HELP! 6 lug or 5on5

[srsummers]

I have a 67 LWB that I plan to do a 2"/4" drop. I want to run 20" wheels and would like the wheel wells to be filled out. What is the best offset and wheel width to go with? 20X8 up front and 20X10 in the back? Could someone please help me out with this? Maybe tell me what they went with and provide some pictures? Would I have a better wheel selection with 6.5on5 or 5on5?

[ChevLoRay]

www.tirerack.com has wheels. If you input the right vehicle, you can find wheels in the sizes you are looking for. For instance, the 88-98 Chevy/GMC 1500 series will have the 5 on 5 bolt pattern and you can pick from all the wheels they have that are correct. The 99-08's have a 6-lug pattern that may provide you with the wheel you seek. The later 6-lug wheels may be hub-centric compared to lug-centric that our trucks use. What that means is that in hub-centric wheels, the hub is what centers the wheel. Lug-centric wheels rely on the lug nuts to center the wheel. The center openings on hub-centric wheel may not be large enough to fit the hubs on our trucks. There are lots of folks who can help you on here.

As for me, when I did my drum-to-disc conversion, it was an easy decision to stay with the 6-lug pattern. I already had a set of wheels and almost new tires, so that did the trick. In the future, I can change the front over to 5 lug with a simple rotor swap. Out back, it would take an axle swap, or re-drilling mine, or swapping another 5-lug rear end from a '71-72 to make all four wheels the same lug pattern. With my Vette-style rallyes, lugs don't show under the police caps, so it's no biggee. But my wheels aren't what you want. Up front, my 15x8's have a 4-inch backspace. Out back, the 15x10's have a 5-inch backspace. The 70-72 rear ends are about an inch wider than the '60-69 rear ends. So a wider rear end would (in theory) take a little bit more backspace to keep the wheels within the body lines. Changing from drum to disc up front adds a inch to the front axle width. The four-inch backspace on my wheels keeps them within the body lines.

I was looking at another '69 that had a set of 17's on it, with the 5 on 5 pattern. I just went to the site above. There will be a lot more of the 6-lug wheels, since the late-models now have six lugs. But, changing to a 5 on 5 pattern will provide you with a generous selection of wheels that will fit your truck better, and more easily, in my opinion.