1982 Ford E350 16.5 rims to 16

I will look tomorrow, but I don't think that it has centering hubs on the front.. If so, must have coined wheels.

j-d wrote:
That parts interchange manual/site is called "Hollander" or that's what I recall.

The problem is that in 1983 and earlier, E350 used "lug centered, COINED" wheels. Look at one of your wheels. You'll see four holes are "countersunk" and the alternate four are "upset" or "raised" on their edges. That's why there's a hole I the wheels for the locating pin (on rear hub only) to align "upset" and "countersunk" so they mate. Then the lug nuts cam into the holes and center the wheels.

This is one of the toughest wheel swaps. I looked at it in 2000 and just bought 8.75R16.5 replacements. Jose (DaHose) tried a year or so ago and bounced off the problem too. Got Firestone TransForce 8.75R16.5's also.

They have to be Lug-Centered, Coined, and have the right Bolt Circle Diameter. They ALSO have to have the right OFFSET for the 16" tire size you want to run. My guess would be 215/85R16 or 225/75R16.

One of the most helpful references is Barry's Tire Tech, which is published by a member here, CapriRacer.

I think it's been done, but it can be tough to do. You may want to see who used coined wheels but went to 16" tires earlier than Ford did. Nobody's using them now. If you have 8.00/16.5 and not the clearance for 8.75R16.5, that's another issue. With the Ford chassis, I think you're OK with the 8.75R16.5 that's still being made in TransForce. The 8.00 is not.

Almost everything in this post is INCORRECT. Your 1982 rims are "HUB CENTERED" just like 100% of all OEM wheels. Those conical or tapered seats have ZERO to do with the centering of the wheel on the hub. Now some aftermarket wheels do use the bolt holes to sort of center the rim since what they do is open up the hub pilot so one rim will fit several manufacturers. IIRC Dodge and Ford hub pilots were very close to one another. They are simply the type of fastening system used which in this case is called the Belville fastening system. Prior to the introduction of the Ford SD in 99 all F and E series used this fastening system and the rims were interchangeable as far as the SAE based lug bolt holes were concerned. You would have to check on the Hub Pilot size, but AFAIK this was also the same. In 99 the SD went to the metric system along with what is commonly called the "flat washer" system and the bolt pattern was changed. However the E series kept the old system and I'm not sure when and if they every changed over to what the 99 and on SD F series used. In any event any pre Ford SD F series and all E series or at least those thru 2001 which is the year of my Van will fit. I had exactly the same issue with my 1978 E250 and went to the 16 inch rims when 16.5 tires became so darn expensive, the availablity was far and inbetween and the 16.5 inch offerings basically dried up.

Now to my knowledge there were no differences within the Ford F and E series as to backspacing and what you are trying to do is probably one of the EASIEST conversions you can find since the rims you need are basically "A DIME A DOZEN" so to speak.

It's too bad you didn't ask about this 2 years ago since I had 5 of the 16" tires and rims I bought for my 1978 Van sitting in my garage and finally took them to the dump to just unload them. I had saved my 16.5 in rims and tires and put those on when I sold the Van back in 2002 and simply kept the 16" set since those would have also fit my new 2001 at time Van. You're also close enough to me that you could have come down and picked them up since I'm just outside of D.C.

Oh Well ....

Larry

Maybe I should add, I listed only the size of the 16" tires. The full designation would be LT215/75R16E, where "LT" means Light Truck not Passenger (P) and E is the Load Range. There might be Load Range "D" tires in that size, but they're pretty much gone.

Also, Barry's uses the words "Dual Spacing" for what's also known as "Offset." It's the same thing, and that thing is NOT the gap between the sidewalls. It's the design of the wheels that creates that spacing. As an example the 10.2" Dual Spacing/Offset means 10.2" between the centers of the rims of two wheels. If you can measure/mark the center(3" on a "six inch rim") then put the rim face down on a flat surface. Measure carefully and it should be 5.1" from surface to your rim center mark. That adds to 10.2" and provides the right clearance for LT225/75R16E tires. That's the size, BTW, that's used on most newer Class C's.

That parts interchange manual/site is called "Hollander" or that's what I recall.

The problem is that in 1983 and earlier, E350 used "lug centered, COINED" wheels. Look at one of your wheels. You'll see four holes are "countersunk" and the alternate four are "upset" or "raised" on their edges. That's why there's a hole I the wheels for the locating pin (on rear hub only) to align "upset" and "countersunk" so they mate. Then the lug nuts cam into the holes and center the wheels.

This is one of the toughest wheel swaps. I looked at it in 2000 and just bought 8.75R16.5 replacements. Jose (DaHose) tried a year or so ago and bounced off the problem too. Got Firestone TransForce 8.75R16.5's also.

They have to be Lug-Centered, Coined, and have the right Bolt Circle Diameter. They ALSO have to have the right OFFSET for the 16" tire size you want to run. My guess would be 215/85R16 or 225/75R16.

One of the most helpful references is Barry's Tire Tech, which is published by a member here, CapriRacer.

I think it's been done, but it can be tough to do. You may want to see who used coined wheels but went to 16" tires earlier than Ford did. Nobody's using them now. If you have 8.00/16.5 and not the clearance for 8.75R16.5, that's another issue. With the Ford chassis, I think you're OK with the 8.75R16.5 that's still being made in TransForce. The 8.00 is not.

Go to a local junk yard, they should be able to tell you what will fit. I believe "The Hemmings Manual" is used by many of the yards to cross reference parts and vehicle models. A later Ford may be all you need, I did something similar with a '75 Dodge Class C mini motorhome and went from a 16.5" tube tire to a 16" tubeless.

j-d. Yes, it is Hollander Manual, not Hemmings, it's been a while since I was into those things. (4-19-15)