Sad, Sad Day...and Hub Caps Too

[67RS/SSx2]

My 72 C20 came to me with three painted hub caps with blue bowties (one missing). After checking several local-ish swap meets, no dice. Could not find any.

Thought I needed 12" hub caps from reading on here and that the gold bowtie versions from the early 70s would fit. My wheels appear to be stock 16.5 inch painted wheels.

As luck would have it I found a couple of pretty decent 70s 3/4 ton gold bowtie hub caps on this forum. Made a deal and got them headed my way.

Unfortunately when they got here I found they were slightly too big to fit my wheels. So now I have spent a fair amount of coin and still have only three hub caps.

Those in the know please school me. Where did I go wrong? What do I need to be looking for? Oh well, if I cannot move these as least I have some neat garage art.

Thanks for any enlightenment!

[special-K]

I'm lost on why these wouldn't fit. Any way you could show pictures? Your wheels have four outer nubs, right? It's an 8-lug truck, right?

[factorystock]

There is only one size 12" (approx.) hubcap for 8 lug wheels with bumps for hubcap retention. Two possibilities, either the hubcap is bent out of shape or non factory wheel.

[Caddylackn]

It sounds like you have C10 hubcaps. The C20 hubcaps are deeper to clear the hubs of the Semi-Floating rear end. I made the same mistake. I bought a really nice set of factree hubcaps for cheap ($25 for a set), and they didn't fit.

I replaced my stock 16.5" wheels with 16" Ford 3/4 ton van wheels and my stock 16.5" hubcaps fit right on.

[YellowK5]

I may have what you need... I will look in my spare parts box

[67RS/SSx2]

Originally Posted by special-K

Your wheels have four outer nubs, right? It's an 8-lug truck, right?

Yes, my 16.5" wheels have four outer nubs. And yes, it is an 8 lug truck. First pic is of the passenger rear wheel with one of the caps that came with the truck. Second pic is of the same wheel with the cap removed. So far nothing out of the ordinary.

Third pic is the driver's side rear wheel, the one that did not have a cap when I got the truck. Again, nothing unusual and it looks like the other wheel.

Originally Posted by factorystock

Two possibilities, either the hubcap is bent out of shape or non factory wheel.

Oh contraire my fellow truck brotheren. There is at least one additional possibility. After spending countless hours pouring through manuals and technical bulletins and the entire internet. After researching and summoning all of the vast knowledge and brainpower available to me I finally arrived at the root issue/solution. There is a common name for it, let me see...what do they call it??? Oh yeah now I remember...it is called "OPERATOR ERROR".

You see it was after dark when I finally got home to open my package of hub caps and take them out to my truck last night. Apparently when I hooked the bottom of the cap on the lower two nubs, then lifted it to hook it over the top nubs, I let the bottom slip off. Not just once but two or three times! That is the only explanation I can come up with.

Tonight when I attempted to install one of the caps it was very tight but went on. DUH, how dumb can one guy get???

Anyway I am very happy with the new caps. Only down side is that I now see how bad (and damaged) my old caps are. Now I have to find two more decent caps for my truck!

Many thanks to all who replied and guided me to find the ultimately very complex problem.

[Mike80D]

When or if you decide to change the color of the bow tie to blue go with Krylon True Blue. It’s a good match to OE.

[67RS/SSx2]

Originally Posted by Mike80D

When or if you decide to change the color of the bow tie to blue go with Krylon True Blue. It’s a good match to OE.

That is my next step, to remove the cap, tape off the bowtie, sand it, and repaint it to something very close to the original blue. Thanks for the color tip!

[special-K]

Glad you figured that out! GM, Ford, Dodge 8-lug wheels and hubcaps are all interchangeable. IH too! That's why I was mystified

I have 76-91 hubcaps on my '95 K2500 Suburban. I was having a flat repaired where I know all the guys, all younger than me. I kid around and ask, "Do you guys know how to install hubcaps?". They say they sure do, do it all the time, and pointed to a newer model truck with center caps, different animal. They get me all fixed up and I drive home. That's when I noticed the hubcap had fallen off. Nope, they didn't know how!

[slikside]

Originally Posted by Mike80D

When or if you decide to change the color of the bow tie to blue go with Krylon True Blue. It’s a good match to OE.

X2 on the Krylon True Blue! It's a dead-on match for the chevy blue bow-tie. That's the blue in the pic for my avatar.