Hot Rods 16 inch steel wheels.

I recently bought some Ford 16 inch steel wheels sight unseen through a buddy. Price was pretty cheap. Lesson number 1 don't do that shit! Go and look at them first! Anyway, I had the wheels blasted in order to get a good look at them in bare metal. Turns out they are too far gone to be used. Which brought up the question are the centers of these wheels worth doing anything with? Three of the four centers are in decent shape but the hoops on them are in rough shape. Is it worth pulling the centers out or should I just bite the bullet and scrap them? I searched around but didn't find anyone making 16 inch hoops thinking that might be the way to go? I already have bought new 16 inch steel wheels so these aren't needed but I didn't want to shit can them if there was any value to them.

 

Sure there’s some value, but it might not be much. Maybe $25 per center?

 

I'd save em, but I'm kind of a hoarder....
I have re-hooped the 15" Ford (F100) wheels with modern hoops, so finding 16" hoops for them is a possibility. Probably a thread on here about it.

 

I assume your referring to '40 to '48 wheels (5.5" pcd), not the '49+ (4.5" pcd). I think some Jeep wheels are 16" x 5.5". There are dozens of wheels with 16" outer rims (GM, Mopar, Nash, Stude [?], etc.). Question is, do all drop center outer rims have the same ID, as an industry standard, or do they vary from make to make (does anyone know?). I personally wouldn't dream of trimming the center or outer rim in a lathe to get a good fit. If you find any Ford wheels, they will not likely have good outer rims and trash centers. Obviously, if both pieces are good, you'ld use them and scrap the ones you have now (or give your buddies some tacky hose reels next Christmas).

 

Thought Speedway sold hoops?, maybe Summit too?

 

Hi Gordon
You could always go down to 15 inch if the centres are Ok. Get 15 inch industrial rims or similar and give the centres a quick skim on the lathe , center them up and weld them in. Read about in an old R&C magazine years ago then did it myself worked out really well also meant I could use the old 46-48 hubcaps as well.

 

I had a couple wheels with bad hoops; cut the good centers out, instead of scrapping the whole wheel. Ended up selling them to a guy with wallowed out lug holes in his wheels. So, yes centers are worth saving to repair other wheels; doesn't take much to drill the rivets and torch the hoop.

 

Keep them, one day you will find some decent similar wheels with flogged out stud holes.

 

I did find 16 inch tractor hoops that were 4 1/4" with an inside dia. of 13.430". One other place I never heard of had 16" x 4 1/2" and 6" with 13.430" centers. I think the ones I have are around 13.625". Speedway only had 15s if I recall correctly. I didn't see any 16s on Summit. Thanks guys. I think I'll invest the effort to pull the centers out of these and hold on to them for now. Appreciate the help.

 

There aren't any new rims available that are the right size, they either have to be cut down to fit or you have to use another original rim. Ford used that ID into the 80s on most of their 16" wheels.

 

So a guy might find some good used donor rims in the junkyard on a later model Ford ? Maybe even in a 6" or 7" size for use on the rearend?

If anybody goes scrounging and discovers the proper source vehicle, please post it here.

 

Yes, for something that wide I'd look around the 80s 8 lug trucks.

 

I thought there was a thread some time back that mentioned 90’s era Chevy pickup 16” rims had a hoop size that would work, although I haven’t verified it.


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There are imports with 16" steel wheels - check out any small SUV, there are enough they should be cheap and might even be an American brand.

 

i just painted a pair of 16" 3/4 ton wheels for my pickup. man...they are heavy compared to an old ford

 

I have some experiences in stress analysis of high pressure high temperature piping systems, and weld design of related components, which I'll concede is not directly applicable to this proposed wheel fabrication. But, I think I've developed a good intuitive feeling that tells me this is not a good idea. After the flange is cut off the inner wheel, your left with essentially a disc being welded to the outer rim, using I assume a single fillet weld on the back side. Even with a double fillet (i.e., on both sides), the combination of a now somewhat flexible inner wheel and being subjected to exceedingly high stress cycles, suggests a likelihood of cracking. If I had to do this, the weld would be a full penetration double fillet, with a very gentle concave contour of the weld surface. I'd inspect it frequently, and have the welds checked by dye penetrant at some point.

Anyone out there with Finite Element Analysis experience that can chime in?

There is a reason wheel centers are made with flanges around their circumference, and it's not because it's cheaper!

 

Hose hangers

 

Years ago I had Rally America make me some 16 X 8 inch wheels with new hoops and gennie centers.

 

Well I solved my problem by just ordering up some reproduction 16 inch wheels. In the mean time I pulled the centers out of 3 of the 4 wheels I had. Fourth was rusted through. If anyone has some wheels with wallowed out lug holes and wanted to swap out their centers these have good lug holes and are up for grabs.

 

Wheelsmith in Corona Ca. Will make what you want...18-8”

 

They've been replacing or reversing outer hoops for decades. Super easy, get a used inside caliper or chunk of something, measure id of hoop, go to the junkyard and find another 16" that fits. Fords are easy to take out because the rivets, others you just carefully cut/grind through the welds to leave the center intact. The center should fit snugly maybe even needs a few whacks with a hammer to get it in and then weld it in. I over simplified it, but you get the point. I took mine in to get it trued and welded, the place has been using new and used parts for decades.

Don't waste the centers, you can make some 16x5 or 16x6 with some cheap Toyota, Chevy, Mopar or whatever will fit. I waited for the 40% off sale at Pick Your Part.

 

I can say that most of them are different. I had my Chevy wheels re hooped on my '56 panel and had to find donor wheels. I checked out about 30 wheels from at least 5 different vehicle manufactures, various years and weight (1/2 ton, 3/4 ton and 1 ton). After I found the wheels that would work, I was told that the other set of same era wheels from a truck were easier to find hoops for (40's-50's Chevy car 6 clip vs. 40's-50's Chevy truck 3 clip). I was also told that my car wheels didn't match any newly made hoops, but the truck wheels did........I only had 1 truck wheel and they're harder to find.

Moral of the story is don't give up, there's a match somewhere and I came home with $55 worth of wheels (and more knowledge).



Oh yea, I did buy some 15x6 disc brake wheels from them for the Studebaker for $25 each. They're a Ford shoebox center and a disc brake hoop (disc brake has a different profile then a drum brake hoop to clear the calipers)......someone ordered them and never picked them up.