Early ford wide 5 wheel question

My dad came back from my uncles house and said that out in the woods there is a trailer made out of an old Ford frame and it has wide 5 wheels on it. I plan to go out there Sunday to make sure. My dad says it has a banjo rear with all the wishbones there also.

So my question is what years were the wide fives from Ford produced and did certain models get them and others didn't, or were they all wide fives? Also which wide fives can be used with hydraulic 39 Ford backing plates? I ***ume only the 39 wide five will. Will the earlier wide five drum fit 39 backing plates?

Also I what year spindle will the 39-48 Ford backing plate fit. I have a a set of 48 Ford hydraulic brakes, any chance these will fit the spindles on the frame i've found? I love the wide five wheels but I doubt i'll be lucky enough for them to be 39's.

The good thing is my uncle said I could have it all free! So i'm going out there Sunday with some tools with the hopes that i'll have a lot of good parts to get my model a on the road. The wide five wheel is my favorite early ford wheel, and i hope if there is some good info here it will be sent to the techomatic cause i have searched the whole internet for this info and could not find it. I plan to go out there with a digital camera so I might post pics when I get back. Dad said there is boatloads of old farm equipment out there.

 

Wide Fives came on 36-39 Fords for sure (possibly 35s as well??), but as you mentioned, only 39s were hydraulic from the factory. The wheels interchange, but you need the internals from a 39 to run juice brakes with a wide five wheel.

 

Wheels are all the same '36 - '39. And any of the hydraulic backing plates, brake components, and spindles will fit with the wide five drums to my knowledge. Allthough I think I have read that the '36 drums may be different. I'm using '38 drums with later brakes and spindles on my T.

 

Some were 15", some were 16", some were 18", with 5-10 1/4 bolt circle. Also, 29 to 41 3/4 ton truck.

 

Not familliar with any Ford wheels from those years that were 15". I'm looking for some of the 18's....there not real easy to find!

But I should have been more clear and said they were all interchangable as far as bolt pattern. There was also a different version of the 16" that didn't have all the windows in it....just four slots I think, 50's Fraud had a set on his '36.

 

Simply the best example of the wide 5 wheel posted.

 

On the subject of Wide-5 brakes: If you're like me, you're too poor to really consider this, but it's maybe something to look at for the future.

Go to the local dirt track shop. Take a look at the wheels they sell there - a skeleton Wide-5. If you can, de-rust and get one of your '30s Wide-5s painted up decently (rattle can). Take it with you and see if you can figure out how much work it would be to use the dirt track disc brakes with a Ford Wide-5er.

This has been discussed here before, but I've yet to see anything conclusive.

 

The 15 inch wide 5 came on commerical vehicles like the sedan deliverys ambulances and some pickups . They were grabed up by the moonshiners and circle track racers. they were of a heavier construction on the centers and the shells. sort of the holy grail of skelton wheels.

 

Thanks for all the help, the fact that all these parts are free will really help my budget if they turn out to be what I need.

 

Yes, I knew what you meant, didn't mean to make it look like I was putting your answer down, but as I read it I could have been more clear with mine.

None of the 15" left, probably. They weren't that plentiful to start with, were on ambulances and beer truck types. We looked all over for them. We reversed all we could get for use with stock car racing. It eventually came to a point that they were real hard to find. In the mid-late '50s I raced dirt track oval, 1/4 mile north of Tucson. Our racing ***ociation was TACRA. Our favorite tire was the 600x15 and 700x15 cleated mud and snow tire, worked good in mud at the start of the race and not bad on the dry track either. I had a Dodge coupe, crossed over the bearings on the front to the Ford 5x10 1/4, ran with no brakes on the front. On the rear we cut a disc out of 1/2 inch plate and made an adapter so the 5x10 1/4 would bolt right on. That car went to the crusher, wheels and all in 1961. Anyhow, we reversed most all of the wheels we could find. Eventually, they all got bent and gouged. I never made a name for myself, but one guy that raced out of Tucson did, Roger McKlusky, graduated to sprint cars and actually ran at Indy years later. I'm not sure of that spelling. His race shop was in the east side of Tucson, McKlusky Automotive. Anyhow, the 16x4" disc wheel came on the 39-41 3/4 ton pickup truck.

 

Someone post a pic of Dave Diaz' '28 RPU from Andy Southard's Hot Rods of the '50s book...there's the reason I like 'em...
302

 

37-38-39 drums are the same. Repops are not available. If you find a set that will take a cut and still be within specs consider yourself lucky.

 

You are correct; these are mine. They're 16x5 and are 3/4 ton truck wheels. The drop center diameter is considerably smaller than on the p***enger car wheels, and may have been the same centers used on the 15" wide 5s. This picture shows a '39 Standard hubcap (I think); all the wide 5 hubcaps are interchangeable.

These are also very scarce wheels.

 

http://www.bobhindmanroadsters.com/I make wide 5 wheel centers 15&16 even 20

 

I just put a set of wide 5s on the rear of my Bucket w/ 6.50/16 knobby Firestones. It looks killer and actually the drums are in better shape than my standard '40 Fords so it stops better, too.

 

Hey Bob Hindman lets here more about the ones you make, like price, phone number, website or postal address I can get in touch with you. If you don't want to post it here just PM me.

 

Hindman Metal Fab 918-251-3949

 

Thanks for the info Bob, your number has been added to my files in case these I find turn out to be junk.

 

Does anyone have a pic of the 18" wheel? I have been searching the web and came up with nothing.

Thanks, Magnus

 

They look just like the 16, just bigger. I think the extra inch in radius is all in the "spokes" or whatever you'd call 'em. The last couple pair I've seem both sold for around $2K.

 

$2K?? Holy sh*t ! I guess they aren't for those with a thin wallet... Or it will be once you get them. Might as well by a S.C.o.T supercharger instead

 

something else to think about
the standard and deluxe wheels were different
standard wheels were less wide than the deluxe... i think
tom
maybe im wrong but i think thats what i was told
and the drums will fit a 50 ford rear axle.....

 

Hello

Once agin I bring an old thread to the top. Must be my mssion in life.

I bought a couple of wide 5 wheels from a guy I know. He says that 2 of them is from a Lincoln. I haven't seen them yet. But what size di Lincoln use? I guess the diameter is 16" but how wide? And do they look the same as Fords?

Thanks, Magnus

 

i found a bunch of wide five stuff including one 18" ...not much dirt track racing up here...

 

'36-37-38 Lincoln Zephyr, 5-10 1/4, PN 40FF50, 16x4, same as the Ford/Mercury '36-39 in 16x4, with same hubcap clip. This is not the complete story, as there were some Ford that were 15x5.5, 16x3.5, and 18x3.62 in years '36-'39, some of them had different hubcap clips.

 

I recently ran across quite a stack of hubcaps for these wheels. There appear to be 5 or 6ix different shiny part designs. Are they worth much? Anyone have pics of the different years?

Charlie

 

Here is a pic of my 18" wheels. They took a really long time to find.

 

Wow, there's not a lot of them laying around. If I had a set of them before I made my 20" wood-spokes, I'd have been tempted to convert my chivvy hubs for them. But of course, now that the work is done, I wouldn't switch.

 

Wow ! What were they used on ? How wide are they ?

 

16" are quite common here in the UK as they were used on the Ford V8 Pilot, I need a pair of 15" dia Wider 5's.... any uk hamber s got any?? got some spare 16's to trade and other stuff . Peace 8bb