The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Will 6 lug 8 X 15" rally wheels work on a stock 1950 3100?

I like the look of rally wheels on the advanced generation chevy trucks so I bought a set of 6 lug 8x15" rally wheels with 4" backspace at a swap meet for my 1950 chevy 3100. I mounted the wheel to the front hub and there is about a 1/2" to 3/4" clearence between the wheel and tie rod end. There seems to be all kinds of room for the rear wheels to fit. I was thinking of going with 235/75R/15 on the front and 265/75R/15 on the rear. [color:#000099]Has anyone gone thru this conversion and did it work out or am I doing something I shouldn't? [/color] I want to fill the wheelwells and give it a little bit of a rake in the front. thanks for any feedback. Happy

Good luck steering it.

I have those wheels on my 54 3100..with 245/60/15 on the front and 275/60/15 on the rear.yes it is a work out to steer at slow speeds ie in parking lots and parking in general. But good the rest of the time. You should be a little better off with the 75 series tire for steerability.the tire sidwalls will stretch abit to fit those rims but look ok. I ran and wore out a pair of 245/75/15 on the front before I went with the 245/60s. I have seen a 6.5-7" aftermarket rally rim 6 stud...if you could find those that would work well on the front. Did you get the beauty rings and center caps as well?

I got the whole set up; beauty rings, caps, and lug nuts for $200. They are in great shape. They came off a 75 Blazer so two of the caps are open and two are closed with the 4x4 logo on them. Seen closed/plain plastic ABS ones on e-bay for around $50 so i may go that way for the caps. I like the baby moon look so that's may be an option down the road if I can find something to adapt. Why did you go from the 75 series tires to the 60 series tire? Maybe I need to consider that size. Also was there less clearence? I forgot to mention that I already have 7x15" regular rims with 225/75R/15 tires and it does steer a lttle hard at slow speeds. Guess there's almost always a tradeoff between looks and performance. thanks for your feed back. Happy

Yah I know it will steer harder, but to me I want to have more the street rod look. I haven't had the truck too long so I am adding dual exhaust and looking at putting some kind of sign/logo on the door to give it a more patina look.thanks Happy

I like the look of the wider tire , secondly I like the ride too. There is lots of clearance, that is not an issue.i hope to recify the steering issue by installing the pile of power steering parts I've collected ...need to make time. I did run solid chrome baby moons for a few years. They look nice until the road rash starts little rust spots.then they are high maintenance to keep looking nice. The big issue I had was finding the right off set.was ok on the rear but tires hit the tierod ends on the front. I used wheel spacers, changed the tie rod and changed the ends from the bulky oem to the the new modern tie rod ends.i still had to grind the edges of the tie rod ends so that the tires wouldn't rub.alot of work to get them to work. I could not get the right off set. Keep that in mind if you want to go with baby moons.try them on the front before you buy. Im sure there are some old vintage onesaround that would work..would need a rechrome....

Just to clear up some misconceptions about tire sizes, the main difference between a 60 and a 75 is going to be the overall diameter and sidewall height. The tread width will be pretty close to the same. The main difference in the steering effort is going to be in the lower rolling resistance of the taller tire. The 60 series tire will ride harsher, and have a lower load capacity.
As to the original question, the 235/75/15 will be fine on that wheel, it was an oem tire option on the Blazer and Trucks with those wheels, though most did have the 10.00-15 or 31x10.50x15 tire option, depending on year. I'm running them on my '55 2nd, stock axle/brakes/steering, with 30x9.50x15s on them. Steers just fine if the truck is rolling. It's only really hard to steer if the truck is stopped.

thanks Longbox 55..if the tires fit ok, i may eventually go the power steering route too
happy

Should be fine. I have American Racing 15 X 8 rims w/4" backspace mounted on 255-70-15 tires with stock suspension, steering and brakes and am happy with the driveability. See here.

thanks Curt.. You have one sweet looking truck...and looks like it runs and drives just as sweet. thanks again, Happy

When I bought my truck the tires were junk. I bought a set of 1970s rally wheels with tires. The tires are 275-60-15. The truck has stock suspension and has been lowered 3" all around. There are no clearance issues. I really like the look. Sure I need a little strong arm steering in parking lots, but it drives well going down the road.