you're not going to notice.
I avoided the whole dilemma by going with 17's on my F350. Tried 16's and they rubbed hard on the caliper. So much that it felt like the E brake was on.
Thank you everyone for the replies, I have been working on getting water and electric in a 60' ditch before it rains, so i haven't had a chance to slap the wheel back on. I know for certain the clip on weight on the inside hits, the wheel had one on it and it hit. I'm not sure how much flex there is, and I didn't think about that, but I don't suspect it would be much. if I stay with these wheels no doubt weights would have to go on the outside which I don't care for. I think for a piece of mind I should go larger and be done with it; sell these wheels. But before I do I'll put it on again and see what happens, need to raise the front anyhow, putting on a new power steering pump so need to turn side to side. thnx again.
I hope these aren’t dbl pics. I posted earlier but I don’t see them. New 16” wheel 1-4 clearance all the way around sitting inside wheel New 16”. Caliper bolt too. Lose for inside weights Old 16.6 wheel clearance
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