Help with Wheels for '62

[rbruno68]

I am having a hard time buying wheels for my '62. I have a stock '62 with a 6X5.5 bolt pattern. I want to keep the truck stock. I have looked at a lot of pictures of trucks with the Chevy car style rally wheel and really like those. I have been shopping for a set for a couple days now. I have looked at both Summit and Jegs. Jegs sells a Jegs brand wheel and wheels from Wheel Vintage. I am having two issues I can't quite figure out. Backspacing is one. I know what backspacing is but not sure exactly what backspacing to have to fit the truck. I would like to by 15X8 for the back and 15X7 for the fronts. I would like the fronts to be ok for disc brakes incase I upgrade at some point. I have a set of the same size wheels for a Camaro. I measured the back spacing on those just as a reference. The 15x8 had a 4 inch back spacing and the 7 had 3.5. All of the 15X7 with 6 lug patters I have seen have a 4.25 back spacing. The 8s seem to have the same. Those that have these rims, what back space are you using?

The other issue is with the center bore. All of the 6 lug I have been able to find has a 4.25 center bore. I only measured the rear on my stock '62 rear and it has a 3.5 boss on the hub that the rim fits on. Has anyone found 6 lug Rally wheels with a 3.5 center bore?

I am not sure if I am missing something or measuring wrong. I see tons of trucks with the car style rally with 6 lugs, but can't seem to get which ones will fit on my truck given the measurements I am getting.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Rob

[cwcarpenter98]

Although it would be better to have the center bore fit up nicely, it's not an absolute requirement. I've been running the 4.25 center bore wheels on my 63 without a problem since October. Instead of being hub-centric, my wheels are lug-centric. For a nice, street cruiser, that aspect probably won't matter too much.

I bought my Wheel Vintiques series 62 wheels used, so I don't remember the exact backspacing. It's between 3.75 and 4.25 though, and I don't have any issues with fitment on a stock height truck with squarebody disc brakes (6 lug rotor though)

[rbruno68]

Originally Posted by cwcarpenter98

Although it would be better to have the center bore fit up nicely, it's not an absolute requirement. I've been running the 4.25 center bore wheels on my 63 without a problem since October. Instead of being hub-centric, my wheels are lug-centric. For a nice, street cruiser, that aspect probably won't matter too much.

I bought my Wheel Vintiques series 62 wheels used, so I don't remember the exact backspacing. It's between 3.75 and 4.25 though, and I don't have any issues with fitment on a stock height truck with squarebody disc brakes (6 lug rotor though)

Thanks Christian. I have looked at your build thread before which is great. I am also sort of looking for a '63. The '62 I want to keep stock, but the 63 I would want to hot rod a bit. Like the knee knockers.

Anyway, it looks like you have a later then 62 or 63 rear in your truck and the rims were not hub-centric as you mentioned even with a later rear? Were the truck rallys that you originally had on the truck also not tight to the diameter of the hub?
Thanks,
Rob

[cwcarpenter98]

Thanks for looking! The knee knockers are my favorite. Maybe one day I'll get another one to lower and put go fast parts on it

I have a 65-70 rear axle under my 63, but I believe the hub was the same diameter on the 60-62 HO32s, 63-64 truck 12 bolts, and 65-70 truck 12 bolts. Additionally, I think that hub diameter continued through the squarebody era.
3 of the 4 truck rallies I have were hub-centric to the rear axle. They were not hub-centric to the brand of rotor that was included in my disc kit. It was even slightly smaller than the rear axle. Again, I didn't have any issue with it. Why 3 out of 4? Someone had already cut out the center of one of the wheels I got to fit on the hub of a Toyota or something else. Didn't have any issues with that one wheel though

[forestb]

I had a set of wheel vintiques rally wheels on my 62. They were 15X7 all the way around and they had what wheel vintiques called there standard backspacing and they fit fine and I had a 4-5 drop. I now have there 17X8 with there standard backspacing and they fit fine also. If I were you I would not go with wheel vintiques. I had to put a huge amount of weights on them to get them balanced. Also ther customer service stinks. I would look on the coker tires sight to see if they have something.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by forestb

I had a set of wheel vintiques rally wheels on my 62. They were 15X7 all the way around and they had what wheel vintiques called there standard backspacing and they fit fine and I had a 4-5 drop. I now have there 17X8 with there standard backspacing and they fit fine also. If I were you I would not go with wheel vintiques. I had to put a huge amount of weights on them to get them balanced. Also ther customer service stinks. I would look on the coker tires sight to see if they have something.

You might check but I believe Coker = Wheel Vintiques now.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by rbruno68

I am having a hard time buying wheels for my '62. I have a stock '62 with a 6X5.5 bolt pattern. I want to keep the truck stock. I have looked at a lot of pictures of trucks with the Chevy car style rally wheel and really like those. I have been shopping for a set for a couple days now. I have looked at both Summit and Jegs. Jegs sells a Jegs brand wheel and wheels from Wheel Vintage. I am having two issues I can't quite figure out. Backspacing is one. I know what backspacing is but not sure exactly what backspacing to have to fit the truck. I would like to by 15X8 for the back and 15X7 for the fronts. I would like the fronts to be ok for disc brakes incase I upgrade at some point. I have a set of the same size wheels for a Camaro. I measured the back spacing on those just as a reference. The 15x8 had a 4 inch back spacing and the 7 had 3.5. All of the 15X7 with 6 lug patters I have seen have a 4.25 back spacing. The 8s seem to have the same. Those that have these rims, what back space are you using?

The other issue is with the center bore. All of the 6 lug I have been able to find has a 4.25 center bore. I only measured the rear on my stock '62 rear and it has a 3.5 boss on the hub that the rim fits on. Has anyone found 6 lug Rally wheels with a 3.5 center bore?

I am not sure if I am missing something or measuring wrong. I see tons of trucks with the car style rally with 6 lugs, but can't seem to get which ones will fit on my truck given the measurements I am getting.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Rob

15x7's w/3.5" - 4.25"bs are pretty standard & should not compromise installation.

Keep in mind upgrading to generic or OE front disc brake spindles will increase the track width similar to a later model truck w/discs. It only stays the same if a specific kit is used stating it does not alter track width. I mention this to promote awareness.

Rear end year model can impact track width as well. Earlier trucks had narrower rear end housings. Mid year '70 6-lug housings are wider vs early '70 & back to '63. Again, I mention this to promote awareness. Over the years things can get swapped or changed so it's good to know & keep in mind if/when making current changes.

For the 60-66 trucks, the 15x7 4.25"bs & 15x8 4.25"bs combo should be a good fit @ stock height.

[rbruno68]

Thanks all for the input.

SCOTI, I think I had read about the track width when installing disc brakes. I guess in that case, it would be good to have a bit more back spacing.

I haven't bought the rims yet because I am not quite ready to put the truck on the road. Still fixing the bed. I keep looking for square body rims at the same time. Almost just seeing what comes up first.
Thanks again,
Rob

[forestb]

Be warned that if you get the CPP modular spindles that help keep you track width close to stock they will not work with 15 in wheels