16.5 inch wheels

[zac]

I'm not seeing alot of tire options for these wheels. It's basically down to 9.50r16.5LT or 33x12.50's. Am I missing something? How about going to 16's to give me more options? Will they fit the rear drums on a 8-lug FF 14 bolt? Thanks.

[b454rat]

You can fit 15" wheels on a 14ff. 16" wheels were factory on 3/4 and 1 ton trucks in the 80s, maybe even the late 70s....

Interco still makes alot of tires for 16.5" wheels.

[ghettoluxury]

16.5 tires are becoming obsolite and like b454rat said a 15" rim will fit the rear but to clear the front calipers be prepared to do a little grinding. 16" rims will clear without any problems at all and 17" rims cost a little more but the tires are usualy cheeper than the 16"

[2tons of fun]

thats funny that you say 16.5 are BECOMING obsolite. ive been told that for 15yrs, and there are more to pick from now than before.


what are you looking for?

[cobinder]

It's all a tire/wheel industry game. Whatever you have will be out dated in 4 years. Soon they'll have 16-3/4" wheels just to f**k with us. it's stupid!!

[zac]

I have a set of 33x12.50's on I'm guessing 10" aluminum rims and some 9.50's on the stock rims. Both sets are worn out. I want something in between. How about some 31 or 32x10.50's?

[special-K]

For 2wd street tires the choices are narrowed down to the 9.50 and 12.50.they cut out the 10.00 and 11.00 when the 12.00 went to 12.50/33.I ran the 9.50s on 8.25s up front and the 12.50s on 9.75s on the rear of my Custom Camper.It was the look I wanted to throw back to the style of the era.But,a 10-11" wide tire would have been a nice option.I couldn`t consider lowering with that combo,not that I wanted to.I guess mounted on an 8.25" rim would work for a lowered truck.We never used that narrow of a rim with that wide of a tire back in the day.But,it seems to be acceptable now.

[Burt4x4]

16.5 Wheels suck for airing down unless you have bead lock wheels, like H1s

[Dieselwrencher]

16.5's don't like it on the pulling track either. The bead area is too small.

[OldCreek]

Do 16.5"s like towing heavy loads?

[special-K]

I`ve run 16.5s or decades with no problems.I never rock crawled or pulled a weight transfer sled,though.I`ve aired down or sand and that`s it.No problems on sand,but that was all pretty calm driving,too.No roostertails.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by OldCreek

Do 16.5"s like towing heavy loads?

Yup, that was their purpose back in the day, on 3/4T and 1T trucks... typically 6PR or 8PR, sometimes more. Check the maximum load ratings to be sure. As posted above, they don't air down well (to very low pressures) for a couple reasons -- they are often a stiff, heavy tire instead of a flotation tire. But mainly because many 16.5" rims (especially aftermarket) lack the "safety bead" that virtually all other rim sizes have.

[Dieselwrencher]

I have pulled a lot of heavy loads with 16.5's and haven't had a problem.

[zac]

I've seen a few options in larger tire sizes but down at my boring "stock height with road gears" end of the spectrum, 9.50's and 33x12.50 seem like the only realistic option. The stock steel wheels seem to be about 8.5" wide. So some 9.50's would probably be OK. They would be around 31", so with 3.42 gears, a TH 400, and I guess a 454 (per the other thread), that might be a good combo. I like this truck just fine, but it is Krylon satin gray and will be used for ocassional car hauler pulling, along with hauling god knows what else (barn wood, field stone, engines, firewood, etc.). I just need this one to work decent so I can get on with the '72 K10 Burb and the '61 K10 lwb Apache projects. Anyone have some specific tire suggestions?

[special-K]

I have some General tires in 9.50-16.5.They may still make those.The stock rims are 6.5 or 7" bead to bead.I`m thinking 7".

[Dooley]

During the years that GM had the 16.5" as the stock wheels I always ordered the optional 16" tube type on my trucks.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by zac

I'm not seeing alot of tire options for these wheels. It's basically down to 9.50r16.5LT or 33x12.50's. Am I missing something? How about going to 16's to give me more options? Will they fit the rear drums on a 8-lug FF 14 bolt? Thanks.

16s will go right on there.16s are made in metric sizes in various profiles.235/85-16s are about stock size.You can get 8" rims and run 4 matching or go with 10" rear rims and wider tires.you can get wide tires that aren`t as tall,like on 1/2t trucks and cars.