I have searched throughout the internet and big bolt threads for the past few days and it seems the more information I gather, the more I grow confused.
I am an college student and I have recently acquired and strong interest in making my 56 4400 my daily driver/ tree trimming rig.
I understand the 56-59 22.5 wheels for the 1.5 ton trucks are sought after, but I don’t exactly understand why. I believe it’s for the 22.5 size but aren’t they still rh5 wheels? And are the sought after wheels in question 10 lug? I have been trying to figure out the exact answer to that for I have a 56 1.5 ton but I have 6 lug rh5s.
I also am confused with the budd style stud guided vs hub piloted. I understand that the budd style wheels use the 1.5 in square stud. It also appears that the hub has a concentric extrusion that seems to pilot the wheel on as well. I just clarification on my configuration. My wheels have the square studs and are six lug. Which I believe to be the budd wheels.
On top of that I have not been exactly able to find the bolt pattern for my 56 4400. I am needing to know the bolt pattern and center hole size as I am about to start searching the big truck salvage yards for some good candidate wheels for slight modification. I would measure the bolt pattern but I am 3 hours away from home at school and am looking to take this on as a summer break project. (Yes I will be adding OD and fooling with brakes but I need to sort this out first thing before anything else)
I hate to post more big bolt wheel threads but I have not been able to pin point details for my exact configuration. I have attached a picture of my rear wheels. I appreciate any information I can get. This forum ROCKS!
The serial number and badging show to be 4400. With a gvw of 14,000. Maybe not out the question that the rear could’ve been swapped with a 6400 back in the day? Not too sure but is there is 5 lug in the front. Is there a difference between the six lug on the 4400 vs the 6400? Center hole bore? Thank you 69Cuda.
5 lug front sounds like a 4400, 6 lug rear, is it a 2 speed? sounds like it was swapped out, as they should have matched from the factory (4400 should have used the 5 in front and 10 in rear, same pattern, 10 holes in all wheels, but only used 5 of them in front). I have not seen a 4400 with 6 bolt wheels, but I am not an expert on the big bolts, there are others with way more experience than me! (and way more trucks!)
Yessir it is an electrically actuated 2pd rear. I had not even questioned the different lugs as I assumed that was a weird big bolt thing. That actually adds some interesting history if that’s indeed the case! Thanks!
Well this is all making a whole lot more sense to me as I have been reading so much contradictory information that confused me something awful haha. Guess I’ll be looking out for and original rear and wheels or the 6400 front axle and wheels.
Your truck was not born with that rear...we'll need to see some pictures in order to help determine what you have.
The difference between the 20" and 22.5" rims is that the 20's are multi piece that use a tube type tire and the the 22.5 are one piece that use a tubeless tire. Lots of old farm trucks can be found running a mix of 20" and 22.5" as they were designed to be replacements for each other. The 6-lug 22.5's are a lot easier to find than the 10 lug.
Original wheel center hole would be 5.25"...you'll need to measure your rear hub to see what the hole size is since it's not stock.
Now this is making a lot of sense to me now haha. My fronts are the 22.5 wheels as they do have tubeless tires. I believe I found a vin decoder for these trucks and I was able to determine that the truck is in fact a 4400.
So now I understand that the 22.5 wheel, 6 and 10 lug, all were single piece tubeless, great!
Now, were the six lug 22.5s and option for the 1.5 ton or for strictly put on the heavier trucks. Another way to ask I suppose is did the heavier trucks, 6400, etc come with 22.5 single piece wheels? If so, I am on the search.
Thank you Mike B and EdPruss. I have really been searching for this information!
The wheel in your photo IS NOT an RH-5. It's a 3 piece wheel, consisting of a barrel section with the center and the bolt holes, a full circle outer bead ring, and a split ring that locks everything together. It's perfectly safe to run "as is"- - - -there's no need to look for different wheels unless you want the convenience of running 22.5" tubeless tires. How about the front wheels? Do they have a flat raised area about 2" wide out by the barrel part of the wheel? That's the simplest way to identify the illegal and dangerous RH-5's. Because of the way the front wheel isinstalled, you'll need to look INSIDE the wheel to see that raised lip if it's the "widowmaker".
It seems that I'm just full of misinformation today- - - - -when I enlarged the pic of the rear wheel, it is indeed a RH-5 design. Those wheels will need to be changed, either to 22.5" tubeless, or the 3-piece 20" wheels I mentioned above. Sorry for leading you astray! 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!
Your rear axle appears to be from a 2 ton or larger, my '57 2 ton has that bolt pattern with 22.5 Budds. Fronts and rears are the same on 2 ton and larger.
1957 Chevrolet 5700 LCF 283 SM420 2 speed rear, 1955 IH 300U T/A, 1978 Corvette 350 auto, 1978 Yamaha DT175, 1999 Harley Davidson Softail Fat Boy
Starting in 1956 ALL Chevrolet 2-ton and larger trucks with Budd wheels were 6-lug on 8.75" circle. After 1955-2 only the 4000 series trucks had the 5/10 lug rims. if you got the optional 2-speed 15K pound rear the lug pattern still stayed the same.
Starting in 1956 ALL Chevrolet 2-ton and larger trucks with Budd wheels were 6-lug on 8.75" circle. After 1955-2 only the 4000 series trucks had the 5/10 lug rims. if you got the optional 2-speed 15K pound rear the lug pattern still stayed the same.
Mike B
What year did they change back to the 5/10 bolt pattern? All of the 67-72 medium duty trucks I have seen but one were 5/10. Only seen 1 with the 6 lug pattern and the rest were daytons.
What year did they change back to the 5/10 bolt pattern? All of the 67-72 medium duty trucks I have seen but one were 5/10. Only seen 1 with the 6 lug pattern and the rest were daytons.
I should have said 6000/60 series trucks had the 6-lug at least through the TF series.
I do know the 5/10 lug were used into at least the early 1970's on the 40 and some 50 series trucks (some 50 series trucks in the late 60's used the 6-lug), but the 60 series and up used the bigger bolt circle 10 lug or Daytons.
