Ok, Ok, so I'm not the purest that I thought I was! See Big, now that ya got to know me, I’m not so normal after all am I? But if I want to keep my “big old wife” happy and get her to go for a ride once in awhile I have to do something. Those square tires are shaking both our dentures out of place not to mention what it’s doing to the suspension and light bulbs.
I gonna keep my set of split rims and new bias plies hangin’ on the wall for those days I want to impress the VCCA judges. Of course I’ve had the truck for a tad over a year and I haven’t seen a VCCA judge yet, they’re bout as scarce as a Shmoo. You would think that after having one whole summer under my belt that I would have been able to find a VCCA sanctioned event somewhere around the Chicago area.
Enough of that, now to keep the wheels turning, Scott, how ya doin? There seems to be a lot more 16.5” tires available in the flotation tires. I don’t understand that, I would think that because with the shallow angled bead that the 16.5 tires would have more of a problem off road. I would expect the deeper straight-sided bead seats to be more popular, but what do I know.
Dana, guys like you are the main reason that I bother to spend all this time writing about the stuff that I find. Hopefully it will save you some of the same headaches that I’m going through. I gotta say, that my hats off to anyone that attemps a 3/4 ton AD restoration. And I’ve said it before, you guys with the 1/2 ton trucks got it made.
So at this point we have; Rear has Wheels from a 1980 Chevy C20, with 9.50R 16.5”, 30.43” tall by 7.15” tread width with adequate clearance, around one inch. The original hubcaps will fit flush and inside the lip with clips added. The crown on Repro caps is too shallow and hits on the axle flange.
Fronts are the same 1980 Chevy C20, with 8.50R 16.5”, 29.42” tall by 6.75” tread width using 1.25” thick Skulte hubcentric/lugcentric 6061 billet adapters with 1/2”-20 lugs. These can remain mounted on the hub if the original split rims are used. And the original or reproduction hub caps will fit the fronts with clips installed.
That’s about it. Other than to say that the 16.5” rims I got off of a ’77 Chevy 4x4 will not take the stock hubcaps. The center is just a little to small and capture ring in the hub cap will not fit inside.
Oh, and one other thing, this has been the most expensive task that I have undertaken on this truck sofar. But I still haven't painted it!
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
