Adapters for mounting 8-6.5" rims on 8-170mm hubs: Anyone tried these?
 

Has any one tried these adapters that allow older 8-bolt rims with 6.5 inch spacing to be used on 1999 and newer 8-bolt rims with 170mm spacing?
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...70mmTo8-65.jpg

They seem too good to be true.
If people have tried them, what problems have they had?
Spacing issues? Ever heard of failures? Increased load on bearings? How will these affect stability? What else?
Thanks.

:-wink from Afghanistan

Check your factory manual for endorsed offset limits.

Wider stance reduces your turning radius, I don't know the extent to which it's affected.

With the tires further out on the front axles, the sweep of the tire as it turns from lock - lock is wider so there might be scrubbing against the body.

The further out you go the more leverage is applied to the spindle bearings.
There's a fix for that Dynatrac - Confidence to Explore®

Roger that. There are a number of aspects of these that make me leery and have caused me to shy away from them. Currently, load is transferred to my rims through the hubs, not via the wheel studs as would be the case w/adapters. Adding spacers to transfer the load would be problematic. I do periodically load my truck to maximum payload, (~5,000 lbs) and would rather not worry about this. Thanks for your response.

Interesting "Currently, load is transferred to my rims through the hubs, not via the wheel studs as would be the case w/adapters."

I wasn't aware of that possibility.

I never gave it much thought.

My rims are marked 5000# even though my tires are good for over 7000# +/-.

It would suggest to me that your rims are an interference-fit between the rim and the hub centering rings.

My rims, I presumed, transfer load through the bevels of the lug-nuts to rim more than via the clamping of the face of the rim to the face of the hub; and for me the studs were the limiting component because those rims are plate steel and not stamped sheet steel.

With my pass-through hub covers I doubt there could be any load transfer via my centering rings.

I ordered the pass-throughs from Rickson; I don't know if they machined out the centers of the rims to accomodate them, or if 'all' open center rims naturally accomodate pass-throughs.

Quigley Motor Company uses adapters for the 2006 and older Ford vans that they convert to 4x4.

Quigley wants the rims to be interchangeable front & rear.

Quigley only uses factory new front axles destine for the pickups and those are an 8x170mm bolt pattern with brakes for 17" rims yet the older vans have an 8x6.5" bolt pattern with brakes for 16" rims.

Other than going with adapters, Quigley would have had to go through the time and expense of pulling the rear axles and either installing new axles with the 8x170mm bolt pattern or have the original axles redrilled for the 8x170mm pattern.

Use the browser Find for adapter.

4x4 Vans : Quigley Motor Company, Inc. > Offers and Pricing > Ford Model and 4x4 Pricing Guide

4x4 Vans & Cutaways

4x4 Vans : Quigley Motor Company, Inc. > Technical Center > Ford Products > Ford 4x4 Components

Use the PDF Search for adapter
http://www.quigley4x4.com/linkclick....id=114&mid=530

By the way, I was told that my 2006 van got the last of the front axles with the brakes for 16" rims.

Originally I was slated to get the 2007 axle with the brakes for 17" rims because though my van was 'new' it was a leftover and Ford by then was already into 2007 production.

I was told the 2006 axle came from a cancelled order, and that Quigley was saving me the added expense of the cost increase for the 2007 axle plus the expense of all new rims to bolt up to the 8x170mm bolt pattern.

I wonder in hindsight if Quigley was forced to 'find' a 2006 axle because my van had skirts over the back tires and with wheel adapters mounted maybe the tires would not have fit behind the skirts?

In comparison.

My van before Quigley, 16" rims with 30.5" tires.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=11197

My van as converted by Quigley.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=199486&.jpg

My Van after the 19.5" rims with 35.4" tires.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ictureid=28807

Interesting. In actuality, I do suspect that 8 good high grade bolts used with an adapter bolted securely to our hubs would probably carry an excessive load just fine. The reason that I started looking into adapters was because I wanted to install the older style utility rims on my truck, either 16" or possibly 19.5" diameter. I've recently discovered that these are still manufactured, (Utility Rims) in both 16 and 19.5 inch sizes. These are standard hub centered rims that transfer load directly to the rim.
In addition, adapters by increasing the width of my wheelbase would also increase my turning radius slightly. My truck is a 1999 F350 with leaf springs and has a really wide turning radius as is...really, really wide. So based on this, I'll likely be going with the rims in the link above. I can buy the 16" units locally for $120 and the 19.5" rims for $300 each. I realize that they can probably be had for half that amount in the lower 48...shipping to Alaska runs about $120 per rim. Thanks for the response.

See if you can get them through NAPA.

When I was working in Juneau, I'd order what I could through NAPA and tell them to send them up in a normal restocking shipment.

That saved me the UPS / freight charges from the lower 48 to Juneau.

I just had to be patient and wait until NAPA had accumulated enough of an order to warrant another shipment.

Thanks for the suggestion: I'd be getting them from NAPA's supplier (Six Robblees) in Anchorage.
Also, after much obsession, web crawling and head scratching, I've decided to not go with the 19.5 rims and stick with the common denominator in Alaska which is the 16" rim. If I blow through a 19.5" tire and spare on the road to McCarthy, I'm SOL regarding finding a replacement out in the field, whereas 16" tires can be found everywhere in Alaska.

Ya, my tires are made in Germany!

I do carry a spare.

Consider though that 19.5" tires have many more plies to them and therfore can survive road hazards that would take out Load Range E Light Truck tires.

Mine are 285/70R19.5 LRH (Load Range H).