Thoughts Regarding Wheel and Axle Swap on 59 Viking 40

[viKING40]

I have a 59 Viking 40 (1 1/2 ton) which has 20” multi-piece rims (with tube tires). I have decided that I don’t care to continue to run them, the original wheels were 22.5 tubeless. I want to go with 22.5 wheels going forward (and it is well documented on the forums that the 55-59 1 1/2 tons are hard wheels to find), so I have planned three courses of action and would like to hear other’s perspective if they care to share:

1: buy custom steel wheels from Wheels Now
2: get custom (buy or make myself) adapters for the current axles to fit late model big bore/bolt circle wheels
3: swap axles from a ford f-450/550 (Dana front and rear), which would also mean I need wheel adapters (but can be bought, not custom made).

I am leaning towards #3 even though there is more work, as I can also pull the power steering, ABS and power disc brakes and sway bars (I live in an urban/suburban area and want to do truck stuff in congested areas so these benefits are significant to me). I should also add that the frame rail width is with 0.20 in between the Viking and 450/550 with front track (15 in wider on the 450/550) being the only significant challenge to address (the rest is just lots of work!).

It is a big undertaking so i’d appreciate some thoughts from the community getting to 22.5” rims.

Thanks in advance

[buggy5872]

What bolt pattern do you currently have? if its 10 lug they are hard to find. 6 on 8.75? if so there a tons of steel wheels out there in 22.5" I would not use the f450 axle if it is 15" wider. You will not overcome that with a wheel offset. Fender modifications would be significant and not sure how it would look.

[viKING40]

I have the 10 lug on 7 1/4 in bolt circle with a 6 1/4 inch hub.

I just measured the outside of my current wheel to the outside of the front fender and the current wheel is 6 1/4 inch inside the fender. That means that a 450 axle would move the outside of the tire ~1 1/4 inch outside the fender (15 in track difference is 7.5 in per side the wheel would move).

Not sure wheel offset can fix that, and at a minimum I would need to roll the fender, but as you said probably need to figure some flares.

Or keep the suspension high (lift?) and the fender clearance won’t matter, but again as you said looks may be suspect.

Thanks for you thoughts.

[1959Viking40]

HI Viking40, I am in the same boat as you!

It appears you've had the same thought as me, with your option 3 listing above. Another option that I am leaning towards is running a 90's chevy 3500 "HD" axle front and rear. 4x4 was not an option for these trucks, but that is not as important to me and the 2wd front axle beams seem to be much easier found than than 8/10 lug 450/550 front axles from the fords.

I'll be tracking your progress here. I have no desire to deal with ABS and I believe the 90's chevy's did not have that, but they were disk brake.

Good luck!

[95 S_Trucker]

Originally Posted by 1959Viking40

HI Viking40, I am in the same boat as you!

It appears you've had the same thought as me, with your option 3 listing above. Another option that I am leaning towards is running a 90's chevy 3500 "HD" axle front and rear. 4x4 was not an option for these trucks, but that is not as important to me and the 2wd front axle beams seem to be much easier found than than 8/10 lug 450/550 front axles from the fords.

I'll be tracking your progress here. I have no desire to deal with ABS and I believe the 90's chevy's did not have that, but they were disk brake.

Good luck!

FYI, the 3500HD from 91-94 did not have ABS, they did have ABS from 95-02. There are sensors mounted to the backing plate that can easily be removed. There is not a sensor on the rear axle.



I have a 96 I can get measurements from if you need them.

[viKING40]

Originally Posted by 95 S_Trucker

I have a 96 I can get measurements from if you need them.

That would be helpful, I would be interested in front track (middle of tire to middle of tire) or something similar to compare axle width, as well as leaf spring width (inside or outside). Bolt pattern would be helpful too, but I can also look that up separately.

You also said there is no sensor on the rear axle. 2 channel ABS?

Again thanks for the thoughts, I had over looked the 3500HD as a potential donor, though I didn’t state it earlier it is my hope to keep everything up to the original 14,000 GVW the truck had from the factory and the 3500HD does that.

[viKING40]

Originally Posted by 1959Viking40

HI Viking40, I am in the same boat as you!

It appears you've had the same thought as me, with your option 3 listing above. Another option that I am leaning towards is running a 90's chevy 3500 "HD" axle front and rear. 4x4 was not an option for these trucks, but that is not as important to me and the 2wd front axle beams seem to be much easier found than than 8/10 lug 450/550 front axles from the fords.

I'll be tracking your progress here. I have no desire to deal with ABS and I believe the 90's chevy's did not have that, but they were disk brake.

Good luck!

Are you going to run 22.5 inch wheels? I have not found any adapters that take the Chevy 6 1/4 10 lug pattern and bring it to the "big rig" 285.75mm 10 lugs where you can actually find 22.5 in steel wheels (plenty of 8 lug to the "big rig" adapters out there).

[95 S_Trucker]

Originally Posted by viKING40

That would be helpful, I would be interested in front track (middle of tire to middle of tire) or something similar to compare axle width, as well as leaf spring width (inside or outside). Bolt pattern would be helpful too, but I can also look that up separately.

You also said there is no sensor on the rear axle. 2 channel ABS?

Again thanks for the thoughts, I had over looked the 3500HD as a potential donor, though I didn’t state it earlier it is my hope to keep everything up to the original 14,000 GVW the truck had from the factory and the 3500HD does that.

The abs unit would get its input from the 2 front sensors, and the vss in the transmission, so it's a 3 channel. It was advertised as 4 wheel abs(most trucks without traction control are 3 channel).


You are right about the gvw. Gvw for the earlier 3500hd was 14,500, the later ones were 15,000.


I can get some measurements Wednesday or Thursday.

[95 S_Trucker]

Look up the bolt pattern if you can. I have simulators on my wheels, and I would prefer not to take them off.

[viKING40]

Originally Posted by 95 S_Trucker

Look up the bolt pattern if you can. I have simulators on my wheels, and I would prefer not to take them off.

Near as I can tell the bolt pattern for the 3500HD is the 7 1/4 in. BCD on a 6 1/4 in. Hub, the same as the 55-59 1.5 tons. Don’t know how I missed that it has the same bolt pattern (unless the info I pulled is wrong, i looked at so much now I can’t remember where I found it).

So this has me thinking of an additional COA:
2a. Buy 3500HD 19.5 in. wheels and re-hoop them to 7.5 in. wide (from 6 in wide) so I can run 285/70R19.5 tires which are 35.4 in in diameter (tall) which is close enough to the original tire (36 in diameter). The tires would be 10.8 in. wide versus ~6.5 in. for the original so wheel offset might be an issue (approximately 4 in. More tire hanging off the inside of a front wheel)

[Popcorn W]

I "think" the center hole on the 19.5 3500HD is only 5.25
Lots of good info here:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=730717
Another option you didn't mention: Cut the center section out of your old and new wheels and weld the old wheel center section onto your new wheels. That way you've got your correct bolt pattern and no hub/lug pilot differences.

[1959Viking40]

Originally Posted by viKING40

Are you going to run 22.5 inch wheels? I have not found any adapters that take the Chevy 6 1/4 10 lug pattern and bring it to the "big rig" 285.75mm 10 lugs where you can actually find 22.5 in steel wheels (plenty of 8 lug to the "big rig" adapters out there).

No, I will probably run the 19.5" that come with them stock. 22.5 would be cool down the road though, but they'd be worth way more than the truck itself, as it stands now....

[Popcorn W]

Wow is this confusing.
Two members called Viking40. Both joined on the same month and year. One has 4 posts, the other has 5.

[95 S_Trucker]

Here are some measurements:

Rear spring perch, 40 1/2"
Rear WMS 66 1/2"

Front spring perch 33"
Front track(centor of one tire to center of the other, like you asked) 70"

[viKING40]

Originally Posted by 95 S_Trucker

Here are some measurements:

Rear spring perch, 40 1/2"
Rear WMS 66 1/2"

Front spring perch 33"
Front track(centor of one tire to center of the other, like you asked) 70"

Thanks! That helps a lot!