15" Wide Five Wheel ???

M

Mushmouth

New member
Can anyone tell me if Ford or Lincoln used a 15" Wide Five Wheel? Andy Southard in his book, "Hot Rods of the 1950s" shows a Model A roadster pickup which he claims has 16" wide fives on the back and 15" wide fives on the front. Was a 15" wide five a custom rehooped wheel or were there optional wheels in 15" available? I really wanna know.:confused:
 
I had a set of four about 15 years ago and I got them from an old stock car driver. I don't think Ford ever offered them as I have not seen anything in parts books so I always assumed they were after market. Friend of mine has a set he is going to put on his 36coupe. I couldn't use the spyder wheel covers on the ones I had why I sold them. I was told at the time they were made for tires that were available for them then anything else.
 
YES indeed there where Ford 15" wide five wheels, They all must have found a home in 50's era stock cars but were made for off road vehicles with flotation tires or soft ground operation. Marmon Herrington is the most common application. You can drill out a wide five wheel center and push the center into a 15" rim shell but this produces a very wide off set and no back spacing unit.
 
Kelsey Hayes #20369, 15" x 5.5", with 5 x 10.25" pattern was an option from 1936 to 1939 on "all passenger and light commercial" vehicles. "Used on any of the 1936 to 1939 hub and drum assemblies". My source is the National Wheel and Rim Association (NWRA) 1941 catalog. Same K-H part number is listed in the NWRA 1947 catalog with the following statement. "Note - This wheel not used as original equipment, installed on car as a 'change over' after car left the factory". Stu

Edit - the K-H 1953 catalog lists three. It shows the Ford part # for their #20369 was 81AS-1015. They also list #33466, 15 x 5.5", sold in sets only with no listed Ford number. Last is #28025, 15 x 6", sold in sets only with no listed Ford number. Stu
 
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You can buy brand new wide five 15" wheels from speedway for pretty cheap in any offset you want
 
Dick, was the wheel you cited a KH or a Ford?

Truckdog, The KH wheel had an 81A number on it but wasn't offered from Ford? That sure is strange.

I do know that there was an 18" wheel option, and the verticle spare mounts were adjustable to the larger wheel.
 
Don't believe that's what I said. The listing says it didn't leave the factory equipped with them, but that it was a "change over" option. Meaning either dealer installed, or like said, a Marmon-Herrington specified component. Chuck Mantiglia has told me that M-H continued to use wide five hubs through 1947 on all the half ton and car conversions. Similarly, I have a 1950 F-3 M-H that has the rear axle carried over from the 47 and earlier tonners with the 5 x 6 7/8" bolt pattern. M-H was good at using up old components. Stu
 
This is all good info and I appreciate it. I wonder what the likelihood of ever coming across any of these rims are? My son has a pair of the 18" wide fives and I might have sourced another pair but finding the 15" ones would be cool because I already have tires. What would be more money, suitable 18" tires or 15" wide five rims?
 
DICK SPADARO said:
YES indeed there where Ford 15" wide five wheels, They all must have found a home in 50's era stock cars but were made for off road vehicles with flotation tires or soft ground operation. Marmon Herrington is the most common application. You can drill out a wide five wheel center and push the center into a 15" rim shell but this produces a very wide off set and no back spacing unit.
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One of the "Ood ol boys" here said that, in the day wide 5's were easy but 50's oldsmobile & buicks had fat tires and not so old as to be common as junk. I suppose backspacing them putting the center on the outside would be a problem with wishbone interfearence. I plan on exparementing with this before I buy modern stock car wheels.y
 
Barry WNY said:
One of the "Ood ol boys" here said that, in the day wide 5's were easy but 50's oldsmobile & buicks had fat tires and not so old as to be common as junk. I suppose backspacing them putting the center on the outside would be a problem with wishbone interfearence. I plan on exparementing with this before I buy modern stock car wheels.y
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I guess mounting the centres on the inside, resulting in a wider track, would be a definite advantage on the race track.


I have seen metric wide fives - in fact I almost bought a set once until I realised they were not 16" but, if memory serves, 400mm diameter. They were in excellent condition but getting anything other than Michelins would probably be impossible. Presumably they came from a Matford or similar French car?

I think some European manufacturers periodically try to - literally - reinvent the wheel by using metric diameters: BMW did it a few years ago, and even some Austin Metros might have had an oddball wheel size.
 
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