The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Suicide rims vs split rims

I believe the suicide wheels with the solid outer rim were made first. Then came the split rims with a split in the large outer part. Is this correct and when did the scuiside wheels disappear. Looking at the 20" wheels

Hy Bruce GMC, Google Firestone RH5, that is the true "widow maker" in my book. The term "split rim" has been misused for years, there was once upon a time a wheel that had a split in its rim, but I haven't seen one in years. The term "split rim" is now used to represent any multi-piece tube type wheel. Most multi piece wheels that have some form of a detachable outer bead ring are completely safe, if all the pieces are in good shape and they are handled/assembled correctly. Multi-piece wheels can be a two or three piece design. The Firestone RH5 wheel splits in the center of the rim and has a continuous non removable bead ring on both sides of the wheel, the identifier for these wheels is that they have a rectangular "box" around the inner circumference of the wheel, this "box" is covering the split in the wheel, it also makes it impossible to inspect the rim locking patrs for damage/wear/ or misalignment, without taking the wheel apart. Please also read the excellent Tech Tip on big truck wheels, hope that helps.

here's the tech tip
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/wheels/

here's a section of an RH5 wheel
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2903721360080251109pPFWcO

The different rim designs overlapped in time, many designs were made at one time. It's not a clear cut "they used this one from __-__ and then they used this one...."

Grigg

Great info.

Thank you