The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts replacing widow makers w/3 pc rims?

The front tires on my 64 c60 are starting to crack pretty bad. I picked up 2 3 pc rims for free. they look decent but i'm gonna clean em up with the needle scaler and make sure they're OK. I've changed these before and am comfortable doing it but I've never run em on any of my trucks let alone on the steering axle. Are there any problems associated with this type rim? Also is there a place to find 900 or 825/20 tires that are made someplace other than Red China? Thanks.... Mike

Those 3 piece rims are the best to work with. They should work good on the front but if I only had 2 I would put them on the rear outside. With the widow makers on the front or inside, if they blow at least they would go inside & not likely hurt anyone. You can mount them up & put just enough air in to make sure they are seated & then put them on the truck & finish airing them up.

I think you've got it backward.
Seating the bead on any type of rim is/can be dangerous.
I would suggest you assemble the wheel and tire and then put it in a cage or on the truck as suggested, and finally seat the bead and adjust the pressure only after it's in a secure place and you're out of the way.

Grigg

Thanks
The widow makers are going in the junk pile, The rears have been changed to lock ring wheels and have mud grip tires on them. I want to get new straight tread tires for the front and mount them on the 3 pc rims if possible. I don't have a cage but always wrap a heavy chain around the rim before airing them up not the best way but it does work.... Mike

The suggestion of wrench bender was the common way of doing it in the 50's through the 70's. Everyone considered the RH-5 as dangerous and if they didn't have enough 3 piece to go around, they put them on the steering axle or on the inside duel on the rear. I have been looking for 3 piece wheels for 6 months and haven't found any yet. The RH-5 were produced for almost 25 years. I didn't know anyone who really liked them, but they probably were less dangerous then without 50 years of rust working on them. And it was a time that we hadn't heard of product liability. Some things were just dangerous. In fact the mortality rate of truck drivers when I started was was worse than for boys who served in Vietnam.

not to change the subject but... do you guys consider the 3 piece rims safer than the 2 piece locking ring style rims...? I was planning on running two locking style rims up front and four of the three piece rims out back on my truck...

I prefer the 3 piece over the 2 piece, but the 2 piece were used for many years and are still made. As long as you have the correct lock ring for the wheel and you clean the rust out of the groove, I wouldn't hesitate using either one of them. In my experience, I have actually found the 3 piece to have suffered more rust damage than the 2 piece.