The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun 1955 Chevy 3800 Front wheels?

After about a year and a half of accumulating parts, I'm just about ready to tackle my truck project. It is a 1955.2 one ton with dual rear wheels. I would like to run 16" one piece wheels on the truck. I plan to swap out the rear end with a newer one with better gears, so no issues there. I tried newer (1973-up) dually wheels on the front. They fit and look good, but have less than 1/8" clearance with the tie rod end. I measured the distance fron the inside mounting flange to inside of wheel and it is about 7 7/8". The original 17" wheel is right at 7". So I measured every other dually wheel I have or could find at a recent swap meet, 16" GM and Ford, 16.5" GM, and even the newer 17" GM dually wheels. None is any less than the 7 7/8". Is anyone aware of a 16" wheel that is just a little more shallow than the standard dually wheel? I've been told I can use 19.5" bread truck wheels for greater clearance, but I would prefer to go with 16's to keep tire costs down. Any ideas or experience would be appreciated.

You can take the steering arms off the back of your spindle and shim it about 1/4 inch,it will give you about 3/8 clearance.You will have to realign the tie rod.