Luddle,

Yup, the old pattern is 5 on 5.5. The 2005 lug pattern is probably metric but should be close to the 5 on 4.5 pattern (I'm not too familiar with the metric stuff). I think Ford went to the metric lug patterns somewhere around 1997 or so.

A wider wheel isn't going to help you much with them old washboard roads, keep in mind you are driving an old truck...lol. Radials will help some.
I drove a 1969 F-250 for alot of years, that stiff old truck was murder to control on a washboard road (and as you know, every dirt road here in New Mexico has terrible washboards)

Julie, some wheels are hub-centric, where the hub fits tight to the wheel and centers the wheel, if so then its an easy thing to fit the wheel on the hub, mark the new bolt diameter and spacing and march the assy over to the drill press and do it yourself. However, most of the older stuff isn't hub-centric and relies on the tapered lug nuts to center the wheel on the hub. You could still do it yourself but would have to be a bit more precise on laying out the new pattern.

Bobby

 

Don't forget that the bolt pattern on the 9" rears many of us have swapped out to are 5x5.

I'll have to look at my hubs and stuff, Bobby. I could do it. But I'm stil a little in a state of flux on this front end issue. I had a TCI Mustang II with the tubular arms...blah blah blah, and ended up selling it because it wouldn't fit in the truck without a different oil pan, trash the new $500 motor mounts, trash the $1700 headers - you get the picture.

So, I could do it, but I would probably feel a lot more confident taking the whole front end mess into a good front end shop, doing new king pins and tie rods, spring shackles, drag link rebuild, steering box check up, and then probably do the hubs at the same time.

I'll have to think about how I want to do it. But I do appreciate the good advice on the proceedure because it really does give me some good options I didn't know about before. One more question:

For those of you guys who have done this, redrill 2 hubs, plug and redrill two drums, about how many "dolares" are we talking about - roughly? Anybody know a good machine shop in the San Diego area?

Thanks guys,

J!

Ok that was two questions - tee hee.

 

We had it done at a shop in Orange County. It was about 10 years ago and I can"t remember the name of the shop. It was the wheels we had redrilled, not the drums, so there were no brake issues.

 

I called around town and finally got one nice guy to give me a ball park on the phone. And what is up with that "you have to bring it down and let me see it before I can give you a price, BS." Hasn't he ever seen a brake drum before? Or a wheel Hub? Or never done this before? Like I'm going to take my wheels and hubs off my truck and run them down to him only to find out it's about $500 more than I can afford.

One guy told me it would take about 10 hours at $89.50/hr. Yikes, I could buy 2 new wheels with the right bolt pattern and use the adaptor temporarily if I had to use the spare tire!!!!!

The second guy was super nice and was with a very reputable machine shop. If you want to know who, PM me (the gods will get mad if I put the phone # here) But he quoted me $60/hub...pretty far cry from $900.

So, in a week I'm going to have that done. I picked up the new tie rod ends and drag link kit, and I'm thinking about kingpins. Mine seem fairly good, but as long as it's all apart, why not.....How tough are kingpins to do (51 F1)? Also found that part of my "pucker factor" might have been warrented. The drivers side tie rod end was torn and has a touch of wobble....is that bad? Will that make the truck seem a little "unstable" or "wandering" in the steering at speed?

Like everything else on the truck, I'm thinking; "just take it all (front axel and wheels) apart and rebuild the whole thing all at once and trash anything the PO did. Engine,tranny, rear end - all done already.

What do you think.

Julie!

PS (sorry)

 

What kind of shop did u call to?

i work at a painting and powdercoating shop for industrial parts so i deal with alot of just regular machine shops i was going to take it to one of them to redrill hubs and drums but i just need my front to match the rear

Thinks its a safe bet to take it to a normal machine shop?

 

Yes, any machine shop should be able to handle the job