Substitute Wheel For 3/4 Ton Truck

[Jeff Balazs]

Hi Guy's;

I have been looking for over a year for a spare wheel for my 3/4 ton. No joy on a OEM wheel.

I suppose that because this wheel was only fitted on 3/4 ton trucks it is fairly rare. It is 15" dia. x 5 1/2" wide and has a 5 x 5" pattern. The lug holes are fitted to 9/16" dia. studs. None of the other size trucks used this size and pattern

 

If anyone has a suggestion for a appropriate substitute rim that has these spec's and has the correct offset I would appreciate it. I can't put this on the road without a proper spare.

 

The other day there was a posting asking about the rarity of 1 ton trucks.......I am pretty certain there were more 1 tons than the 3/4 ton models. Some of the stuff specific to this size truck seems to be quitre rare.

 

Thanks for you help.

Jeff

[Dave72dt]

Ford used a 5 x 5 pattern for awhile on their 1/2 tons, at least in the mid 50's but they were 1/2" studs. They may be adaptable to your needs.

CORRECTION 5 ON 5.5, disregard suggestion

Edited August 22, 2013 by Dave72dt

[ggdad1951]

I might have a rim for ya...let me look at home.  The FEF caboose project had three rims I'm not going to use.  Look at that thread and see if that looks right?

 

http://p15-d24.com/topic/30001-fef-caboose-project/?hl=caboose

Edited August 21, 2013 by ggdad1951

[Jeff Balazs]

Mark;

Very possibly........I will keep my fingers crossed. It the mounting studs are 9/16" then it has to be.

 

Jeff

[Merle Coggins]

I think I may have an original rim, but the hub cap clips are broken off. I also have some other rims that were on my B2C parts truck. I don't know what they originally came from, but they fit on the 5X5" - 9/16"  studs.

 

Merle

[P15-D24]

It is a rare wheel, Hollanders doesn't have any substitutes listed. 

[Scruffy49]

Ford used a 5 x 5 pattern for awhile on their 1/2 tons, at least in the mid 50's but they were 1/2" studs. They may be adaptable to your needs.

 My Fords from 48-57 were all 5 on 5.5, same as Willys, which is too bad, because I have some Willys wheels around here some place.

 

Let me check the barn and garage, I know the family plumbing business used 1/2 and 3/4 ton Pilot Houses. If I find the right wheel, I'll let you know.

[JBNeal]

FWIW:  I found a spare tire rim back in '95 that had some of the hubcap clips, and since my original rims had a few broken clips, I drilled out the rivets on the 'new' spare rim and put the usable clips where I needed them with new rivets I found at the John Deere dealer (same rivets are used on most sickle bars).  It may not be correct, but I don't plan on runnin' round with my spare for too long...although back in the day, I recall that the spare tire was used in the tire rotation pattern so that when the time was right, the driver had the option of replacing all 5 tires at once.  Anyhow, as long as ya can find something that fits, who's gonna know if the wheel ya use is 'correct'? 

[Dave72dt]

My Fords from 48-57 were all 5 on 5.5, same as Willys, which is too bad, because I have some Willys wheels around here some place.

 

Let me check the barn and garage, I know the family plumbing business used 1/2 and 3/4 ton Pilot Houses. If I find the right wheel, I'll let you know.

quote]

Thanks for the correction. I thought they were 5 but it's been a long time since I've had one around. I knew they had a bigger circle than most everything else around. I put a correction notice in my previous post.

[Dajudge]

Great, I am probably going to need one as well.  I have 3 good ones and the 4th has the valve stem hole rusted out pretty good.  We think we can fix it.

 

However, if we go to disk brakes on the front and a Jeep rear that will put us back to 1/2 ton wheels all around.  That is correct isn't it?

[ggdad1951]

sorry, the ones I have are15's x 5 on a 4.5" circle.

[Jeff Balazs]

FWIW:  I found a spare tire rim back in '95 that had some of the hubcap clips, and since my original rims had a few broken clips, I drilled out the rivets on the 'new' spare rim and put the usable clips where I needed them with new rivets I found at the John Deere dealer (same rivets are used on most sickle bars).  It may not be correct, but I don't plan on runnin' round with my spare for too long...although back in the day, I recall that the spare tire was used in the tire rotation pattern so that when the time was right, the driver had the option of replacing all 5 tires at once.  Anyhow, as long as ya can find something that fits, who's gonna know if the wheel ya use is 'correct'? 

Point taken but.....I put quite a bit of effort into retaining the original wheels. When I started this project I really had no idea of what I had let myself in for.

It is a long story but here it is in a nutshell. Hopefully others following me along this path can use this to avoid a few of the pitfalls.

 

When I got my truck one of the first things I did was pull the wheels off. The rubber was rotted and I had 3 broken lug studs on the driver side rear wheel.

I thought no big deal.....I'll just get the wheels cleaned up, put some new tires on and replace those broken lug studs. The wheels themselves were no big deal but finding replacement studs is another story. They are unique, no one makes a direct replacement and NOS items are unavailable. I ended up with some 5/8" studs that I fitted new to all 4 corners. Of course the wheels had to be drilled and chamfered to fit. At this point I started in on the original brakes.

 

The more I thought about how I intended to use the truck the more it became apparent that the gearing and the brakes should really be upgraded. So about 75% complete with the old brakes I bit the bullet and went for a Grand Cherokee rear axle with discs and a conversion kit on the front. I am happy I did but there was additional work necessary to make the original wheels fit. The Grand Cherokee axle had the right bolt pattern but needed longer 5/8" studs fitted, custom wheel spacers and some modifications to the caipers to work correctly. To use these wheels on the front I had to tit custom wheel adaptors with 5/8" studs. It all works well but it would have been a much easier job if I had a 1/2 ton or had thought things out a bit better. And it would have been ultra simple if it were a chevy instead of a Dodge.

 

So you can see why I would like to finish this up with as little fuss as possible. I know I can make a stock wheel fit.

Jeff