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I recently purchased a 1956 F-600 from the original owner, a dairy farmer in our area of upstate NY. It's in fair shape but it hasn't run in over 20 years and unfortunately, it was parked outside. Needless to say, it will need quite a bit of work to make it road worthy. I parked the truck in our barn and my biggest concern at the moment is that the tires are badly cracked (they are holding air though) and they are mounted on split rim wheels. I have heard so many horror stories about split rim wheels hat I'm very worried about even parking the truck in our barn with these wheels still on. I am looking for a set of (6) replacement rims (standard one piece rims) if anyone has some for sale. I'm new to this forum so I'm unable to post in the classified section for awhile until I'm established on forum.
Thanks so much.
--Bob Lucas
Bemus Point, NY
Hi Bob, welcome to FTE
It depends on which type of split rims you have. There are the ones that use the narrow locking ring around the outside of the rim, these are ok to use and can be serviced by most tire shops. The other style is a two piece wheel with a raised section on the concave side, These have been dubbed "Widow Makers". The resident tire and wheel guru Truck Dog can help you further with details and suggestions.
Welcome. The below picture will show you the raised joint area around the middle of the widow maker rims. If you have them we can go into more detail on replacement options. Stu
Thanks so much for the replies!
The truck is a little rough but its got good bones and everything is there with 52K mikes. It’s got a lot of history as a local dairy farm truck so plenty of nostalgia too! I’ll get some closeups of wheels tomorrow.
Thanks again.
—Bob
Welcome to FTE! Nice looking truck! The front wheels that I can see are outside lock ring wheels. If they are not badly rusted, they would probably safe to use. I have six 22.5" 6 hole wheels from a '70 F 600 U Haul truck. They are in Arkansas. I'm not sure what they are worth. They may be common enough that they aren't worth the cost of shipping, I don't know.
Mark
The front wheels I agree are the locking side ring style that are good to keep in service if unhurt by rust or road damage. Can’t see the rears well enough. Be sure to check the inner rears too. Sometimes wheels got replaced and different styles mixed in with the others. Nice looking truck. Stu
WOW!! I can’t believe all the nice responses I’ve gotten on this!!! Thanks so much! Here are some closeups of the wheels. It looks like the front wheels are clearly the lock ring style. Not sure what I’ve got on the rears so need some experts to chime in please. To the nice gent that sold me the door inspection covers, they are perfect and thanks! Your truck looks so cool too! Thanks —Bob
I think five of your wheels are the Accuride XL locking side ring design pictured below. One of your inner duals, however, MIGHT be a Firestone RH-5° widow maker. The Accuride XL wheels have raised humps around the centers of the rims similar to the widow makers, but the humps on them are not the joints as exist on the RH-5° design. The other visual difference is the diamond shaped hand holes on the XL where the RH-5° has triangular hand holes. One of your inner dual pictures might show the triangular hand hole and hints at the widow maker’s joint. If not you are good to go as long as your wheels are rust and damage free. Stu
Thanks guys! The wheels are very rusty and I’m now leaning towards just replacing them all with standard tubeless rims. 2 gents in this thread have mentioned they may have 22.5” rims for sale. Are these the correct size wheels for this truck? The tires currently on the truck are marked “7.50- 20”
sorry for so many questions and really appreciate your willingness to help a “newbie” to the 1950’s truck world!
