I'm not an expert, but I find it easier to tell from the other side of the wheel. If it has a lock ring, it's not a widow maker. Unfortunately, that pic crops out the most informative portion of the rim. Someone else will probably know.
Grigg did a real good tech tip on wheels on Advance Design Big Bolts. Maybe from those pictures you can tell. Besides the picture of a real wheel, he has a page from the Budd Wheel cataloug plus a good explanation of the Widow Maker.
~ Peggy M 1949 Chevrolet 3804 "Charlie" - The Stovebolt Flagship In the Gallery "We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." -- Winston Churchill
Hy ykp53, as pvfjr has said the picture is cropped where the best view for identification is, however I do not think that is a "widow maker" wheel, that does not guarantee that others on your truck are "widow makers"
Real hard to tell from that photo. Also check out the sticky thread about wheels and tires here in Big Bolts. As 3B mentions seeing one wheel tells you nothing about the design/type of the rest on the truck. I've had a few trucks and seen bunches of others with mix and match wheels.
I stumbled across an OSHA publication outlining tire installations on split rims. There's also a large chart that helps ensure all your lock rings, flanges, rims, etc are all stamped with the appropriate numbers. The last pages contain cross sections of the rims that I find more useful than the typical images provided, since it actually shows the rim centers. The ones to avoid are the Firestone RH5; you'll see an image of them here: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/wheel-chart-booklet.pdf
That is what is says in Grigg's TT -- avoid the RH5
Last edited by Peggy M; 03/30/201612:46 AM.
~ Peggy M 1949 Chevrolet 3804 "Charlie" - The Stovebolt Flagship In the Gallery "We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." -- Winston Churchill
It is hard to tell from the original picture, but it really doesn't look like a RH5°. But after 65 years, you may have one of every kind of wheel that was made. The RH5° were very common and safer wheels are pretty scarce. I replace them as I find safer wheels, but I have quite a few of the them. I try to put the safer wheels on the outside dual on the driver because that is the one that would blow to the outside if the wheel should separate.
I stumbled across an OSHA publication outlining tire installations on split rims. There's also a large chart that helps ensure all your lock rings, flanges, rims, etc are all stamped with the appropriate numbers. The last pages contain cross sections of the rims that I find more useful than the typical images provided, since it actually shows the rim centers. The ones to avoid are the Firestone RH5; you'll see an image of them here:
Great find, thanks for sharing. I am going through the same pain trying to get my C6500 on the road and have two and three piece rims. Since my local tire shop wont inflate a tire installed on these rims I will be doing it all myself.
Grigg said some of this will be good to add to that Tech Tip. Will get it in as soon as we can.
Good job!
Peg
~ Peggy M 1949 Chevrolet 3804 "Charlie" - The Stovebolt Flagship In the Gallery "We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." -- Winston Churchill
I was pretty lucky to blunder into that publication. I think I saw a picture of someone hitting a rim with a hammer on the 4th page of a google image search for Firestone RH5 rims. I followed the rabbit hole and was pleasantly surprised. In all of the searching I'd done before, I'd never run across it previously.
Great find, thanks for sharing. I am going through the same pain trying to get my C6500 on the road and have two and three piece rims. Since my local tire shop wont inflate a tire installed on these rims I will be doing it all myself.
Have you contacted your local BIG truck tire shop? They work on multi piece rime all the time and they have the safety cage for airing them up. This is NOT a job for the novice, people have been killed working on these rims without the proper training and safery equipment.
Be safe!
Mike B
Mike Boteler
1956 Chevy 3100 Resto Rod 1952 Willys M38 Army Jeep 1983 Jeep CJ7 Laredo 1984 Jeep CJ7 +++++ Silver Spring, MD
I've been told that the safest way to deal with lock ring rims is to wrap and lock some chain around the tire and through the rim in at least three places. And you definitely want to do that with any RH5's even to just let the air out. They aren't called Widowmakers for nothin'.
Yes, My local tire company works on all types or tires, Truck/AG/Auto and will build them back up but will not add air. My neighbor is helping with a lot of the work and used to own a trucking/excavation company and is familiar with same. My rims are marked Firestone 5RH so there is no doubt they are the widow makers. I am replacing them as we find 20 inch 6 bolt stud centered Budd rims but have only located three rims to date.
