Split wheel rims and.......

So I got in 'trouble' over some inner split rims on this dualy rear Chebby camper...almost no one in town wanted to mess with them on tires...certainly none of the chains....so the issue IS....

about MY surmise that I would be having troubles on back roads and towns way off the interstates for finding a tire shop to do a tire with a split rim...safety and all that....

plus running common radial tubeless tires...and dealing with a tube on the inner split rims....

what are you all's experiences with split/suicide rims these days, and am I going the right direction???

about a week ago I decided to ditch the split rims and am fighting a nitemare problem for doing so....lots of mechanical fitment problems...brake drums, offsets, wheel studs, drums, backing plates...etc....

:crap:

Split rims are no fun- but any truck tire shop should be able to safely deal with them.

You should be able to go with a 16" standard GM wheel. Should be a ton of those around. The split rims are 16.5.

TimAT said:

Split rims are no fun- but any truck tire shop should be able to safely deal with them.

You should be able to go with a 16" standard GM wheel. Should be a ton of those around. The split rims are 16.5.

Click to expand...

:lol:

Actually, Tim, I had 16" even on split rims with the same type old nylon junk tires on welded/riveted rim on the outside....

all 4 being 16" even....the fronts are China made nylon bias on 16.5" and due to be changed to radial, same as rear....

the fitment of the inner rims over them olde tyme antique drums is another matter...but it WILL be done...got the longer studs, got the spacers, got the backing plates....this shit IS GOING together....

PIA in a skinny wallet for sure,.....but Jax is a cheep assed olde tyme place....

:lol::2nd:

I've been driving these 1 tons since the 70's and have never had a flat and don't carry a spare.

Remember, if you have a flat on the rear, you may not even notice it and with a flat on the front, just take off one of the rears. All truck stops can handle splits, or learn to do them yourself, they're pretty easy. Carry a spare tube and a chain. Only dangerous part is when you first air them up. Maybe buy you some time to find the proper buds at a decent price.

And with the rims, any "Bud" pre 87 rim should fit right on your axle in 16 or 16.5 over the drums with no spacers.

I've got a pair of old style 16.5 with old tubeless tires and clamp rings you can have, but they are heavy.

Well, it's been nearly a month of bullshit figgering out what my solution is....

all you all think I"m krazy, BUT, the solution was, no mind you this is a junkyard project, I"m not spending tons of bux for lotsa heavy new parts due to get limited use, I want it to be safe, obviously, but cheep too....

so I did FORD 12x3 drums and backing plates on the GM axle/hub had some junk spacers turned down to 1/2 inch thick to get the tires off the springs, found two more rims in a junkyard off a GM truck....but come to find out they were FORD RIMS of all things.....so the GM hub is 4.5" diameter, and the rims are hub centric, the FORD rims are 4 7/8 diameter, same bolt pattern of course...
I did not know they were FORD rims, had the tires mounted and balanced then found out WTF went on....so I bent a shim out of 3/16 square steel rod making a shim spacer for that rim, put the old wheels and fresh tires that used to be on the outside, welded single piece nice ones, on the inside now....so they are hub centric as before and NOW clear the drums nicely...
put the new shims on the hub, slip the FORD rims on over the shims, then use the clamping plate with the special looking stamping similar to a normal looking steel wheel, that takes the conical lug nutz same as normal looking, mounted the new front 16" wheels, and so the rear now has 4 identical 225/70/16 radial tubeless GY Wranglers....and the front has two identical 225/75/16 and I have a decent spare too....

adapting the FORD backing plates into the GM was a trip, but have it all hooked up, and so far it looks as if the ebrake even works...

:thumbs::rofl::smash: