Great news about wheel adapters for older motorhomes

[DaHose]

Hey everyone! I have a 1983 Jamboree based on a Ford E350 chassis. It came with 16.5" tires and I had a heck of a time finding replacement tires this time round.

I have completely rebuilt the cabover, rebuilt the electrics and with less than 50K miles, we plan on keeping her around for a long time. That means I will need new tires in another 6 years, so I have tried to figure out how to get changed over to 16" wheels as that will allow me to find lower priced truck tires in a much more common size. The only 16" wheels that will bolt on seem to be from a 1992 or so Dodge dually, but they are not so easy to find and I kept looking for options.

I contacted Fred Goeske at http://www.wheeladapter.com and he said they can make adapters that will allow me to fit commonly available wheels from a 1984 - 2009 Ford dually. Price for the set is $370. I am following up to see if they can also make an adapter for the front wheels. I only want to have one size wheel on the old girl.

I will report back when I have an answer about the fronts.

Jose

[SoCalDesertRid1]

Southwest Wheel sells stock-type steel wheels for many years, makes and models of trucks and vans, in both dual and single styles. Their prices are very reasonable and quality is good. Many of the wheels they sell are made by Accuride, which is and has been for many years, a supplier of factory stock wheels for American trucks and vans.

When I needed new factory stock dually wheels for my '97 F350 and single wheels for my '92 F350, I ordered them from Southwest Wheel and they were made exact factory stock.

[ernie1]

I bought a set of wheel spacers for my 2005 Ford Econoline rear wheels a few years ago from Fred at Wheel Adaptors. After running them for a couple of years and about 20,000 miles I had some issues with them wherein the lugs were not tight or snug to the spacers anymore and I called Fred and mentioned this problem and asked if I should be concerned. His response was first "they're outta warranty". I said I understood that fact but what should I do? He then denied that I ever bought them from him. I said I had the receipt in my hand. He ended the conversation by saying there was nothing he could do about it. TALK about lousy customer service!

Bought a replacement set from Super Steer in Grant's Pass, Oregon. Very professional people to deal with and the replacement part is much more stout the the old set.

[TreeSeeker]

DaHose,

You should ask on this thread:

How many of us are there? Owners of Dodge based RVs.

[The76Fireball]

DaHose wrote:

I will report back when I have an answer about the fronts.

Jose

What did you find out? I am in the same situation right now.

[jeffengle]

Wheel adapters are illegal in some states

[carringb]

Thousands of 4x4 Ford vans run Fred's adapters to change the rear bolt pattern to 8x170 to match the front. I've been using them for nearly 300,000 miles on my van to convert the rear axle to dually offset. I have not had any problems, and have not heard of anybody else having problems with steel adapters.

[pianotuna]

Hi Jose,

I was advised to not use wheel adapters.

[DaHose]

Geotex1 is on the money. Finding new is tough and old can be bent (like all of mine currently are). That is why I asked around about wheel adapters.

As to the wheel adapter, I would not normally go that route either. However, going from bolt-centric to hub-centric isn't as scary as the other way around. Bolt centric puts all shear and thrust loads on the small bolts. Going to hub centric puts all the shear load on the hub itself. The bolts really just hold everthing flat/tight. That's not as worrisome. The wheels also aren't run at high speeds, so vibration and oscillation could very well be minimal. I think spacers would be OK in this case and new ford steel wheels can be had for around $80 a piece. Although if I could find 6 NOS Dodge wheels I would snap them up. Anyone got a line on a set?

Jose

[geotex1]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

It may cost more but new wheels might be in order:

Southwest Wheel

Nope, nothing new is gonna fit that 83 E350. 1993 Dodge wheels were the last manufactured wheels that would bolt-on and no-one is making replacements for them anymore. Gotta find NOS or good used. There are late 70s, early 80s Ford wheels that will fit too after re-drilling the locator, but because the wheel is essentially what it considered to be lug-centric, that drilling needs to be properly done to preserve the full integrity of the metal, and therefore, the wheel.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

It may cost more but new wheels might be in order:

Southwest Wheel

[geotex1]

DaHose wrote:
Hey everyone! I have a 1983 Jamboree based on a Ford E350 chassis. It came with 16.5" tires and I had a heck of a time finding replacement tires this time round.

I have completely rebuilt the cabover, rebuilt the electrics and with less than 50K miles, we plan on keeping her around for a long time. That means I will need new tires in another 6 years, so I have tried to figure out how to get changed over to 16" wheels as that will allow me to find lower priced truck tires in a much more common size. The only 16" wheels that will bolt on seem to be from a 1992 or so Dodge dually, but they are not so easy to find and I kept looking for options.

I contacted Fred Goeske at http://www.wheeladapter.com and he said they can make adapters that will allow me to fit commonly available wheels from a 1984 - 2009 Ford dually. Price for the set is $370. I am following up to see if they can also make an adapter for the front wheels. I only want to have one size wheel on the old girl.

I will report back when I have an answer about the fronts.

Jose

Jose,

So you have the 16.5" coined wheels? UGH! The Dodge wheels are definitely the best bolt-on option. They are still out there for $100 or less! Use car-part.com and call a yard or two. One of the members of our camping club did the swap last year after inheriting pop's coach. We found new old stock for $90/wheel (plenty of used for less) using that website and he chose to LTL freight them so don't know final cost. Being an engineer, I don't like wheel adapters for a number of reasons.