Forum Discussion

2Bargos's avatar
2Bargos
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013

16 inch to 19 inch tire conversion

I have an 96 bounder with 16 tires.A friend of mine recently Purchased a new set of wheels for his f550 (19.5) so his old ones are available to me at a very cheap price.

I would like the benefit of a heavier tire on my coach and was wondering,will they work on my coach.

Has anyone tried this before and were there any issues.I have to purchase new tires this spring so If it will work to my benefit I may go to a bigger wheel/tire size
  • 96Bounder30E wrote:
    This website will give you some information......Click here


    Check this link out. It shows that older F-53 motorhomes, like my 97 and your 96 have 16" rims with 10 bolt holes and a certain bolt diameter.

    In 1998, Ford re-designed the F-450, F-550 and F-53 chassis to have larger diameter rotors and larger bolt circle, also changing to a heavier rated 3,500 pound rim and 8 bolt circle.

    So the 8 bolt modern F-550 19.5" rims will not fit a older F-53 that came with 16" rims and 10 bolts.

    TO bad someone does not make a modern 10 bolt rim with a 3,200 pound rating and 17" tires. 17" and 18" tires are now fairly common now. I would change to the 19.5" Rickson rims, except for the $250+ each price tag. I like the feeling that I have rims and tires rated for more than the front axle weight rating. Also I have heard that 19.5 LT tires can have much stiffer sidewalls, a hard rubber compound that is not as sticky as a car, and can be a bit squirly on wet pavement.

    Fred.
  • You will not likely add that much wheel size without a significant increase in overall diameter, so mesure clearances to see if the coach builder left enough room for a larger wheel/tire.

    Bolt circle, centering hole might not be compatible with modern F-550, so check that carefully. There might be a 19.5, and maybe a 17.5 replacement wheel, but not necessarily from a more recent F-series.