I got a 52 ford f2 flat bed and need no know the bolt pattern. Out of town and cant access my truck. I might have a good deal if i can figure this out. Plus do you think a 15" rim would look odd or should i try and keep the 16"s. Its 8 lug.
The old Fords had a 8 x 6.5" bolt pattern, the same until, I think, the late '90s when they changed to a metric pattern. Keep the 16", the smaller wheels will look aweful in the big wheel opening. I doubt you can find 15" with an eight bolt pattern.
My 50 chevy has 15 8 bolt rims from the factory- use the same bolt pattern. Not sure if the hub size is the same, but they were made. Jim
Some of the 8 lug brakes are pretty big, make sure the 15" wheel will fit over the drum. Kind of hard to do without access to the truck. The 8 lug 6.5" pattern is very common, was used on all the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks for decades.
Dodge, Ford, and GM all used that pattern. Some issues with the center hole size, when putting Dodge wheels on a Ford, but a little work with a die grinder fixes that. There are lots of 15" aftermarket wheels available, from white spokes to mags, but some trucks have problems with the drums being too big for 15's. The metric wheels are the same pattern, just the studs are metric. If the wheels use special nuts, they won't fit your studs. Big 15's will look OK on your truck, just don't use low profile car tires.
I believe those wheels are also the split rim design (aka widow makers) and have not been considered safe for use for decades now. But you probably know that and will respond "I've used these for years and never had a problem" Play Russian roulette much? Ray
The 4x4 boys have run 15 inch 8 lug wheels in every width and depth for years on the older trucks and have only gotten away from them because the brakes on the newer trucks are too large to fit. If you are hunting for a set of rollers to get it home I don't think you would have trouble with a set of 15 inch Ford wheels . If you are going to leave it with the stock 8 lug and are looking for a nice set of wheels to run on it and run it at stock height I'd go with 16 inch if you plan on running radials as 16 inch tires seem to be the standard for a lot of newer trucks right now. I did that when I went from the widow makers to alloys on my 71 daily driver.
The F-2s came stock with one piece 16" rims, the F-3s came stock with the two piece 17" Widow Makers and as stated you will be hard fixed to find a shop that will touch them because of their poor design. The Ford Widow Makers are different than other multi-part rims that most people thing of that have the outer snap ring. Most truck shops will work on the rims with snap rings if they're still in good condition. The Widow Makers were a bad design from new and haven't gotten better with age. http://fatfenderedtrucks.com/widowmaker.html Any more modern Ford wheel from a F-250, with the same bolt pattern, will fit over the F-2 brake drums, both front and back. The F-3s have larger rear brake drums and are a lot harder to find wheels that will fit over them. If you had an F-3 the best thing to do is swap out the rear axle for a newer, pre-73 F-250 axle. They is also a good idea for an F-2 if you want better higher speed gearing. The rims from a Chevy would fit the rear axle of the Ford, but as mentioned you'd have to cut out the rear hub hole to fit the larger Ford axle. I think it would take a little more than a die grinder. You have to be careful on the width of the tire, the rears not so much but the fronts will rub on the steering arm. I have narrow stock wheels on my '49 F-2 and I have rub marks, everyone I know who has these trucks have the same.
Thanks alot. I better just try a find some later model rims and some center hubs. The ones ive got ive been told coker tire can redo them. There not split rims but the outer lips are in pretty bad shape. I seen a guy that had ambulance wheels on his and it didnt look to bad.
Are you looking to retain the stock hubcaps? If that doesn't matter any newer rim will work. If you want to use the stock hubcaps you have to find rims that have the inner nubs the the caps snap into. The new rims have outer nubs.
My bad, the "metric" wheels we swapped onto an older truck were 5 bolt, not 8. The die grinder comment referred to mags or aluminum wheels, not steel. There's certainly no shortage of Ford 16" one-piece wheels, but that doesn't answer the original question, does it?
It does help with his question about bolt patterns. Sounded like he might have a deal for a set of wheels that would fit his truck. As stated, the Chevy wheels also have the same bolt pattern but smaller hub opening. Just wanted to clarify that the wheel might not fit if they're from a Chevy. The second part of his question about the 15" wheels, I can't think of any that have the eight bolt pattern. Also, on the FTE board there are many people who have installed the hubs and rear axles from the 1/2 ton trucks on their F-2 and F-3, while retaining the stock fenders. The gap in the wheel openings on the larger truck fenders really stand out with the smaller 16" wheels used on the 1/2 tons. Both sized trucks used 16" rims but the larger trucks used higher tires which filled the opening. I think using 15" wheels would look really aweful.
I have 15", 8-lug (8-on-6-1/2") wheels on my 4x4 rig (calipers ground for clearance), and its companion trailer. They are from Eaton and Cragar, respectively. Not sure I remember ever seeing a OEM 15" 8-lug wheel, but I have not seen them all. Most commonly they are 16.5" (earlier ones have no safety bead, some later ones do) and 16", typically with a 6" width. Newer rigs are coming with steadily larger diameters. Dualie OEM steel 8-lug wheels can be 16" 16.5" and 19.5".
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