Today I took a pair of steel rims (5.5"x15") made by Kelsee Wheels (stamped on the insde of rim) that I wanted to use on my '83 F100 to the local tire dealer. As I bougt the pair for $10 at a local flea market, I wanted them to check them to make sure they are true before I used them. They were true but they told me they used a non-standard valve stem... something her refered to as a "Ford" stem and it is bigger than the standard valve stem.

I have never heard of the Ford valve stem... when did they stop using them? I wonder how old my rims are?

 

Can you post a pic of the wheel?

Especially the hole where the valve stem is.

Is it stamped KELSEE or KELSEY?

I wonder if they were talking about "bolt in stems"?

 

It's likely standard, just larger than what the tire shop usually sees these days. I have couple sets of the 80's F150 "wagon wheels". I repainted some and took them to a local tire shop to get tires mounted and new valve stems. They said they couldn't do it as they didn't have any of the "big" stems. Sort of surprised me. I worked at Firestone many years ago and we kept a good selection on valve stems on hand, big, small, short, medium, and long. I took my wheels elsewhere and the other shop mounted them up without a word. Guess which shop will be getting my return business?