The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 1955 steel wheel qurestions

Good day all. I am new to Stovebolt, but not new to these forums in general.

I recently purchased a 2nd series 1955 Chevy 3200 (long bed). I has been fitted with a later 283V8 mated to a manual Saginaw 3 speed (on the floor). Right now I'm educating myself on the subtle differences between the 3100 and 3200 and all I can tell is that the 3200 uses the 3/4 ton 3600 frame while still remaining a 1/2 ton.

As you can see from the pictures the truck is in excellent condition. However, one of the things I want to do is go back to a bit more tradition look so I have a couple rather pedestrian questions:

1: I need a source for steel wheels that will accept aftermarket '55 hub caps. Coker Tire looks like they have them but also Dexstar seems to have something as well. Does anyone have any recommendations on this?

2. What width were the original tires on these trucks? I know they're all 6 lug on 5 1/2" bolt pattern but what width? Coker seems to offer them in varying widths. Any recommendations here?

Any help appreciated.

This is a great source of information about what was original and option back then:

https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits.html

T
Thank you! Great info.

Aftermarket wheels are all essentially the same, they are a copy of the Chevy rally wheels and the centers are not designed for the factory caps. There are 3 basic designs, rally's, artillery, and smoothy's. Many suppliers have them in various sizes, bolt pattern, width, and back space. Some I am familiar with are Vintique, Speedway, Brothers, Truck Shop, Wheelsmith, and Summit.
I purchased mine from Wheelsmith and they modified the stock caps by cutting out the center ring and welding in a replacement ring that fits the newer wheel design. Some of these suppliers likely now sell the modified caps to fit the new wheels.
Fred

I recently ordered a set of 16 x 6 smoothies with original style hubcaps from Wheelsmith. These rims mimic the original steel rims.

Original caps will fit on Wheelsmith smoothies with adapters from Wheelsmith. I opted to purchase reproduction hubcaps from them that fit the smoothies without the adapters.

Do you know what the widest tires that will fit on those rims?

Sorry Joe, I just saw your post.

When you look at the specifications for tires, it will list the range of rim width on which the tire will fit. It will give you the section width (widest point of tire), and tread width as well.

While shopping for tires I found some with treads as wide as 8 inches or more that would fit on these rims. I have the original Armstrong steering gear on this truck so I didn't want a tread more than 6 inches wide. I would have preferred 5 inches.

There are a lot of choices. You want to make sure that there won't be any interference with the fenders or frame before going too wide. The tires and wheels that were on the truck before were 7" rims (I think) and the tread was about 8 or 9 inches wide. Section width was about 10.5 inches.

Here are my new rims, caps, and Firestone tires 215/70 R16