1960 F100...A few years ago I put an ECI (I think) Disc Brake kit on it. Low and behold, the previous owner had older KH steel wheels on the truck and they didn't fit over the calipers. The angle grinder fixed that problem.... Well, the problem I noticed last week while chasing yet another problem was a ring around the inside of the tire that matches up with some cleaned and polished metal spots on my pitman arm. It looks like when I have the wheel CRANKED all the way left- locked out is probably the best terminology- it's been rubbing ever so slightly. Obviously I want to fix this. I found that a 5mm wheel spacer didn't change things. I'm now looking at those wheel adapter/spacer style ones that get nutted to the studs and provides 5 new studs to use- I figured a 2" would work fine and there appears to be plenty of room around the tire/fenders, etc. The set of 4 would be about $100. Would one of these style spacers even work? Is this wheel considered lug centric? But that $100 would be $100 closer to getting a new pair of wheels for the front. (I have some Ansens for the rear that I have never put on). Summit has some slot mags that I could snag but they would take almost a month to get here, which is pretty asinine in 2017. If that is the route I take, what backspacing do I need? The current wheels have about a 3.625" backspacing. I'd want a lower number, right, but how much lower? 5mm didn't seem to matter..I think the mags Summit had were 2.5"...If I went that route then the tires wouldn't fit, or it wouldn't fix the problem, or some other damn thing would be wrong (seems my ownership of this truck is cursed). The center hole of the KH wheels are about 3.3" and ride snug on the hub. Are these hub centric? Any thoughts on my questions, and also, what would you do? Thanks, in advance.
You can get the spacer made to be hub centric on both the hub and the wheel. They won't be 100 a pair though, 100 each would be closer but I bet it runs 300 for a pair. The next thing you run into with a 2" spacer is scrub radius. Oh and if you really do have room for a 2" spacer or a 2" backspace change,,, it probably looks goofy with the wheels in that far.
That's what I was thinking, if you have been driving it for years without a turning radius problem, I would just adjust the steering stop to eliminate the problem. Don't know about a '60; but the earlier F-100's had an adjustable stop screw on each steering arm. Certainly a better idea than spacers and more economical than new wheels.
Just thinking as I can't remember exactly how the F100 steering stops are attached. It's possible that somewhere along the line the steering stop (s) got left off when work was done on the front end. On the front end of my 48 Chev the stops which are tabs that bolt on behind the pinch bolt for the king pins. I had the same issue on left turns once in a while when I cut the turn tighter than I should have.
Steering stop, huh? Just did a quick google search- looks like a bolt that is probably somewhere on the back of the spindle or maybe on the axle? Looks like I can probably just back it out a few threads? If that is not the case, then what would I do with it? Thanks.
WOW... Can't thank you guys enough who suggested I look for the steering stop. That could not have been any easier to fix and cost me about 15 mins of time with my 7/16" open end wrench. Thanks again.
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