1951 Ford F5 beginner help

There is one potential issue with the locking rings that you should be aware of and that is there could be hairline cracks on the locking rings that aren't visible to the naked eye. Of the 5 original rims that were on the tonner 2 showed questionable hairline cracks on the locking rings when cleaned and magna fluxed. I bought 4 more rims to get a complete OEM set of rims and the locking ring on one of those had been tweaked to the extent that it wouldn't firmly seat in the groove on the rim. The point is that when you're buying a 65+ year old rim that has been sitting around exposed to the elements, beaten on by a tire shop and dropped into some potholes while in use, it becomes a crapshoot what you might end up with. If you're not planning to enter the truck for judging I would recommend you look for a set of tubeless rims and tires. It will save you $ in the long run. JMO.
 
Agree. All multi-part wheels were subject to damage from road hazards, rust, and rough handling by service techs. Fractured and sprung rings can be deadly. Too often tire techs were ignorant of manufacturer warnings about the dangers of mix matching different ring and rim designs, and widths within the same design family. A week or so ago I spent time helping a guy decipher codes to match up rings to their correct rims. Two rims of eight had wrong rings.

Not so much the case with motor home 19.5s. I've had dozens of 19.5s from yards but only a few that were junk because of pot hole dings. I don't recall any of the others that wouldn't roll straight on my barn's concrete floor. Motor homes spend most of their time sitting. Tires rot from UV exposure, but the wheels are often like new.

Last, don't dismiss the option of new 22.5s. Les Schwab can get them delivered to any of their stores and ready to mount. Stu

 
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Thanks again Stu and everyone else. After much deliberation I decided at least for now the lock rings are the way to go. Period correct, closer to the right size and will preserve my ratios.

Turns out that ebay listing was for a full set of 6 so Im at least rolling safer than before and for only $300, and Ill be able to pick them up, rather than ship. Takes a bit of pressure off my shoulders, and Ill be happy to cut up the old rims when Im back out in ND. Probably keep my eye out for the 5.25" x 22.5" tubeless wheels as well, but this is much better than where I started.

On another bright note, just got off the phone with my uncle and apparently right before the truck was parked it had a totally rebuilt engine dropped in, along with a rear end rebuild! He never put many miles on it after the rebuild either, just got parked. But it was parked without draining any fluids.. so the gas tanks bound to be a mess, gotta figure out how to clean if or pick up a better one.

Good to be moving along, even though the truck is far away.
 
Well, Im hoping that these wheels will be allright, they are off a California truck and still have paint on them... All came off the same truck too. Guess this is where the real learning comes in!

Should I get all the tires off wheels cleaned magna fluxed and if good, painted and remounted, or do you think if the wheels look good in person I can just mount them in place of the widow makers on the truck and use them
 
I'd let the tires be your guide. Hard to tell their condition from eBay pictures. Highly likely they will have UV cracking which then takes you to Schwab or some other shop to have tires pulled and recycled. Once the rings are off anyway it would be prudent to have them magnfluxed.

Before taking them anywhere see if you can find numbers on them. Budd stamped numbers into either the concave rim lip or on the concave inner disc. If they are Kelsey Hayes you won't find numbers outside. There will be Firestone rim identification codes on the inner rim base and hopefully still on the rings. Make sure the shop keeps them as sets, and if you magnaflux the rings you'll need to ensure the rings go back to their correct rims. Unless they all have the same rim design and width then it won't matter if they get mixed. My guess from the picture is that they have Firestone RH outer rims with RI rings. If that's right, given their age, the ring coding will probably be molded into the rear bead surface of the rings. This practice led to the coding being destroyed by rust. Hopefully not in southern CA. I should be able to look up the numbers and tell you what you have.

Glad there were really six instead of five. And glad you can pick them up to save shipping.

If you later want to find original 22.5s be aware there were three widths made - 5.25", 6.00", and 6.75". The narrowest tire today is a 9R22.5" that is spec'd for the 6.00" and 6.75". Guys use them on the 5.25" too, but the manufacturers didn't sanction it. Stu

Edit - those didn't start life on a 56 Ford COE, they were swapped onto it. From one of the donors I mentioned at the start of your thread. Stu
 
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