here in Europe the solutions to change out the dangerous RH5 wheels are either limited, or very expensive. So I got in tough with a fabricator who specializes in widening steel wheels.
what I asked him was, get a set of 20" steel wheels and make them fit 6x8,75 and dually. he took 2 of the RH5 as a donor, got a set of wheels from a Deutz firetruck and came up with the attached designs.
I'm in it now for $500,- and wondering if I should cut my losses, or proceed.
the way he made the dually's the truck will be around 7ft8inch wide in the back. in the from the dually wheel didn't work because it got stuck againt the steering control arm. so he came up with the plan to reverse the center..
How common are modern Budd wheels with your existing bolt pattern, they are common here? How common are 22.5's, that size is more suited to your size truck?
Ed
'37 GMC T-18 w/ DD 4-53T, RTO-610, 6231 aux., '95 GMC running gear, full disc brakes, power steering, 22.5 wheels and tires. '47 GMC 1 ton w/ 302, NP-540, 4wd, full width Blazer front axle. '54 GMC 630 w/ 503 gasser, 5 speed, ex fire truck, shortened WB 4', install 8' bed. '55 GMC 370 w/270, 420 4 speed, grain, dump bed truck from ND. Works OK.
Ed, the 22,5s are the normal truck size wheels, but they start at 9" wide and will cost atleast $250 a piece second hand. then there is the tires... the thing is, I don't want to poor 5K into a ratrod project just on wheels.. I mean I bought the truck for 4K and was looking for a cheap project.
A lot of modern pickup trucks run 20" tubeless tires, but they're usually very low profile- - - - -wide tread with short sidewalls. They would probably look pretty ridiculous on a truck such as yours. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
A lot of modern pickup trucks run 20" tubeless tires, but they're usually very low profile- - - - -wide tread with short sidewalls. They would probably look pretty ridiculous on a truck such as yours. Jerry
I Agree Jerry, I'm looking at 245/70R20 but that doesn't excist it seems.. atleast not here in the Netherlands (don't forget I'm in Europe, different laws etc apply) Found some chinese tire Goodride CR960A 245/70 R19.5 136/134M but thats 19,5" so that means starting over.
Originally Posted by Tony292
There are tons of military surplus tubeless tires out there, mostly Michelin’s but a couple other brands as well.
I guess Tony, but again..I'm not in the USA. I can find 11R20 militairy tires..but they're way to wide, and old
Originally Posted by Mike B
Are they 20" or 22.5"? I've never seen a 20" tubeless HD truck tires...You can also look for 6-lug Budd to Dayton Rim Adapters and then run 22.5 Tubeless Dayton's...or your 20' tires on Dayton's.
Hey Mike, yes we've had this discussion before I can't find Dayton's here in Europe..and I don;t have the patience to wait for that one unicorn, because I need a rolling chassis to get moving along with the project. But if anybody knows of some Dayton's for sale, I do have a forwarding adress in Riverside, so I can look at shipping them over.
I'd love to go to 22,5, but the rims and tires here are ff'ing ridiculous in price..
What size tires do you want to use? What tires are affordable and available?
Maybe you should start there and have wheels made to suit.
doesn anybody run 19,5 and post pictures? because I thought they don't fit. So I've measured the rear drums, sorry in cm, but I'll share the inch sizes
the circumference of the widest part of the drum is 130.1cm, which calculates to 51.2" the diameter being 16.2" But there is the raised lip at the end; the curcumference there is 136.6cm which calculates to 53.8" the diameter being 17.1"
normaly you would say 19.5" vs 17.1" is no issue, but wheels are not a tube, there is usualy a "bridge" for added strength, which has a way smaller diameter. thus..does it fit or not? pictures of 19.5s on these drums would be highly apprediated.
yesterday I was over the moon having found a promising lead. attached you'll see a bus which is build on a 1963 C30 frame, which the owner asked $1500,- for. 19,5" tubeless, dually and 10 bolt pattern.
I thought I''d buy the whole bus and only use the front and rear axle but I have no idea what the rear is so I measured the width of the dually 80" (incl wheels) and the front is only 73" (inc wheels) that seems a bit narrow for a C60.
So I think i've come to terms with the looks of the refab'd 20's and found 245/60R20 tires with a load index 107, which means 2000lbs per tire.. should be enough. I'll asked my fabricator if he can widen the front wheels inwards and the back wheels outward with both 1 extra J backwheels are now 7,5J and front 7.
unless someone come's up with a brilliant (affordable) idea, the progress can be followed on my build thread. link is in my signature.
The reason I say 19.5s won’t fit a 1.5 to. Is the backing plates on the rear. Almost no clearance with 20s.
thanks Tony, thats a clear picture.
So using the world famous phote editing tool Paint, I took 2 pictures of the rear rim and put it together to see what the dually would look like the rims are 5" apart, I'll ask the fab guy is he can widen the rim outward, so the come closer together and I win an inch per rim to run 265/60/20.
Also I looked at the front rim and I don't like how far it's sticking out from the drum.. 1 possibility is to widen the rim, but..we have no power steering Secondly I came up with the idea to moon them, if thats a verb.
