Wider Stock-Looking Wheels 46 Special Deluxe

[shedhouselife]

Hey guys. Anyone have a suggestion about this? I want to keep my 46 Special Deluxe wheels looking stock. But I'd like them 2" wider or so. Any offset suggestions or wheel-widening suggestions? Thanks. BTW, what is up with the peg on the drum and hole in the wheels? Safety lock?

[Andydodge]

That peg or pin was there to make it easier to locate the wheels correctly on the brake drum as mopars had the screw in bolts and without that peg or pin you will find that you are having a little bit of a problem aligning the holes in the wheel with the threaded holes in the drum and then screwing the bolt in at the same time.........the peg makes it easy to have everything aligned..........I used Wheel Vintique Chrome Smoothie 15x6 and 15x7 rims, they had the standard as supplied offset and with 195/65 x15 and 235/65x15 Coker Classic radials they cleared both front and back, inner and outer body and fender wheel arches.........these wheels can be ordered without chrome, just undercoated which may suit your needs.......I did have to remove the "peg" otherwise these rims fitted using the stock left & right threaded mopar wheel bolts.......................andyd   

[knuckleharley]

2 hours ago, Andydodge said:

That peg or pin was there to make it easier to locate the wheels correctly on the brake drum as mopars had the screw in bolts and without that peg or pin you will find that you are having a little bit of a problem aligning the holes in the wheel with the threaded holes in the drum and then screwing the bolt in at the same time.........the peg makes it easy to have everything aligned..........I used Wheel Vintique Chrome Smoothie 15x6 and 15x7 rims, they had the standard as supplied offset and with 195/65 x15 and 235/65x15 Coker Classic radials they cleared both front and back, inner and outer body and fender wheel arches.........these wheels can be ordered without chrome, just undercoated which may suit your needs.......I did have to remove the "peg" otherwise these rims fitted using the stock left & right threaded mopar wheel bolts.......................andyd   

You don't really have to remove the peg unless the wheels are chromed. I just more modern Ford or Mopar wheels on the older Mopars all the time. I just drill a hole between two of the lug bolt holes for the locator pin to "locate".

 

The first time I did this was when I went to Georgia to buy a 55 DeSoto with the 291 hemi in it. I was told the car had wheels and tires on it good enough to roll on my trailer,but when I got there I discovered it was sitting in a goat pen,and the wheels has sank into the ground and were rusted too badly to use. Had to go to a local junkyard and buy 4 wheels and tires,but you know they had no wheels with locator pins,so I just drilled holes in the wheels for the pins. Now I don't even bother to look for Mopar wheels when putting rims on a yard queen to move it around. If the Mopar wheel is bad,I just put a more modern 4-1/2 bolt pattern wheel on it after drilling a locator hole. Quicker to do this than it is to jack up and remove a Mopar wheel from another car.

 

But to answer your question,one method is to remove the centers from your original Mopar wheels,and then put them in rims that are wider. You can set your own backspacing this way to make sure you have the clearances you need.  We used to do this to put bigger tires on cars or trucks we drove on the beaches and across the sand dunes where I grew up.

Edited October 9, 2018 by knuckleharley

[Silverdome]

I ran a set of 1980 Chrysler New Yorker wheels on my '48 Plymouth for a few years. They had the wire hub caps, there were holes already there to just open up for the alignment pin. They worked well and the offset was good.

[Frank Elder]

 1980s dodge diplomat police package wheels are a fit but that is about as wide as you would want to go in those narrow rear wheel wells .

[shedhouselife]

Thanks to all you guys! Great ideas.

[Plymouthy Adams]

a note of caution...the modern steel as described on the FMJ cars are nice but on the front, the offset is just enough that you will possibly have a bit of scrub on the inside of the tire by the tie rod end.  I found a 1/4-3/8 spacer as is common at many big box store just the ticket to assure me of proper clearance when running the newer slightly positive offset rim and radials.  Do inspect this closely.

[Dartgame]

I put a set of 80’s police rims on my 52. No clearance issues at all. But then again mine is a 52 and yours is a 46, so do check if you go that way.

[thebelvedereman]

I ran 15x7 1970s Mopar cop Wheels with 225 70 15 radials on my 48 Plymouth for quite a while without any alterations, or any problems