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#1 |
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Redmond, WA
Posts: 6,332
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Are 16.5 wheels 16.0 or 16.5 inches?
My Longhorn has 9x16.5 tires (nothing listed on the SPID though), and I know this sounds like a dumb question I could just go out and measure, but I don't know if they measure from outer edge or inside the bead, so:
Are 16.5 tires what you'd normally refer to as 16" wheels, or are they literally 16.5? I wanna slap some 22" dubs with spinners on this and when I sell the old ones, I need to know what they're called. Thanks! - Dave PS: Just kidding about the dubs. Figured I'd give Jesse a heart attack if he's reading along. But I really do want to know what the heck these wheels are. |
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#2 |
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Ark City, Kansas
Posts: 3,332
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Re: Are 16.5 wheels 16.0 or 16.5 inches?
16.5's are 16.5" diameter wheels, NOT same as 16's. GM quit using 16.5's around 1989. But I think 16's were used on some of their applications before 89....trucks of course...
![]() Selection of 16.5 tires shrinks every day. Some 16" tires have a warning on them, NOT to use them on 16.5 wheels. A good friend of mine has a 72 IHC pickup. He bought 16.5 chrome wagon wheels for it in 1980. He's finally dumping them for 18's..... 16.5 tire selection is almost nil... and his wagon wheels have out lasted themselves... |
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#3 |
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Redmond, WA
Posts: 6,332
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Re: Are 16.5 wheels 16.0 or 16.5 inches?
Thanks, that's precisely what I was wondering. I bet you'd have to really work to force a 16" tire on there, but no doubt people have done it...
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#4 | |
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Ark City, Kansas
Posts: 3,332
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Re: Are 16.5 wheels 16.0 or 16.5 inches?
Quote:
![]() Just in case, a FYI, the proper way to deal w/ those tires, IF ON A SPLIT RIM, is to let the air out of the tire before, even touching the lug nuts, must be aired up in a cage. Just saw your pickup in the build section, looks like you don't have split rims, Thank God!!! I'll leave this paragraph here, for others, might save a life. |
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#5 |
Roadtrip!
![]() Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Grand Rapids MN
Posts: 13,721
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Re: Are 16.5 wheels 16.0 or 16.5 inches?
I don't think 16.5 came in split rims, but not positive. Also, 16.5 rims have more of a slope on the outer bead instead of straight up and down.
__________________
67 gmc custom lwb dakota truck. Sold...And bought back 69 swb 4x4 project (in progress) 70 c-10 lwb texas truck 70 4x4/BB/bkts/posi/tach(retired) 70 swb (wifes) 70 jimmy camper 71 K-5 factory 2wd 71 cheyenne 4x4/tach/posi/ plow rig 71 Cheyenne20 BB, buckets, tach, tilt, 4 speed 72 jimmy CST wyoming rig 72 jimmy Colorado rig 72 lifted texas 4x4 3/4 ton burb 65 fury conv. 383/auto 65 chrysler 300 "L" 413 auto |
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#6 |
Special Order
![]() ![]() Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Mt Airy, MD
Posts: 85,859
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Re: Are 16.5 wheels 16.0 or 16.5 inches?
When these trucks were made was when 16.5 "clinchers" were introduced. The only 16" wheels were split rims. GM started using 16" clinchers at some point later in the '70s. I believe your tires would be 9.50-16.5s. I believe all 16.5 tire and wheel widths used a fraction...never a whole number,and possibly to help rid confusion between 16 and 16.5 tires and wheels.
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"BUILDING A BETTER WAY TO SERVE THE USA"......67/72......"The New Breed" GMC '67 C1500 Wideside Super Custom SWB: 327/M22/3.42 posi.........."The '67" (project) GMC '72 K2500 Wideside Sierra Custom Camper: 350/TH350/4.10 Power-Lok..."The '72" (rolling) Tim "Don't call me a redneck. I'm a rough cut country gentleman" R.I.P. ~ East Side Low Life ~ El Jay ~ 72BLUZ ~ Fasteddie69 ~ Ron586 ~ 67ChevyRedneck ~ Grumpy Old Man ~ |
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#7 |
Registered User
![]() Join Date: May 2007
Location: Deale Md
Posts: 4,663
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Re: Are 16.5 wheels 16.0 or 16.5 inches?
GM is still using 16.5 wheels and tires on military vehicles.
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James 63 GMC V6 4speed carryall 65 chevy swb bbw V8 auto 68 K20 327/4 speed, buddy buckets 2002 GMC CC Dually Duramax 64 GMC lwb 3/4 V6 4speed SOLD 66 GMC swb bbw buddy buckets SOLD IG duallyjams The only thing that stays the same is constant change! |
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#8 |
Old Duffer
![]() Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Maine
Posts: 1,821
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Re: Are 16.5 wheels 16.0 or 16.5 inches?
My '68 C20 came from the factory with a two-piece wheel. It wasn't a split ring like you think of for "big trucks" (semi's), but the main body of the wheel supported the (16.5) tire, then an outer ring with two notches in it was slipped over the outer edge of the wheel, centered up on the wheel and became the retainer for the outer tire bead. Although dangerous, there were millions of them on the road in their day, and no one thought much about it. The plus side of these old wheels was someone out in the country could repair/change a tire without the machinery we need today to mount a tire.
__________________
'68 Short C20 Flatbed Dually w/ 292 4bbl, Langdon cast headers, and WC T5 trans. '81 G10 Shorty Van "Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement." Will Rogers "Under promise, then over achieve." |
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