Widening Wide 5 rims

[LQQKER]

I'd like to widened the wide 5s to 6 inches. Any suggestions on resources for doing so. ? Can tubeless radials be successfully used on these rims

[tubman]

Depending on how close to stock looking a wheel you want, you may consider making your own. We did this a lot when we raced dirt modifieds (that traditionally used wide five wheels). We got wheel centers and shells from Speedway motors and were able to come up with just about anything we wanted. On occasion, we cut down the original centers and used wheel shells from regular cars. It is surprising how many old rims will work with tubeless tires. The usually will hold air; I have even heard of old Ford wires working. The one problem some people have is the older rims lack the safety features of wheels intended to be used with tubeless tires.

[RalphM]

Do a search on the H.A.M.B. ,
There was a thread on there about this very thing. Can’t remember exact year/ model, but there was a 80’s ish honda(I think) that was used for donar rims. Using the wide five centers.

[deuce lover]

When I checked a few yrs ago WheelSmith has 6.5" wide bands that would fit the 36-39 centers.Better way to go then widening the originals.Yes radials will work tubeless - just seal the rivets from the inside.Wide wide 5's existed back then and were used on Busses and Dump trucks.I had a pair of 6" but were 15" and had only 4 scalops instead of all the way around.

[LQQKER]

Thanks, I'll check these leads out

[expavr]

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"Depending on how close to stock looking a wheel you want, you may consider making your own."


I would second Tubman's suggestion. Attached are photos of a set of rims that I had made for the tonner. The first step in deciding what rim size to use was selecting a tire size that fit both the look of the truck and would be readily available. I chose a 16" Michelin LT M/S radial tire commonly used on all pickup trucks. The second step was locating a set of usable OEM rims with the same lug pattern and detents to hold the hubcaps on. The third step was having a shop that makes custom wheels cut out the OEM centers and weld on a new radial style rim. Photo 1 shows the OEM Ford 17" rim with locking ring and Firestone bias ply tire that the tonner would have had when delivered. Photo 2 shows the new 16" radial rim with the Michelin LT radial tire. Photo 3 shows the tonner with the new radial tires and the spare OEM 17" tire.

[tubman]

That truck looks very good and finding tires should now be no problem.

[DocJohn]

I've made 5J, 6J and 7J 16" wide fives by drilling out the rivets and welding the centres to hoops cut from suitable vehicles. The 7" are from a Land Rover Discovery, the 6" are from a Fiat/Renault/Iveco light truck and the 5" are from a London taxi cab. This one is a 6Jx16 on the back of my Woodie.


The key dimension is the drop centre of the rim which should be 14.25". It's not impossible to go a bit bigger, just more work to extend the wide five centre to fit. The critical measurement when welding the two parts together is the back space, or offset. Too big, although it looks cool, puts a lot of load on the steering and wheel bearings, and gives a lot of kickback.


I made a jig to hold it all together before welding and can get the run out and eccentricity well within acceptable tolerances.

[Kahuna]

20 years ago I had a wheel company in Socal make 6 wheels for me for my 39 Ford coupe. They used new rims, after removing the centers from original wide 5 rims. 4 were 7" rims and the others were 6".
All worked fine and I ran tubeless Continental tires. I did have to check & measure carefully that the backspace was correct for the wider rims which were used in the rear for the 235R60 16 tires.
It cost $75.00 per rim at the time, including the centers that they provided.
Don't know if anyone does that work anymore

[DocJohn]

Another advantage of re-rimming with a modern hoop is that you get the safety hump that stops the tyre coming off after a puncture.

[Chris Haynes]

Pico Wheel widened my 1935 16" rims.

[Krylon32]

I'm having my deuce 18's widened at Bruce's Rod Shop