The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1954 Chevy Truck Rims 15" X 5" 6-Lug w/Clips

First of all, after a considerable amount of research on this site and others, I have a few questions that I do not believe have been answered, at least not specifically. Since several of the wheels on my 1954 Chevy 3100 Hydro-Matic Truck are badly rusted, especially around the bead, and one around the valve stem hole, I have the following questions:

1. Has anyone had any luck grinding the wheels, then welding up the rusted areas, and then grinding them back to original? I would rather keep what I have if possible.
2. I have located some 15" X 5" 6-Lug w/3-Clips, but it is my understanding that these were used from 1955 2nd series to around 1960 trucks and the 6-Clip wheels were used on my 1954 truck. (That is what is on my truck now.) My question is, were the clips (6 to 3) the only thing that changed on these wheels? Since the extra three holes are there for three additional clips, it appears that you could just have these 3-clip wheels re-fitted with 6 new matching clips and have the same 15" X 5" 6-lug, 6-clip wheels.

So, any suggestions?
Weld them up and repair them?
Purchase the 3-Clip wheels and modify them?
Or just hold out until the right wheels come along?

I know I have a long road ahead of me and any input is appreciated. My truck appears to have come with (RPO 3100) and I am trying to figure out the best direction to go in trying to keep this truck at least close to original. I am also considering going the Jim Carter route for wheels to get the truck road worthy and saving what I have for later. Believe it or not these old rims and 30 plus year old tires w/tubes are still holding air since I pulled the truck into the garage this April. They are ok for moving around the garage but not for venturing out onto the road.
Thanks

"My truck appears to have come with (RPO 3100) "

What is RPO 3100 - here is the list of 1954 RPOs.

RPO 314 was the Hydra-Matic transmission (available as an RPO on only 3100 series trucks - any model).

If you 1/2 ton truck is a pickup, all pickups would be a 3104 series/model truck (no matter what options/accessories were installed).

Sorry about that Tim. I guess what I meant to say is "My truck came with (RPO 273)". I knew it didn't sound right when I typed it. I was looking at the picture of the wheel on the spec sheet which shows the 15" Wheel as standard on the 3600 & 3700 and as a RPO on the 3100.

No problem, SLC.

Let us know what you decide to do for wheels.

I don't believe Canadian RPO numbers are the same as US RPO numbers...

What does RPO-273 mean to you (so we can compare)?

Mike B

RPO-273 is the optional 15" tire on USA Chevrolet trucks

There are no RPO numbers (that I can find) for optional tires listed (in two places) in the 1954 Canadian Truck Sales Data Book.

1300 (except 1316, Suburban) series Optional Tire Equipment

6.00 x 16 passenger [grade] tire BASE TIRE
6.50 x 16 passenger [grade] tire

6.50 x 16 truck tire
7.00 x 15 truck tire (5 times the price of the 6.50 x 16 tire) - this is listed as the only Optional Tire for Suburban

Grinding and welding and grinding wheels again would not be the best idea, get new matching rims.

Ed

Thanks Ed

Thanks for answering Mike's question Tim. As always, you keep us straight on the specifications.

Mike,
As for what RPO 273 means to me, my truck came with 15” wheels and tires when I purchased it back in 1976. It was only after digging into this site many months ago that I found out the 15” wheels probably came on the truck from the factory. I had thought for a while that they should have been 16” wheels. Since I have had the truck, despite years of my neglect, I have tried to preserve the pieces and parts on the truck for a future restoration. (Obviously, I could have done a much better job.) I knew when I purchased the truck that I had something special and I have now finally ended my guilt trip by getting the truck into the garage.

So this RPO 273 means trying to keep this truck as original as possible and practical. As I said later in my original post, I may just go the Jim Carter route and get something that I can use for now and feel safe. I can always send these original wheels to a wheel shop later for when I decide to delve further into this restoration. That may be my best solution for now. Right now I am just trying to get her running and rolling and stopping safely. However, I am still curious about the 3-clip verses 6-clip wheel differences. It may be less expensive to modify a 3-clip wheel to a 6-clip wheel than try to have some of the wheels I have restored. If the backspacing is the same and the slots are the same, did they just drop three clips? That is my main question.

Thanks again

Here is a link to something I found on this site from back in 2014:

3-Clip verses 6-Clip Wheels

Thanks for clearing it up for me. I had looked at Tim's manual and didn't see the RPO-273 at first...then looked again and I see they are not in chronological order, but it is there!

For some reason I thought you lived in Canada...another oops!

Mike B

No problem Mike. I actually started out with a bigger oops by listing the RPO incorrectly. That was embarrassing but thankfully Tim was quick to correct me on my mistake. I actually live in Alabama in a little community right outside of Jasper in Walker County.

Hopefully, I may soon be able to answer my own question concerning the 3-clips verses 6-clips 15" X 5 1/2" wheel differences. I will follow up on this post when I know the answer. I think I know already, but I want to be sure first.

Thanks

I said that I would follow up on this post, so here is what I was able to determine concerning the 3-clip verses 6-clip wheel differences. First, although again somewhat embarrassing, I determined that the wheels on my truck are 15" x 5" and not 15" x 5½" as I had previously thought. I actually determined this when I was checking the backspacing on the 15" x 5½" 3-clip rims I recently purchased. The 3-clip rims have a 3-13/16" backspacing and the rims on my truck have a 3-5/8" backspacing. (The tires are on the rims but that is no excuse, I still should have done a better job of checking.) So apparently, my truck did not come with RPO 273. Instead, it came with 15" x 5" wheels that were, as best as I can tell, either from a 1947-1949 Chevy Truck or possibly from a 1948 Chevy passenger car (RPO 287 and 288). This information came from the GM Vehicle Heritage Center-Archives-Vehicle Information Kits (VIK). Of course, the wheels could have come off a GMC Truck, but I was unable to find a way to research that information. The only options offered on the 1954 3100 Truck at the time of purchase were 16" x 4½" or 15" x 5½" wheels, certainly not a 15" x 5" wheel.

I purchased the 15" x 5½" 3-clip wheels from a nice gentleman on this site and they, as far as Chevy trucks go, appear to be from a 1957 Chevy 3100 series, and they have a 9/16" offset as shown on the 1957 Chevy Truck VIK. Again, they could have come off a GMC truck, but I have no way of researching that information.

If I had checked a little closer on RPO 273, I would have seen that the 15" x 5½" wheels have a 0 offset and my wheels have the 9/16" offset. (Or close since I measured a 5/8" offset)

My original intent was to prove that the only difference in the 3-clip wheels verses the 6-clip wheels was the number of clips. I do know from closely observing the center portion of all the rims that they are the same and it appears that the only thing that changed is the size of the clips and the number of clips. (The holes are still there for the other 3 clips.) I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the engineers at GM probably decided sometime around the 1955 2nd Series to widen the clips from ½" to ¾" and reduce the number of clips from 6 to 3. This would be a 25% savings in material costs, not to mention a savings in labor, all while producing a better product. The ¾" clips are much sturdier than the ½" clips, and the 3-clip design seems, at least to me, to have more holding power for the hubcap than the 6-clip design. The reason I mentioned the 1955 2nd Series is because that is what was stated within a previous link back to this site. I actually have no way of knowing this since at least two individuals have informed me that the 1954 3100 trucks had 3 clips. My truck did not have its original wheels, so I really have no way of knowing. Maybe someone else on this site can verify the number of clips that were on the 1954 3100 truck wheels.

I guess my days of saying my truck came with RPO 273 are over. Instead, I will be running some very nice 15" x 5½" 3-clip wheels on the rear with 15" x 5" 6-clip wheels on the front. (With a 9/16" offset.) The good news is that the wheels will accept the original 1954 style hubcaps and while the 3-clip wheels are not original to the truck, they are at least period correct and appear to have more holding power.

This has been a learning experience and I am enjoying the adventure. These wheels will be a perfect companion to my 1953 Harrison Heater (not original to the truck) and the 1954 Studebaker hood ornament that came with the truck when I purchased it in 1976. I was going to have the wheels blasted and powder coated, but I recently read that powder coating is not a good option, so I guess I will be painting them. If anyone is interested, the look I am going for is in the picture below. It is also not original to my truck since the stripes were not on 15" wheels. I also attached a picture of my method for determining offset and backspacing.

If anyone wants to weigh in on my observations, please feel free to do so. I am certainly no expert, as evidenced by the comedy of errors above.

Thanks

PS I need to add that I also have a 15" x 6" 6-clip wheel that does have a different center with longer clips. Therefore, I am not advocating that all of the center portions of the wheels are the same, clips are the same, or slots are the same, only on the wheels that I observed in my post. I was originally trying to do an apples to apples comparison from what I had purchased to what is on my truck. However, as you can see from the saga above, I was unable to do that.