Stovebolt.com Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1958 Apapche 3100 wheel and tire question

We have a 1958 Apache 3100 that we are having restored as close to original as we can get (except for the front disc brakes). The restoration shop ordered 15" diameter X 8" wide slotted rims. They wanted to 'fill' the wheel wells thinking the factory supplied wheels and tires would look too narrow. This truck will not be a 'Trailer Queen' or a daily Driver, but we will drive it. I want it to function well and my wife and I to be able to steer it. We did not opt for power steering.

What I would like to know is first, were the original factory wheels/rims slotted or not (when I bought this truck it had some funky after market white spoke wheels) and second what is a common size wheel and tire size that most folks are putting on their restored, no power steering, trucks '55 thru '59?

John

I have Coker P205/75R15 tires on mine. they don't quite "fill" the wheel wells but they work well and i dont have power steering either

Thanks tomctomc.

What about your wheels? Are they solid rims or do the rims have slots in them?

I'm running 15"x6" wheels with 225/75/15 tires. The steel wheels came off of a late 70's 4X4 1/2 ton Chevy truck. They have a little less back spacing, which makes them stick out a little farther, and helps to fill the wheel well.

original 15" wheels with the tallest skinney radials you can stand will handle and steer fine, I ran 700r15LT Yokohamas on my 58, looked fine

find pics of original wheels and caps here - the later wheels Brian mentions work fine but won't have the clips for correct hubcaps . . . the 8" wide wheels will be a strain on your front wheel bearings and spindles, especially with fat enuff tires to fit the width

Bill

I had the same truck and the previous owner put wider wheels with the stock straight axle. Steering and wander was problematic. Installed new king pins, put on a steering damper to help the steering as a last resort. The steering still wandered and lurched with road crown after front end alignment to specifications. Narrower tires helped a lot more by keeping with what GM engineers designed. Put stock rims back on with radial tires.

my wheels look like the ones in Bill's link for the 57-60 trucks

Thanks to all so far for your help. Hope this will 'steer' us in the right direction.

John

The original wheels were probably 15 X 5.5. As others stated; tall skinny tires will steer easier.