1982 Ford E350 16.5 rims to 16

[Teeton]

I have a 1982 ford E350 with 16.5 coined rims.. I'd like to swap them to 16 coined if I can.. Dose anyone know which trucks had rims that would work on my rv? Dose anyone know where I can get rims new or used? Thanks Ed

[j-d]

^^^ Ford E350 from CHASSIS Year 1984 and up will accept late model wheels. I was corresponding with Grillmeister back in those days and saw a pic of the new wheels. He said they just mounted right up. He called his RV "1984" and so was his chassis. Ours was also "1984" but chassis was 1983.

Barry's Tire Tech will show that if original is 8.75/16.5, then the LT225/75R16E is very close to an exact replacement. So long as OFFSET is OK, and if the tires/rimes are OEM, it should be OK. Barry's calls for 10.2" of which half would be 5.1" but some sources call it 5.15"

But this is an older (1983 and prior) E350 and has the lug-centered coined wheels.

[IAMICHABOD]

Here is a very old thread that may be of help. You may have to scroll to the top to get all the info.

[j-d]

Try This Thread as it mentions Dodge Dually's around 1992.

As noted earlier, Lug-Centered wheels have mostly gone away. Amazed that a 1992 vehicle would still have them...

[j-d]

I've heard the same about Dodge wheels too. Part of a previous discussion, but either there was no detail of which years, or I forgot.

[Teeton]

I just looked at the front hub,, It has no center hub/nothing in the center of the rim.. The only thing that can center it is the coined rim and the lug nuts. I know someplace I read that there is like a few years that dodge used rims that are coined, are 16 inch and that can be used as a replacement on my 1882 ford e350 with drw's... If anybody knows what make and year that them dodge's are please let me know.. Everyone thanks for the input so far.. Ed

[LarryJM]

Teeton wrote:
j-d Mine is the same way.

O.K. that's something I just wasn't aware of, but still I would carefully check and see if any of the F series type rims would fit since I just in the back of my head thought I read that the front wheels were not interchangeable with either the outter or inner rear wheel or both, but again I'm just not that familiar. Since they are all interchangeable on the E series then I would bet a small fortune that both the front and rear are "Hub Pilot" centered, a.k.a. "Hub Centric". All the information I have given is the "schooling" I received by a gent Username "Popeye" over on "theDieselStop" who was a wheel designer for vehicle manufacturers with over 40 years experience. He explained to me that "IN THE BUSINESS" terms like "lug centric" and "hub centric" were not used since all vehicle manufacturers use wheels that are "HUB PILOT" centered. Reason being is that it's near impossible in manufacturering a wheel to get the bolt holes exactly centered on the wheel and the clearances needed in each bolt hole for it to go over all the studs at the same time make it impossible to center a wheel on the hub centered 100% of the time to eliminate all potential NVH issues w/o incurring horrendous warranty costs. Drilling or machining/casting whatever is used since a hole (the wheel pilot) is much easier and cheaper to center on a wheel during it manufacture and ensures the correct tolerances to eliminate any potential NVH issues and attendent warranty claims/costs.

With that said it is my understanding that all bets are off when it comes to wheels used on non occupied vehicles such as trailers since the the tapered seat fastening system does by it design have a "centering" aspect and for those applications using the wheel bolt holes to center the wheel can be acceptable since NVH issues are not such a concern.

Finally, my understanding is the reason that the tapered fastening system is used so much is that it is much more "torque tolerant" in maintaining the "clamping force" of the wheel to the hub over the flat washer system and as such is more "idiot proof" so to speak.

Larry

[Teeton]

j-d Mine is the same way.

[j-d]

Our 1983 E350 with Dual Rear Wheels had six on the ground plus a spare. All seven were interchangeable. That's an I-Know-For-Sure. My recall is that they were NOT Hub Piloted/Centered. Another For-Sure - oddity - Right Front, Right Rear and Left Front wheels all used Right-Hand Thread nuts. But the Left Rear used Left-Hand nuts.

[Gdetrailer]

LarryJM wrote:

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

Correct.

My Dad went through this a few years back with a 1980 F350 truck..

It isn't that big of an issue..

My suggestion is to find a GOOD TIRE SHOP, they WILL be able to find the CORRECT RIM which will fit. If you can't find a tire shop that sells rims then find a MECHANIC that knows a thing or two..

This isn't something that you can size up on an internet forum..

You can guess till the cows come home and waste time and money but a good tire shop mechanic most likely will be the key to success.

[LarryJM]

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

You keep referring to "coined" which I think is used in Dual wheel applications and if that is the case I'm not that familiar with how those type wheels mate up between say F and E series since I think there the offsets might come into play and IIRC the front rims are not even interchangeable with either of the rear rims. All my comments above were based on single wheel applications, however I would be very surprised that even these would not use the hub pilot for centering of the wheels.

Larry

[Teeton]

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

[LarryJM]

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

[j-d]

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.

[j-d]

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.