The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk the Foggy Split-Rim Breakdown

No I’m not talking about a Flat & Scruggs Bluegrass tune, just venting some heat from the days work which left me in a fog.
I just don’t know why I bother, but I did anyway. Thought I’d share this experience in case any of yous guys are planning to service your own. These are the last of 14 split rims that I broke down. I did the last six yesterday morning and came out looking like I just crawled out of a wrestling match in the pigpen. Talk about sweat, I was getting about a pint of water to a tire, I’m sure Bill Longbox knows what I mean.
I’ve been trying to get a set of 8 lug split rim centers that I can fit up to tubeless rims. Finding the rims is my next challenge. Scrounged around the junkyard yesterday and found a nice set of 16” rims only problem is my centers are around an inch to big, DRAT!! I can find 16.5” rims that have the same ID but I’ve been advised to stay away from that size.
Anyway the HF tire changer worked for dismounting the tires, not to say it is the easiest or best tool for the job but it did hold the wheel while I beat, pried, wedged and cursed the tires off. Now, would I attempt to mount new ones up with this setup, NOOO WAY!!!! By the time I finally get a tire off, the bead is hacked up pretty bad and the tube and flap usually get cut up or pinched.
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2310662390098611668ilPWBj
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

14 split rims,last six yesterday !!!! Wow,that's too much like work.I let the tire shop handle any of my truck tire work.They can do it fast and SAFE,which good for me.

Denny, What's the big objection to using 16.5"s? I'm running them on my '53 3600 (mag wheels) but they do give a bit more tie rod clearance and they are not that hard to find. The load ratings are right up there also..I know I've sure tested these.

Even the best of the fighters know when to throw in the towel and that’s what I’m doin, at least for now. I still punching centers out of AD wheels and collecting one piece rims and have pressed the AD center in to one of the 16.5” rims but I’m a ways off from having a set for the truck and not real happy having to use 16.5” rims.
Main reason I’m against the 16.5” is the availability and choices with them. Just spend some time on the net looking up 16.5” tires and you will see what I mean. Also I do not want mag wheels and I’m not sure if the 16.5” tires were ever produced in 80 series aspect ration. I want to maintain the stock look as much as possible and with 16” tires there are many choices in that direction.

So back to throwing in the towel for the time being. I picked up a set of good 16.5” rims with very good tires already mounted to them for $100 at the junkyard this weekend. Although the tires are 9.50R 16.5’s they don’t fit to bad on the rear, I still have almost an inch of frame clearance so that is more than enough and I can get them on past the fender by just jacking up on the axle. The back spacing on the stock split rim is 3.5625” and the ’80 single piece rim is 4.625” so just a little over an inch difference. The ’80 center will take the original hubcap (of which I don’t have any good ones) and they fit nicely into the recess and the clips will work fine with them. The reproduction hubcaps bump the axle flange and they will not work. The repro’s are just a little shallower than the original cap.

Mounting the fronts is another story. They obviously will bump the tie rod ends which only clear the stock split rim by a little under .500”. So that brings me to the point of this post. (boy is that guy windy) I’ve spent the better part of a day and a half looking for adaptors. Can’t find any with the 1/2” studs or 1.25” thickness as stock spacers. I’ve emailed several for quotes but haven’t heard back. Skulte Performance Designs looks like the best product so far because of the design of the lug nut seats. These use a tapered seat to center the adaptor where some others use the shouldered lug nuts, which can allow the wheel to be slightly off center. At 150mph this could cause quite a vibation.
So any experience good or bad, suggestions, recommendations, advice or thoughts on the subject???? The one about spacers/adapters being no good and coming loose has already been proven to be an urban legend. Much testing has been done by the manufacturers and properly designed, installed and maintained they are perfectly safe and used on hundreds of thousands of vehicles even some OEM applications. Billet vs. cast is a no brainer.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL