Last Saturday night while at work I ran into a guy that I have not seen in a while and while catching up on each other I told him about my 77 Explorer custom. Here he used to have a 77 also and still had the original wheel covers for it. He said he replaced them with after market rims about three weeks after getting the truck and put the originals in the shed.

he said he just recently looked at them, and was thinking of giving them away, or tossing them out. Well, last night he dropepd them off to me (free!).


They need a cleaning,but look nice! Then I compaired one to the ones that are on my dent, other than the color I see they are slightly different in shape. Mine with the creme centers weight 2.25 lbs each. My small scale I use of home brewing only goes up to three lbs, till it maxes it out, but I would guess it is about 3.5, or 3.75 lbs



So now I am thinking they are off of an earlier model. So it will be cool to change them out from time to time. I know some of you don't like these mag style wheel cover, but I do!

 

They are exactly the same.

Ford pulled the ones used on regular F100/150 to paint them for the Explorer scheme.

 

cool ! nice of the guy to give them to you for FREE!!!

 

Yeah, free is sweet, and no they are different, the one on the left is all metal while the one on the right the center, mag part is all plastic. Also the mag part does not come out as far till it levels out flat then the Ford motor comany disc in the center.

The center disc on the one on the left is metal, while the one on the right is more of a flexable plastic disc.

One more difference I noticed is the chrome ring on the left is slightly thicker, or taller then the one on the right. I never really noticed them to be different till I got them side by side.

 

i had a set of the METAL ones (the ones in your picture that are silver/black) for my winter tires on my 72 f-100. they were not original for my 72,but i too really liked the way they looked.

 

According to the parts books they are identicle, except where Jermafenser stated.

What you are probably seeing is manufacture process changes over time. This will give the parts different engineering numbers, and they might change the material they are made out of, but the part numbers will remain the same in the books. This happens all the time.

 

Yep!, I think you hit the nail on the head!

 

i noticed that in the picture,the left (black/silver) one is convex totally,but the right (silver/beige) one has a flatter center section.(the spokes are not totally smooth,they flatten out part way giving the hubcap a flat area).much like the bottom of a cereal bowl.i see that the center ford logo is recessed about 1/4 inch too.

 

Yep, I guess I have seen this in the past, but never put any thought into it until I put them side by side.

I was at the spring Carlisle (Pa) car show today, and all I saw were the flatter style mags, and they were on 77-79 models, and most were missing the center FORD MOTOR COMPANY disc.

PS: I am sun burnt, and tired from 6 hrs of walking. It was in the upper 80's here, if not the low 90's. Weather man said it had not been this warm since last September.

 

The wheelcovers are not identical.

These two wheelcovers are the same except for the color of the depressions:

D5TZ-1130-A .. Simulated Mag / 5 GOLD DEPRESSIONS.

D5TZ-1130-B .. Simulated Mag / 5 BLACK DEPRESSIONS.

Application: 1975/79.
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In addition to the argent paint, this wheelcover is a slightly different design:

D2TZ-1130-A .. Simulated Mag / 5 ARGENT DEPRESSIONS.

Application: 1972/74.

Ford also installed these three 15" wheelcovers on F250 and F350's.

Ford did this by snapping a 16" beauty ring (D2TZ-1210-A) onto the wheels, then the 15" wheelcovers were snapped onto the trim ring.
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Prior to 1972, there are THREE other simulated mag wheelcovers used on Explorers.

These are a totally different style than the three above, and were not factory installed after 1971.

These three wheelcovers were also used on 1966/72 passenger cars with 15" wheels: C6AZ-1130-N / DOAZ-1130-J / DOAZ-1130-K.

And there still another...a NON simulated mag wheelcover used on some 1969/72's: C9TZ-1130-B.

This wheelcover has EXPLORER around the center twice, and 24 cutouts outlined in white paint.

These four wheelcovers are not shown in the 1973/79 truck parts catalog, but are shown in the 1964/72 truck parts catalog.

 

Thanks Bill, great information, and makes some sense to me now. It's just things you see, but never really think about till it's right in front of your face.

 

Right, that's why I said they were identicle, except where Jermafenser stated. The Color.

Ah, I think I see what I did. Didn't look far enough back on application. Thanks Bill.

Funny I can't find the "5 Black Depression" one for 1972/74? Did the D5TZ-1130-B superceed it? My book sucks and is about as easy to read as greek.

 

Here is another angle, as you can see the mag on ther left is taller. I have noticed this in the past where I saw a dent coming my way, and the mag wheel cover as it started to spin caught my eye, just didn't realize they were sticking out further.

 

What mag? All I see is beer, beer, and some more beer...and some liquor.

 

I hear ya bro, one of my other hobbies is brewing beer, wine and mead. What can I say, I like a cold one, or two, or three, or four, or .......well you get the idea.