Hi All, I might be over thinking this, but I had a question about stud types on these New Design bolts. I have a 1953 GMC 453 with the 302 and the 6 bolt wheels, the truck came from the factory with Motor Wheels which are hub piloted 20" tubes. When I got the truck it had military tires on the front and (by my guess) 40 year old mix of Toyo/BFG/Firestone tires on the rear. One of the things preventing me from using this old girl is the tires. Local shops refuse to touch the split ring 20", so I decided to go tubeless. Searching around this forum I saw that Wheels Now WN28157T work nicely on 6 bolt trucks, as they're 22.5" tubeless. I for some reason did not even bother to check the dang lug type on this truck before ordering these. So once they arrive and I test fit I obviously saw the dilemma. So using Budd type nuts (Ford BB1120), I can make the fronts work. With the rear, because the Motor Wheels use longer studs, I cannot thread on normal Budd type inner nuts. One option is to cut the threads a little deeper and trim the ends of the rear studs to work with the inner nuts.
But my question is, did the trucks with Budd type wheels use the same 3/4"-16 studs as the Motor Wheels, but just shorter? All of the weight is moving from the hub to the studs, so there is a decent increase in load on these. I cannot find any information on these trucks that came with Budd's from the factory to know if the studs are larger in diameter or maybe of a harder steel?
I searched about this forum and the prevailing response on this issue is to just change the studs. But looking at the factory GMC maintenance manual it's pretty involved process as the studs need to be pressed out and in, also I am not sure where to even find these Budd studs for a 450. My other idea is to just return these and order a set of hub piloted wheels. I talked to Wheels Now and they said they do not stock or know of any 6 bolt hub piloted wheels (Motor). If I needed them, they would have to be custom made at a higher price.
So if the studs are basically the same between Budd and Motor, I think it would be easier to just cut the rear threads a little deeper and trim the ends so the inner wheel nut fastens correctly and just run these WN28157T. This of course is also ignoring the fact that I have all right hand threads, and the driver side will not be the normal left hand setup. If that is not a viable (safe) option, I guess I will just have to take the measurements and have Wheels Now make a custom set of hub piloted versions of the WN28157T - which I guess keeps the truck original in that regard with running the factory optioned "Motor Wheel" style setup.
Thanks for reading this is you made it this far, with my plans to use this truck with some heavy loads I want to make sure I am not compromising it with "hacking" the Budd wheels on it.
