The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun Will 16" dually wheels fit rear of 40's-60's DRW 1 tons?

I have a 52, 61, 64, and 70 1 ton DRW trucks and only the 70 will take 16's. All the others require at least 17-18 inch wheels to clear the brakes on the inside rear. Here is a quote from BarryGMC in the parts wanted section on this site:

Parts wanted thread


Does anybody else have any of these early 1 ton duallys that will take 16" wheels on the inside rear with the factory rear brakes? Is there any with smaller brakes? I thought the all came with the same size brakes?

I know at least the 52-59 3/4 tons (3600) had 12" drums on their rear. They should fit anything you want on them.

I know that swapping to later model 14bolt drums can be done also. I haven't done it, so I don't know the specifics.

Here's a link that may help on the 14B conversion.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=536119

I have a '63 with late wheels. It's a tight fit, but they seem to work just fine. My '65 (SRW) has the same brake drums, and I have drums that came off a DRW '63 that are also the same. (13" x 2-1/2") Lots of other trucks I've seen have the same wheels on them.

I'd guess your '64 has the "wrong" rear end under it if the drums won't clear 16" tubeless steel wheels. Some earlier stuff used 14" brakes IIRC; not sure how far back, though. The GM heritage center scans have 13" x 2-1/2" listed all the way back to 1960, so it would have to be the previous era or earlier. The HO72 dates all the way back to 1947 (IIRC), so someone may have done some swapping at some point.

Not for mine.. I had to go with 19.5's to clear the drums on my 49 3800.

I asked basically this same question in a previous thread on this forum. I found that the rear drums are to large for the 16 dual rims to fit over but that it should be a straight swap to change out the backing plates and drums for the smaller 3/4 ton backing plates and drums.

I measured the outside diameter of the drums on both my 61 and 64 right out on the front flat area and they measure right around 13.75". I measured the Chevy dually wheels I have right now and they are a max of 13.5"(maybe a little less) inside diameter at the area they contact the brake drum. These wheels may be older style(70's-80's-90's) but no older. I am trying to find a wheel from a 2000's model to measure the inside diameter of the wheel to see if it will measure wide enough to fit over my rear drums. If someone knows this measurement I would appreciate the info. I am guessing that the late model(up to 2010) 17" dually wheels would clear but I have not ben able to find one locally but I am still looking. Anybody here have any 17's from a latemodel?

I found a 2000ish 16" dually wheel today and it measures right around 13.75 or a little more so it may just fit the 61/64 rears since that is about what they measure. I can guarantee there is no 16" wheels that will fit the rear of my 52 like BarryGMC said they would and do on his 50 in the parts wanted link I posted above. The rear drums on the 52 measure right at 14.75" outside diameter on the front of the brake drum. I have a set of GM 17.5" wheels and they will not even fit on the inside rear and they measure almost 14.5" inside diameter across at the rivets. They still would not clear even if the rivets were not there as the back of the wheel hit before even contacting the rivets. I am going to find a factory up to 2010 17" dually wheel and do some measuring. It would be a good deal if these would clear on 52 just so others might be able to use them on their early 1 ton duallys when not wanting to use the original 18" or 19.5's. If they measure 1" wider inside diameter than the 2000+ 16" wheel I have, they just might work on the early(40's-50's) DRW rear drums.

The late model 2000up wheel still does not work on my the rear of my 61/64 trucks, hits the drum before seating so no go there. I have several swapmeets coming up in the next few weeks so hopefully I can find some of the late model factory 17" dually wheels from a 2010 or earlier GM 1 ton dually. I am determined to make this work. If anybody has access to one of these OEM 17" dually wheels, please take some measurements if possible, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry, just checked back here (forgot you don't automatically get emails from this forum).

I'll do some measuring/checking on my '63 in the next couple days and post back; it's really odd your 16" wheels won't go on. My wheels are Accuride 28177's (IIRC), FWIW.

I didn't have time to take the wheels off yesterday, but they seem to fit fine and I didn't remember seeing any evidence of rubbing when I took them off. It is extremely "tight" like I remembered though; around 1/8" (maybe less) of a gap around the front edge of the drum looking in from the hand holes. So, actual GM wheels might be slightly different and not work. FWIW, mine are Accuride 28177's. They seem to be very common (both my trucks have them), so you might try finding a couple and seeing if they work for you.

The site will contact you if you go to the top were it says topic options and click on it and then click on watch topic and set it up to send automatic emails when topic is replied to.

I will have to check and see if my wheels have an Accuride # on them. I know my latest wheel(2000+) has the widest inside diameter of any of the other wheels I have tried and still did not work. All the wheels I have work on the back of my 70 1 ton even though it has the same brake diameter because the hub mount face protrudes about 4.5" from the face of the brake drum so it sets the wheel far enough out to allow the use of the 16's. My 61-64 hub mount face is only set out about 2" from the drum so the wheels contact the drum edge before seating. I am going to look for the factory 17's at the swap meets the next few weekends and hopefully find one to measure. I may end up parting the 70 1 Ton and if I do, I will probably pull the 70 rear for possible future installation in one of the 61/64 because, by the book, they have 5.14 gears in them and the 70's glove box shows it to have 4.10 gears and no-slip differential. This will allow the use of the 16" wheels and also have a much better driver gear ratio.

I thought I did, but still didn't get one for some reason; I'll have to see what's messed up. (It worked before)

The hub difference sounds interesting; I don't recall any of mine having anywhere near that much of a "spacer" cast into the hub (including the SRW '65); you are saying the wheel mounting surface is 4.5" from the sheet metal brake drum center if I'm understanding you?

Here's a picture of the hubs on my truck (not a very good one, but the best I have)

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u421/66Submarine/1963%20Chevrolet%20C-30%20dually/028hub.jpg

I'll measure up the wheels I have when I get the chance and send you the measurements.

One thing to watch out for is the offset/width of the later wheels; I'm pretty sure they are all too wide to clear the leaf springs on one of these trucks with standard DRW hubs. The wheels I have on mine are already an extremely tight fit.

The 4.10 gears are nice; that's what both mine have in them. The no-spin should also be nice for off-pavement stuff.

I did look at my wheels and I do have some 28177's dated 1982, 28623 dated 1989, and 29361 dated 2007. I know I have tried the last 2 and they do not fit. I will try the 177 but it measures smaller diameter across than the 07 wheel.

The hub you have pics of looks a lot like mine but just a little different. Your center axle hub looks like it sticks out further than mine.

64 hub

The 4.5" measurement was from my 70 1 ton that actually fits 16's. The 61-64 measurement is something like 2". This measurement is the distance from where the wheel bolts up at the studs back to where the brake drums flat vertical face is.

Also, I think the late wheel has less offset/backspacing than the earlier wheels but I will check that as well.

I appreciate you trying to help. Hopefully we can get this all figured out.

Those hubs look like they might be the same as my '65 SRW truck. IIRC the SRW hubs like that had a thicker "spacer" cast into them to make the WMS-WMS width wider, so you may not have clearance problems with slightly wider wheels.

I'd be interested in seeing a picture of the '70 hubs; I don't think I've seen or heard of any like that; assuming you are talking about the flat vertical face of the drum being where it bolts to the hub like it sounds. 1/2 ton rear ends got wider sometime in '70, so it might be a wider form of SRW hub or something.

Glad to help another guy out, no problem!

Both my 61 and 64 came with the factory 18" dually wheels so I figured the hubs were original and they both have dually front hubs. Here is a pic of the 70 dually hub. The wheel stud area is about 4.5" sticking out from the drum.
70 hub

Thanks for the picture. The difference in the '70 isn't the hub; that's all part of the brake drum, which is certainly much different than the earlier ones I have.

I'm not sure why the rear hubs on your DRW trucks look like my SRW hubs; maybe something weird GM did? I'd say it was a year-model thing, but if your '61 looks the same that doesn't make sense. Maybe someone swapped them with another junkyard assembly when the brake drums needed to be replaced later on?

I don't have them apart to look at now, but IIRC my SRW had the WMS cast further out like that; presumably to change the WMS-WMS width and keep the load distributed as intended over the inner/outer bearings, but using all the same parts otherwise (or that's what I thought/theorized). Maybe someone swapped them for more tire clearance, in that case? Hard to say, I guess.

I'm interested to hear if the 28177's work. Scrape all the dirt off the edge of the drums and snug them up good with a couple lug nuts when you check; it's a VERY tight fit, and if it's not flat/tight to the mounting surface or it's caked in grime it'll touch. It's even less than an 1/8" gap; actually probably more like a 1/16" of a gap when bolted down and looking through the hand holes. Tight!

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u421/66Submarine/1963%20Chevrolet%20C-30%20dually/IMG_6689.jpg

Here's a picture of the gap on mine; you'd think it was touching if you didn't see the light showing through! Not the best angle or picture, but my point is that you need to have the drums cleaned off and the wheels snugged up before you can really tell if they'll go on, IMO. Not a lot of extra space there for misalignment or caked on grime!

I knew that whole part was the drum but was unsure how to explain the differences in "step out" from the actual brake part of the drum.

I do not have the wheels off the 61 but I am going to take them off and recheck the rear drums as I think they are the same but now you have me second guessing my memory. I never measured or took pics of them and the 18's are still on it.

I tried several different dually wheels so I may have already tried the 177's but I was not looking at the part #'s at that time. I know I measured them and they were the same as all the other dually wheels other than the 2007 dated wheel so I am sure I tried them but I am still going to check. All the wheels, other than 07 wheel, I tried hit the drum very solid before the studs even got close to the holes. The 2007 wheel hit and the studs had just started but did not come through. I will get this figured out.

Interesting that you say they hit before they got over the studs; for me they only get close when they are over the studs. Until that point the drums aren't close to the drop-center of the wheel where they would interfere. Mess around with it a little and see what you come up with.

No matter how much cleanup I did, none of my wheels worked. I have a few buddies looking for wheels for me and one of them came up with a set of 6 16.5's with very good tread tires off of a Chevy motorhome. I measured these and they were over 14" between the welds! I already had 2 16.5's that did not measure near this wide and would not work so these wheels really surprised me. They fit tight but cleared and fit with no problems! These tires are a little old but are not bad and will work for now and I also have 2 other sets of 4 16.5 tires so I am going to look for some more of these wheels. I believe the Accuride # is 27995 but I will have verify that as I forgot to wright it down or take a pic. Not many 16.5 tires made today but they are still making them so I should be covered for a while. I am still going to look for the later 17" dually wheels but it is no longer a priority.

Glad to hear you got something worked out! Odd that none of the 16" wheels worked.

Thanks. I am happy that I found wheels to fit but did not want 16.5's as they will probably be phased out completely one day. I am still looking for the GM 17" wheels and I am sure I will find some at a reasonable price eventually. I do have a set of the tubeless 1/2" lug hole 19.5 dually wheels and tires I may put on one of them since they are taller tires and these trucks do have a 5.14 rear gear!

I'd just run the 19.5's if you have them; I'd actually really like to have some for my trucks if I find some!

I did some trading specifically to get the 70 Chevy 1 ton flatbed basically just to get the 19.5's that were on it. I may still run them, just wanted to run 16's or 17's because they are readily available and cheaper than 19.5's. I may run them on one if I leave the 5.14 gears in since the tires are taller and might take a little gear away for driving down the road at speed. I did just contact a guy with the late model factory 17" wheels with tires and simulators and caps and lugs. I may buy them and try them to see if I like them. Will know more tomorrow.

Yeah, the 19.5's can be kind of spendy. FWIW, I bought some 16" recap mud tires from Treadwright and have been pretty happy with them; they have 225/70r19.5's for $109 and 245/70r19.5's (in a more offroad tread pattern) for $119. Let us know how the 17's work if you get them.

Good to know about the recaps, I may check into them. I got the 17's today and they are right at 15" across between the welds. I tried one on my 52 and the weld area cleared but the center has such a flat taper that the drum hit before the studs even got to the back of the lug holes. If the centers were more rounded like a lot of the 16's are they may have come close to working on the 52. They should work with room to spare on the 61/64 1 tons since they are an inch wider across the center than the 16.5's that fit them. I now have several different 16", 16.5's, 17's, 17.5's, 18's and 19.5's. I wonder if I can find another size to try!

seems the 14 bolt drums and all move duals out farther than original drums so you can fit 16s,i have 52 1 ton ive stared at till i memorized most of it.truck is still at friends place.im thinkin of 14 bolt up grade for rear.i have 16" duals and a few tires to start hauling fire wood till piggy bank says i can aford to do what i want for rubber.good luck on whatever ya decide to do on your project

66 submarine,caps are ok but hot sunny day in eastern oregon,washington can make caps go away.i drove west coast semi in 90.california had pick ups and 2 man crews pickin up "aligaters" in hotter weather.gl on your projects gents.im tryin to get my truck so it goes and stops and makes me $ i need haulin firewood,so im not retired just tired lmao