I am looking at getting a 61 f-100. It has 5 lug wheels on it now. I was wondering what the bolt pattern is? is it 5 on 5.5 or what? I have some really nice wheels that fit on my 71 ford f-100. Would they fit my 61?

 

Yes on both counts. It's 5 on 5-1/2" pattern and it's the same pattern through 96 as far as I know, maybe even later than 1996.

What you do need to watch when swapping wheels is backset spacing & clearance for Calipers when Disc Brakes are involved. Also some Alloy wheels req' special lugnuts to mount correctly.

Last 2 points, some places sell wheel spacers to move wheel vertical centers outward
and they are a BAD idea as they place undue strain on the lug bolts. . . .& 2, some companies make wheels with what's called Uni-Lug [for universal lug pattern] and they have a series of different holes. . . . avoid them too, as the centers are weaker from the lack of material caused by so many holes in such a small area. they've been known to fail at bad times, like hard corners, or panic braking in a turn etc.....

Keep On Truckin' FBp

 

Thanks a million man. I am so glad I can still use my wheel on my new toy.

 

Hey FBp -- you may perhaps have expereince in this question, re lugs and spacers. When the front disk swap is done on a 65 or 66, the old 61-65 "innie" rims (where the bumps to hold the hub caps on face inward, towards the lugs) -- the back side of the innie rims don't seem to have quite the clearance. They rub on the caliper of the disk brakes.

This seems to be only an issue for 65, as in 66 the rims went to the later "outie" pattern. But if you are like me, you want stock rims. I had to put a 5/16 thick machined spacer to get the backside of the rims to clear.

Of course, I worry a little, but 5/16 spacer with stock rims is probably putting a lot less strain on the spindle than many fat aftermarket rims. Or so my logic.

Has anyone tried grinding down the caliper? It seems to be touching on only on spot, and only a very tiny bit there. Where does one grind?

Thanks

 

I see nothing wrong with a 5/16s spacer as long as there is lug stud remaining to the out side of the lugnut .But if you dont want to run those spacers there are some companys that can make the wheels to your specs.
I had a machine shop make a set for a 77 pro-street truck they banded them
9in to the inside they turned out 14 inch wide where i could run the bigest mickey they make. You can get them from these wheel companys manufactors that make vintage wheels!

 

CD, I avoid wheel spacers, not so much because of strain on the spindle, but strain on the lug studs themselves.

There is a mild potential "wrong" side load on lug studs, bump a curb or obstruction, or overloading the wheel in a hard turn, etc, can cause the lug studs to fail. the extra 5/16 through the "loose fitting" spacer can be enough wiggle room or flex margin that lug studs, particularily older ones which have been torqued, or overtorqued many times as a result.

I used to not believe this until I realized the lugnuts tend to loosen more often, [most likely that is the effect of minimal stretching] and one day I saw a 56 chevy which had 5/16 spacers and at high speed the guy "kissed a curb", studs on 1 rear wheel failed, wheel came off and the car barrel rolled a few times. He was unhurt, but the Bel Air was a major disaster . . Too bad 'cause it wsa a "done car" when he wrecked it.

Anyhow since then I tend to reccommend avoiding wheel spacers. To each his own of course, but with my luck, if I learn of something like above, and ignore it, somehow it seems to happen to me, eventually.....

Also FWIW, where there are dual wheels, they use 3 piece lugs, a stud, an inner nut with outer threading and an outer nut. These are used on Budd, disc style wheels, such as a F or E 350 comes with. There is or was some Data on the NTSB web site about dual wheel failure as a result of flex margin being too wide and allowing failure because of improper servicing techniques.
FBp