power wagon rims

[57pw72442]

I'm running into problems with the original split rims on my 57 (illegal in pa? unsafe too change?). Anyone know of someone making modern rims with the 5 bolt budd style for the power wagon? I want regular rims with the old style look.

[Nick]

Dont know if they still make em or not, but Stockton Wheel in Stockton Ca was making the same wheel but one piece.

[Aaron S]

I believe Marsh Racing Wheels also makes wheels for power wagons, although I am not sure what they look like. I have some Stockton wheels and they are a quality product, and I had no problem with them when I had to send a wheel back for repairs due to a manufacturing defect. However, Stockton is now under new management and I'm not sure what all has changed with them.

If you really want to keep the authentic look of your original budd wheels, I would suggest calling both places and asking for estimates for having new, solid hoops welded to your original budd centers. A good wheel shop can do this and they will look exactly right instead of just pretty close. The overall cost is usually a little more than just having a new set of custom wheels built once you factor in getting your wheels demounted and shipping them to wherever the work is to be done.

There may be a shop in your area that can do this, but some smaller shops that do a lot of agricultural stuff are reluctant to work on road wheels due to potential liability issues.

[W_A_Watson_II]

Not sure why a split ring wheel is illegal in PA (these are NOT split rims), but most custom wheels won't be DOT approved. I know my Marsh (MRW) wheels are not. They were made from a DOT rim ring, but a custom center.

[57pw72442]

thank you

Thank you for the responses. I did not know there was a difference, split rim and split ring. Is a split ring less "dangerous"? Seems that my learning curve will be steep with my new truck. Another concern I have is finding correct tires. Do they need to be special to use on these rims?
P

[Aaron S]

A correctly sized tire is not that hard to come by. The thing to be careful of is that you get a tire with the correct size bead area. The bead area of the tire should be the same width as the retaining ring, as this is what seats the retaining ring and holds it safely in place.

Some modern radial tires will fit the rims but have too small of a bead area to properly seat the ring, in these cases you end up with the sidewall flexing under the ring which can cause it to pop off with disasterous results. This is most likely to happen when the tire is initally inflated after putting it on the rim, but I have heard a tale or two of folks getting away with it for awhile and then having a ring fly off going down the road.

In every case like this that I am personally aware of, the cause was a tire with an incorrect bead size. With the correctly sized tire to properly seat the ring, there is very little danger of a catastrophic mishap.

There is a variety of bias ply and radial tires available that will work on these wheels. Consider what you wish to do with the truck and let that guide your decision of what type of tire to get, or whether or not to get tubeless rims.

I have trucks with both tubeless and split ring rims. The tubeless rims are more convenient, any tire shop will work on them and I can buy a tire anywhere that will fit them. The split ring rims are more of a hassle to deal with, but they look more "correct" on the truck and I have literally driven thousands of miles on them without any issues regardless of the weight of the load on the truck.

[Charles Talbert]

Thank you for the responses. I did not know there was a difference, split rim and split ring. Is a split ring less "dangerous"? Seems that my learning curve will be steep with my new truck. Another concern I have is finding correct tires. Do they need to be special to use on these rims?
P

The old split rim / solid ring combos have been illegal everywhere for years and years now; these are the dangerous type. I think you will likely find that solid rims with split lock ring combo that is common to the M37 and power wagons to be legal anywhere for on highway use. Many heavy trucks on the nations highways today still use this type of Budd rim. Many of the younger guys in tire shops now days don't understand and refuse to work with them. My theory is that most simply don't want too, and use the too dangerous excuse. They are not dangerous if in good condition, and are handled properly by a competent person. We do them here all the time as do most heavy truck tire dealer's shop facilities.

[Clint Dixon]

The old split rim / solid ring combos have been illegal everywhere for years and years now; these are the dangerous type. I think you will likely find that solid rims with split lock ring combo that is common to the M37 and power wagons to be legal anywhere for on highway use. Many heavy trucks on the nations highways today still use this type of Budd rim. Many of the younger guys in tire shops now days don't understand and refuse to work with them. My theory is that most simply don't want too, and use the too dangerous excuse. They are not dangerous if in good condition, and are handled properly by a competent person. We do them here all the time as do most heavy truck tire dealer's shop facilities.

Charles, can you verify the RH-5 rim shown in the chart at the bottom of this thread:

http://www.powerwagonadvertiser.com/...ad.php?t=13183

Is that an accurate drawing of what is commonly referred to as a "split rim" and the ones that are illegal now?

I am well aware of the split rings used on the WDX-WM300 Power-Wagon, the M37 series, and the 1/2-ton military Dodges, as well as the bolt together combat rims used on the 3/4 and 1-1/2-ton military Dodges, and the 3-piece Budd rims with split adapter ring found on some 1948 model Power-Wagons. When I hear the term "split rim" I think of the two piece WWII Jeep wheel that is split in half nearly at the center line of the tire with two pieces that bolt together - although I figure that is wrong. Those Jeep wheels certainly are easy to dismount and mount tires to though.

Thanks, Clint

[DrPepper]

Diamond Racing wheels....

they are still in business and make a darn nice wheel.

http://www.diamondracingwheels.com/drwcustom.html

Stockton is either out of business or something when I was looking they never replied to any of my inquires. Do a Google search because there was a bunch of warnings about money sent and no product shippped etc.

Here are pix of the wheels they made for my 57 TWPW.
http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x...Power%20Wagon/
Someday I'm going to update this album with more pix.

They are very knowledgable and will work with you.
DrPepper

[Charles Talbert]

they are still in business and make a darn nice wheel.

http://www.diamondracingwheels.com/drwcustom.html

Stockton is either out of business or something when I was looking they never replied to any of my inquires. Do a Google search because there was a bunch of warnings about money sent and no product shippped etc.

Here are pix of the wheels they made for my 57 TWPW.
http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x...Power%20Wagon/
Someday I'm going to update this album with more pix.

They are very knowledgable and will work with you.
DrPepper

Years ago we sought after a builder to build rims for tubless tires for use on the trucks we build. We had any number of positive responses from various builders. When I followed up and started talking about loads carried and the possible liabilities in the event of a rim failure, well hopes faded extremely fast, all the way to nothing. Turned out that nobody was willing to stand behind their product.

I would suggest you ask questions to this effect up front also before trading with any manufacturer.

[Charles Talbert]

Charles, can you verify the RH-5 rim shown in the chart at the bottom of this thread:

http://www.powerwagonadvertiser.com/...ad.php?t=13183

Is that an accurate drawing of what is commonly referred to as a "split rim" and the ones that are illegal now?

I am well aware of the split rings used on the WDX-WM300 Power-Wagon, the M37 series, and the 1/2-ton military Dodges, as well as the bolt together combat rims used on the 3/4 and 1-1/2-ton military Dodges, and the 3-piece Budd rims with split adapter ring found on some 1948 model Power-Wagons. When I hear the term "split rim" I think of the two piece WWII Jeep wheel that is split in half nearly at the center line of the tire with two pieces that bolt together - although I figure that is wrong. Those Jeep wheels certainly are easy to dismount and mount tires to though.

Thanks, Clint

These are not the illegal split rims. The ones I speak of are actually split across the rim from bead to bead. They flex to allow the installation of the solid bead ring on either side. They are indeed dangerous as a heart attack. I've never seen a split rim with any kind of center in it such as a Budd rim. All of the split type I ever saw had no center, and were designed for use on Dayton spoke type cast hubs that were very common on heavy trucks and trailers back in the day. They attach using wedges and lug nuts.

[DrPepper]

Define, "stand behind their product"...???

I am not a wheel expert, I do know that Diamond made some very nice looking and seem like solid wheels for me. As good or better than the original 17.5" I had. That said I have not used them at all, only to move a few feet here and their. They fit my bolt pattern perfect and hold air on a set of 245-70R 16 Michelins.

You mention loads carried, do the military vehicles weigh that much more than the civilian vehicles?

DrPepper

[Charles Talbert]

I am not a wheel expert, I do know that Diamond made some very nice looking and seem like solid wheels for me. As good or better than the original 17.5" I had. That said I have not used them at all, only to move a few feet here and their. They fit my bolt pattern perfect and hold air on a set of 245-70R 16 Michelins.

You mention loads carried, do the military vehicles weigh that much more than the civilian vehicles?

DrPepper

Not being familiar with Diamond or any products they offer, I can't comment on their quality.

What we found was that most if not all custom wheels were made for light late model pickup trucks. When we started asking questions about using on an unloaded 6,000# truck, they started backing up, as this is much heavier than any 3/4 ton truck they were thinking of. Then when we mentioned the brush fire trucks we were building that would be hauling 250-300 gallons of water plus a pump and hose reel unit in additional weight; they run like a scalded dog.

I'm not saying you have inferior wheels; I was only suggesting you ask questions up front rather than being possibly disappointed or getting something not up to the task after you have already written a check.

[cerial]

I found this when looking for one piece rims. He has sold all the rims but It gives you a good indication of what they look like.
http://www.g741.org/PHPBB/viewtopic....7e4e6f40459aef

They cost around $385 a rim from a company in GA. Which is high, but the rim is used in Military applications and is also DOT approved.

If you go to this site
http://secoaugusta.com/inventory_1.asp
Then enter part number 2530-01-534-1110 in the National Stock Number .

They will not work with disk break conversion kits because the dish on the rim is different.

I have decided to go with custom 19.5 rims and a disk break set. But, I figured others who would prefer a DOT approved tubeless rim might find this helpful.

[im02crazy]

tire supplier PA

I'm running into problems with the original split rims on my 57 (illegal in pa? unsafe too change?). Anyone know of someone making modern rims with the 5 bolt budd style for the power wagon? I want regular rims with the old style look.

I had the same problem with tire shops and misunderstanding split ring vs rim. I'm very pleased with my STA Superlugs 7.50 from Universal Vintage Tires in Hershey PA great deal and one of the guys has a M37 ; the whole staff is into collectable cars and very helpful. I picked up my tires to save shipping and they showed me the "easy" way to setup and mount these. I was impressed with how easy it is to change out one on the road, with the right tools and knowhow. I did not find any suitable radials I would run.