Military wheels on W100

[KC Kay]

http://www.lockinghub.com/?p=661

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...5915&viewitem=

This truck has military wheels.

What are the advantages of this wheel selection?

The offset is definitely different.

What is the size of this wheel?

What military vehicles used this wheel?

[DrPepper]

6 X 7.25" bolt circle is civilian....like mine is...

My '57 TW/PW had the 17.5"X6" tire size with a Budd wheel. You can see there are 6 bolts in the pictures further down. The tire size is what needs to be looked at as well as research on this site for people with problems having tires mounted on this type wheel.
The wheel itself is a split ring (I think that is the right term) rather than a Budd type wheel we are used to seeing.
If you are thinking of buying it the wheels and tires may be a bit of a challenge. I gave up and had 16" wheels made with the proper bolt pattern.
Someone else will chime in I'm sure about these.
DrPepper

[Ron in Indiana]

First off the seller doesn't know what he's got or talking about but that's beside the point. This truck probably has 16" split ring wheels which were the norm for the time this truck was built. They could be 17" split rings but I doubt it. The Power Giants (57-60) had 17.5 tubeless rims also. They do make 17.5 tires for that size rim. If in fact these are 16" tires the problem one would have is getting a shop to change them. Everyone is afraid of these because if handled improperly the ring could blow off. What most people confuse these with are the GM split RIM which is an animal in and of itself. The split RING is much safer then the split RIM but still warrants caution. A true military rim would be what's called a combat rim which has bolts around the circumference of the rim much like today's bead lock rims. There are no real advantages to the split rim over a tubeless tire. You have to have a tube and a flap to mount the tire. The flaps are sometimes hard to find. These are to protect the tube from the rim itself. That is a decent looking truck but would look even better with a Utiline bed.

[iranch]

Wheels

It looks to me that the 57 in the Ebay listing has Jeep M715 wheels on it, 16", same bolt pattern, different offset.

Dennis

[Aaron S]

Yes, that is exactly an M715 wheel. That is a nice looking '57. I have some of these. The backspacing is .5" less than a power wagon wheel and the centers are fully welded instead of rivited which makes them slightly stronger. For some reason the military in their infinite wisdom also stipulated that the mounting holes be ever so slightly smaller than our civilian versions so that it is almost impossible to change a front tire with the hub on the truck. It is much easier to take the hub off, lay it on the ground, drop the wheel on, and then install the whole wheel/hub assembly onto the truck. It is one of the strangest things I have ever experienced, but is easily remedied by taking a punch out bit and opening the holes another 1/16" or so.