Thanks for the warm welcome. Today we are on a new mission. Currently the truck is wearing 8.00 shoes on 16.5" rims that are just like the ones I had on my '68 3/4ton. As we all know 16.5" is pretty much a thing of the past so I would rather not order tires that are going to become harder and harder to get. I want to go back to the origional 17" rim diameter but not the original split rim configuration. Not trying to fancy it up with rims that don't look age appropriate, if you catch my meaning. I would prefer it to look like the stout truck that it is. Final paint scheme will be about as fancy as it will get. Matte black, minimal chrome as, pretty much looking like the farm beast that it was meant to be. I am having some difficulty making this happen without going to a custom ordered set of rims. Most of the new ones seem to be more set up for disc brakes which changes the whole offset of the rims. If it were a smaller bed, it doesn't appear that this would be as big of an issue but with the 50" wide bed, there is little space for the tires to move towards the center of the rear end. On the front, the tie rod ends are very close to the wheels so any movement towards the center would create a rubbing issue or worse. I am at an off-road shop right now waiting on a rim to arrive that may or yymay not work. The shop does mostly rims and tires and by the time I left here yesterday, the guy behind the counter was scratching his head. I am open to suggestions. My parameters are 1. The 16.5" rims have to go. 2. I don't want to downsize to 16" but am willing to go as tall as 19" as long as I don't have to change drums or lug patterns. 3. "E" load range or better.
I am thinking that moving up to an 18" or 19" will give me more room in the front where the tie rod ends are concerned.
By the way, the truck is only 5 years older than I am and I have seen a thing or 2 so I am rarely if ever surprised by suggestions but always open minded.
