My brother has a '53 F-600 Dump truck he calls Old Blue. you can see it at: https://www.ford-trucks.com/pictoria...53_f600_1.html in the old pictorials. He called me the other day and asked what other guys with big trucks at this site are using in place of the split rim. I think he said he has 20" wheels on Old Blue. What is the easiest solution, what is the cheapest solution. One of his tires has a slow leak and some garages will not work on them. He thinks the slow leak is from rust on the rim. Others have the same problem??

thanks for your help!!

abe

 

Find a place that works on SemiTruck wheels they are used to working with the bigger wheels.

 

I had the tires from my '37 dumptruck switched to my "56 flatbed at our local Les Schwab. The kid had never seen split ring wheels and was a little nervous. One of the older guys jumped in and had no problem. They will still do split rims, if you have those.
P.S. Tires switched so better tires on truck that is on the road.

 

Looks and sounds like a nice old truck, good to see it is still running and working so good .

 

As I understand it, the problem with servicing the split rims is OSHA requires tire shop employees have proper training for what they do and there is no formal training available for servicing split rims. So most shops don't want to work on them. Not enough business for them to justify the risk. I tried a number of truck tire shops in my area and found none willing to work on them. Small time operations are probably your best bet as OSHA doesn't apply where there are only a couple of employees. I did find a shop in a small town in Indiana that was willing to take them apart and I think they could be talked into putting them together again if they were in good shape and I would be talking buying a new set of tires. I also know a guy that works in a truck shop and says he will do mine as a side job. I don't know what his boss thinks about this. So you might be able to find tire service but you might have to look a long time. I was at one time seriously thinking about building a tire cage and doing my own work.

It sounds though like your brother might be more interested in replacing his wheels. There aren't many options that I know of.

1. There were a lot of side ring type wheels produced with the same 5 on 8 inch bolt pattern and can still be found in bone yards. I'm not which years or makes used the side ring wheels but I know Ford and Dodge used the same 20 in five lug wheel for many years. In my observation the side ring type wheels seem to be found on trucks older than those with split rims. These are often refered to as lock ring wheels but technically a lock ring is the third locking piece of a three part side ring assembly. Ideally, you want to find a complete set of identical rims. Ive seen some that look about the same but have some slight differences and I am not sure what might happen if someone should get the parts mixed up. The nice thing about these rims is that most tire shops will still service them. I have a few of these rims and I plan to use them on the outer wheels of my rear duals. I figure that way if anything blows it will blow into the truck. I've been told that split rims are safe once assembled and inflated but I've also heard stories of them coming apart after being mounted. I think in a lot of those cases the wheels were over loaded.
2. There are a few old tubless rims around that will fit. Hard to find though. 56 to early sixtys F-500 trucks. There's a recent thread on this. Old Dodge motorhomes also used the 5 on 8 bolt pattern and I have heard that some had 19.5 tubuless rims. I recently found one set of these availavle but they were I think 17.5 and while maybe suitable for an F-4, IMO would be a little dinky on a bigger truck.
3. There are some new tubeless replacement options but they are pricy (about $300-350 ea) and I just don't like the looks of them. Alcoa makes an aluminum 19.5 wheel, a little bright for my eyes. I've heard that Stockton Wheel will make them but they didn't seem all that interested when I talked to them. Wheels Now in Waukesha, WI can make them but the centers will be two hand hole modern truck look. I think I've heard of one other company somewhere in the south that will make them but I have personally lost interest in the custom fabrication option and have quit pursuing it.
4. One last possibility. Mitsubishi has a new truck, 2005 FUSO FE 120, with a 5 lug 19.5 rim that might fit. I don't know if it is an 8 inch bolt circle but might be. The web specs don't have the right data and I haven't got around to checking it out at a dealer yet. It might be the Alcoa wheel.

I hope there's something here that helps. There just doesn't seem to be a real good option out there that everybody is using. The old side ring wheel option is probably the cheapest and most commonly used alternative. But find a good matching set. Those are dangerous too. I've only been looking into it for about nine months because before that I just figured I needed to go to the tire shop and get new tires, so there could be something I'm not aware of.

 

Thank you very much guys! I will print and mail your pointers to my brother. I will thank you in advance for him,

thanks again, Abe

 

56-64 Stude in 19.5 and 22.5 tubeless
49-55 Stude truck in 20" tube type
56-65 Various Dodge and International in 19.5 and 22.5 tubeless

Rears should be used in sets.