Hi Charley,
I have a 1949 Chevy 3600 long-bed 3/4 ton pickup that when I got it had what
I believe were the original 8-bolt split rims. When the left front tire went
flat, none of the tire shops around here were willing to work on them because
of the hazard of the retaining ring flying off upon inflation. I called almost
all of he farm, truck, and other commercial tire shops in the area, to no
avail.
I wanted to convert to modern one-piece rims anyway, and I was told that
16-inch Ford 8-bolt rims from certain F-series pickup trucks and Econoline vans
would fit the early Chevy pickup 8-bolt hubs, but would require spacers to
increase the offset and not foul the tie rod ends on the old truck.
I went to a Ford dealer and he pulled a 16" x 7" mid-1990's Econoline rim off
the shelf. We measured the backspacing to be around 4", which would clearly
foul the tire rod ends on my truck. This is from memory, but my recollection is
the backspacing on the stock 1949 3/4 ton pickup 8-bolt rim is about 3 5/8
inches. The Ford dealer suggested I try an earlier Econoline 16" x 6" rim, but
he didn't have one in stock to measure the backspacing, and even with a 20%
discount the price was a very steep $120 apiece.
To make a long story short a local tire and rim shop, Chesapeake Rim & Wheel,
solved my problem with their part number X45304, a 16" x 6" 8-bolt Kelsey
Hayes rim that fits a number of Ford pickups and vans in the 1980's and very
early 1990's including the F150 and F250 pickups and the Econoline vans through
about 1991. The bolt pattern is the same as my '49 Chevy, and the backspacing
is
about the same as the Chevy split rim, such that the rim cleared the tie rods
ends by about 1/8 to 3/16 inch after I mounted the tires and rims and turned
the wheels lock to lock. I don't know what the "minimum clearance" should be,
but as far as I'm concerned there was sufficient daylight between the rims and
the tie rod ends. When I first mounted and spun the drivers' side wheel I
heard a faint 'clicking', which I discovered to be a wheel weight on the inside
of the rim that was just making contact with the tie rod end at full lock.
After a few seconds with a file to shave a hair off the wheel weight, no more
clicking.
The best part of the deal was the price. According to the invoice, the
suggested list for this rims is $65.32 each, but Chesapeake Rim and Wheel
charged me
only $34.94 each, and I was just a walk-in off the street they had never seen
before.
I took the rims to the local independent tire shop where I buy all my tires,
and for the price of mounting and balancing them, the owner gave me four very
good 16-inch "take-off" tires that he had recently taken off some late model
GM SUV that the owner wanted some fancy white-letter mudgrips. These tires
would otherwise have gone in the tire shop's recycling pile, but still had at
least half the tread left. And the price (zero) couldn't be beat!
It appears to me the backspacing on the rear wheels of my '49 truck allows
considerably more room than the front wheels, and I think the later model Ford
16" x 7" and possibly even wider rims would fit the rear. In my case the 16 x
6" Ford rim was the widest Ford rim that fits the front.
I'm told that some unknown to me Dodge 8-bolt rims will fit the early Chevy
3/4 ton trucks, but I can't help you on that.
One thing to be aware of is that these Ford rims are designed for hub cabs
that fit over four external 'lugs' stamped into the rim. Ford of course
supplies
hubcaps to fit these 16" rims, but all the ones I saw had "Ford" written on
them. I called a number of wheel and hubcap specialty shops in California, and
while almost every one of them offer a number of external-lug-mount hubcaps
that fit 15" rims, nooone supplied anything to fit the Ford 16" rim that didn't
say "Ford" on it. I wanted plain chrome baby moons, so I bought a set of 15"
rim chrome baby moons, and made my own retaining clips which I pop-riveted onto
the Ford rims. I then bought a set of polished stainless 16" beauty rings,
and ended up with the classic 50's look I wanted, but with modern one-piece
rims
that any tire shop anywhere can work on when I need new tires or have a flat.
If you want to call me for further info, feel free at 410 825-0108.
Hope this helps.
John Doak in Baltimore, MD
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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