The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1954 3800 series wheel question

I have a 1954 3800 series Wayne school bus. You can see a pix of in the gallery. It has 17" pickup style wheels on the front axle and 17" budd wheels (duals) on the rear axle.

Today I drove down to Tom Myers truck store in Miami, OK. and bought two 'dually' type hubs for the front wheels of my bus.

I heartily recommend Tom and his crew. He was friendly, helpful, had the parts I wanted and invited me to walk around his yard. He even asked if I brought a camera! Thanks Tom.

Several years ago I sold a 1949 GMC one ton to a guy who didn't want the tires and wheels. I ended up with a set of six budd type wheels with eight hole and eight lug bolts. They are 18" wheels. I had put brand new tires on the wheels and they never left my driveway.

I saw a 53 3600 on ebay a while back that had 17" wheels on it. It was the same color as my pickup (I painted it last month). I thought, gee, I got these 18" tires and wheels that will fit on the bus, I can use the 17" tires on my 53 3/4. I got a one ton parts truck that will supply the needed 17" wheels.

So, I take the front wheels off the bus, put the new hubs and new tires on the front and move to the back of the bus.

It was only then I noticed that the 17" wheels on the back of the bus have 6 lug bolts, not eight. I take the wheels off the bus and notice a spacer that converts from eight lugs to six lugs on the rear wheel.

The space was made in St. Charles MO by some manufacturing company (I couldn't make out the name).

I take spacer off and put the new 18" wheels and tires on the bus. Without the spacer the wheels set inside the wheelwell 8.5"

I went across town to my 1954 3800 series one ton with duals to see how it was set up. It too has 18" wheels. It measured the same as the 18" wheels on the bus. The bus just didn't look right with the wheels so far inside the body. I think Wayne made one width of body and adjusted the length to suit the chassis.

My neighbor (1959 fleetside, 1955 fodor sedan and 2004 Suburban and whole bunch of volvos) and I decided the truck looked better with the 17" wheels and spacer. So I switched them back.

Now, I got 18" on the front and 17" inch on the rear. I never drive the bus out of town (mainly use it on Thursday and Friday to pick my grandsons up from school). I would like to use the 18" wheels and tires as they are brand new. (With the 17" back on the bus, I only got two tires for my pickup.)

Can I hurt anything using 18" on the front and 17" on the rear?

Does anybody know if a spacer is made for 8 lug wheels?

Were 18" pickup style wheels available?

Is a 6 lug budd type wheel available in 18"?

Oh yeah, one last thing, I could never bust loose the lugs on the left rear wheels, so I'll have to go to a tire shop tomorrow. Yea, and the left front wheel was flat!

I tried telling this all to my wife and she got that glazed look in her eyes and went back to watching designed to sell.

Jim

Well Jim I read every word with intense interest. Really!

But I don't know the answers to any of your questions. I read it carefully because I love those 18 inch budd wheels, and want a set for one of my trucks.

I also intend to put a dually adapter on the front of my 1-ton and would like to know more about what you bought. Were these used parts or something I could buy new? Do they have a brand?

I put a set of of four, eight lug dually adapters on my 53 one ton. They are supposedly off a 78 3/4 ton flatbed dually bought new from a dealer according to the man I bought them from. Having never seen a 70s 3/4 ton dually, I cannot verify this other than I pulled them off the truck and they looked like they had been on there for 25 years. It was a farm truck and I think the dealer must have had some sort of conversion done to it, maybe it came as a cab and chassis.

I have occasionally seen this same set available on ebay.

While I cannot recommend them due to the slow service, Stockton Wheel makes a new copy of the steel adapters I have. He has them on his truck.

Steve, what I have would work perfect for your situation. Like I said, available new from Stockton if you want to wait on them.

I have done business with Toms Truck parts and I agree, He is a good source for parts. I converted my one ton to a dually. Had to change the front hubs to accomadate the bud wheels.Got the hubs and wheels from Tom.

Be sure the lugs on the left side are not left hand thread.
Sometimes they are, but it is mostly a ford thing I think.

Grigg-- the lugs were left hand thread!

Couple quick stories:

One of the new tires was flat where the valve stem had rotted after 4 years of sitting on the tire tack.

I took the tire to the shop where I originally bought them to get it repaired. It is a split rim. Now I have changed many a split rim in my time and I just didn't have the energy to do it.

I left the tire and took my kids to the airport to for a trip to Disneyworld in Orlando. Later the afternoon, I went to the tire shop and nothing was done to the tire yet.

No problem, I'll come back later. Around four I went back the tire was busted apart but the guy who did it was on a service call and I could get the tire tomorrow.

Nevermind I said, just give me the tube and flap, I'll put it back together myself.

"what's a flap?" I gathered my stuff and left.

I then went to a BIG TRUCK tire shop, got a tube and flap and went home and fixed the tire.

The next day I took the bus to the same shop to bust loose the lug nuts. Grigg was right, they were left hand thread, all my work to remove them, I was just tightening them.

Anyhow, the bus had got budd wheels all around, painted yellow with silver lugs and detail.

I think it looks sharp! I also finally got all the Precious Moment's writing off of it.

I had painted one panel on the side of the bus and it looked really bad. My wife sanded it down and repainted it.

She is a better painter than I am! And she didn't have that glazed look in her eyes!

Instead, her hair was yellow!

As an aside, I took the front wheels off the bus and put them on the rear of my 53, I bet I gained 10 miles an hour going to the leaf dump!

Jim