Odd ball wheels

[Livrat]

Has anyone ever seen a set of these?
They are 8 lug 19.5's..
Came on a 1969 COPO long bed stepside ordered by the GSA..

Anyone have any info? Worth keeping? or send em off to recycle?

[Select]

Was at Discount Tire the other day bugging a buddy of mine. They have a company policy that says they can't/will not mount and .5 (19.5) tires/rims. I asked him about it and he said that they had several blow up and one kid had his face torn off but made a recovery when he wasn't expected to. He said other places will mount them, just not Discount.

[BLAZERMAN]

I know where a bunch of them are that was used on single wheel P-30 stepvans, I think they would look cool on a 4x4 when used with hubcaps. Only problem is not a big variety of 19.5 traction type tires and the average price is 300.00 per tire.

As far as a tire store not mounting them there should be no danger as those are not split rims.

[Select]

That's what I was thinking. I know they aren't splits, but for some reason they won't mount a 19.5. I thought it was weird myself.

[special-K]

They`re trying to replace common sense with a regulation,a common trend these days.I wouldn`t want someone changing tires for my business who doesn`t have enough sense to oberve the tire/rim size labeled on every tire made.They used to always say,before bling rim sizes,that the 16.5 was being discontinued because tire guys try to mount 16.5s 0n 16" rims and they blow off.The 19.5 had become pretty obscure up until GM started using them in`92 on 3500HDs.ord guys knocked the use of an odd tire size.Until they went to 10.5 on Super Duties.All these low-profile medium duties use them,so they are more common.But,as Blazerman said,they are mainly hiway tread with few traction treads meant for drive axle mounting.
I think there are buyers out there for full sets all intact.I think any early 4wd is screamin`for them.Especially the Napcos.They are a restorer`s item,until a trend comes along to mount rarer vintage OEM tire/wheel combos.(I see guys digging for a set of standard steel 15" rims lately).

[thirdstreettito]

http://www.ricksontruck.com/

They have all kinds of tires for 19.5's, check them out!

[Elephanthead]

Yeah, he was probably stretching an 18 inch tire over it or something. That is why 16 inch tires say do not mount on 16.5 inch rim all over them now. On a side not, I want to put bigger rear wheels on my C30 rather then change the rear gears, is there a particular 8 lug wheel I can find in a junkyard that will do this, I am will to go to a single rear wheel for driving and keep the truck setup for duals, is this safe? I am thinking 18 inches would be perfect, would 20 inches wheels fit?

[Chris H]

Originally Posted by Livrat

Has anyone ever seen a set of these?
They are 8 lug 19.5's..
Came on a 1969 COPO long bed stepside ordered by the GSA..

Anyone have any info? Worth keeping? or send em off to recycle?

If/when you decide to sell, let me know.

[Chris H]

Originally Posted by Elephanthead

Yeah, he was probably stretching an 18 inch tire over it or something. That is why 16 inch tires say do not mount on 16.5 inch rim all over them now. On a side not, I want to put bigger rear wheels on my C30 rather then change the rear gears, is there a particular 8 lug wheel I can find in a junkyard that will do this, I am will to go to a single rear wheel for driving and keep the truck setup for duals, is this safe? I am thinking 18 inches would be perfect, would 20 inches wheels fit?

There are factory 8 lug 19.5" dually wheels used on P30 trucks (Frito Van, RVs, etc). They are a bolt-on deal and used the same clamp plate as the 16" dually. You can recognize them by the 4 hand holes, as opposed to the 10 lug P30 trucks with 5 hand holes.
8R19.5 tires will fit and can be found at places that sell medium duty truck or RV tires. The 8R19.5 tire is taller than the 225/70/19.5 used on most of the current HD3500 trucks.
Tires are very expensive (especially x 6!), $175 to $350 each depending on what you need.

[Elephanthead]

so a junked rv is the key, my dad lives near Elkhart, (RV capital of the USA) I wonder if he can get me a new set of take offs or out of business clearances. I will be junkyard diving this weekend. Yeah, 6 tires is more then what I have in the truck.

[454_72_4X4]

Originally Posted by Chris H

Tires are very expensive (especially x 6!), $175 to $350 each depending on what you need.

Ya really didn't have to say that...LOL

I have a motorhome, (RV), that uses 19.5's and the tires on it are kinda "iffy" to say the least. And it has 8 of 'em! They're 10 hole bolt pattern though.

Never seen the 8 lug ones before.

[LOW DOUGH]

yeah, the discount tire thing..... they don't do split rims.(they can seperate and blowup) they do do .5 rims. I used to work for them for 6 years and my brother is a manager there now. we did 16.5 alot and izzusu box trucks with .5 on them.


Infact, if i were a wheeler and had a flat on the trail and all i had was a 16.5 tire for my 16.5 rims, It would be easy to mount without a machine. the 45 degree bead makes that easy.

[factorystock]

19.5"( single type ) was the optional wheel size for GM 3/4 and 1 tons from 1956 to 1968 (the hubcap clip years).Great wheel, nothing wrong with it. Special order only 1969 and up, since standard 1969 wheels started using bumps for hubcaps.

[jrdv]

I may be wrong, but a local tire shop had a deal on tires that size because they provide tires for the local railroad trucks..I think they were 19.5 and had a high ply rating and would last a long time. It would be a deal if you get more mileage out of the tires. Just my 2 cents worth.

john

[Bus Ted Knuckle]

Originally Posted by Select

Was at Discount Tire the other day bugging a buddy of mine. They have a company policy that says they can't/will not mount and .5 (19.5) tires/rims. I asked him about it and he said that they had several blow up and one kid had his face torn off but made a recovery when he wasn't expected to. He said other places will mount them, just not Discount.

He probably meant that they would not mount 16.5 on 16", etc. there is NOTHING anymore dangerous about mounting a 19.5 on a 19.5 rim than mounting any other correct tire on a wheel.

[Livrat]

Originally Posted by Chris H

If/when you decide to sell, let me know.

Chris... too bad you are so far away.. I would just give them to you.. But for me to find the time to have them dismounted.. boxed up and find a shipper is just not feasible for me.. Sorry