6 lug or 5 lug wich is best?

[r8edx2000]

I need some help I don't know if I should keep the the 6 lug in my truck or convert to 5 lug. I would like to hear the pros and cons to this swap or keep it 6 lug. I just bought a 67 c10 step and want to improve my brakes and I'm in a standstill. Any suggestion or comments highly appreciated. I'm a nooby to the whole classic truck crowd very excited to get things going on my truck. Thanks in advance

[bob1967]

I just swapped the brakes on mine and kept the 6 lug due to not wanting to change my rear axle to 5 lug also. I think there are more options for 5 lug rims than 6 lug, other than that I don't know of a benefit of 5 lug

[huero]

5 lug will get you better wheel selection.
6 lug is better for everything else.

[El Jay]

Huero,
I will keep that in mind.
El Jay

[special-K]

Use what you have.If you could get the complete 5-lug disc conversion and rear axle cheap*,then that`s a good way to go.*As in parting a donor truck.If I was buying a new disc conversion,I`d stay with 6-lug just to be different ad somewhat original-like.Wouldn`t have to mess with rear.Thereare alot of 6-lug wheel choices out there.

[70GMCer]

There has been an increase in 6 lug selection lately. I guess because most of the trucks made since the 90's now have the 6 lug. I'm keeping my 6 lug setup.....

[Wasted Income]

For what it's worth, I'm looking to convert mine back to 6 lug to take advantage of some of the awesome new wheels that are available on new trucks from the factory (18s, 20s....22s!!). It USED TO BE true that there was a better selection of wheels for 5 lug, but I feel that is no longer the case. I converted mine to 5 lug from 6 lug back in 1994. R8edx, I might be interested in swapping you my 5 lugs rear axle shafts for the 6 lugs if you decide to go that route.

[66skylarkpost]

one word -" safety " unless you go with the 6 lug disc conversions ive seen ,ugrading your brakes should be a good enough reason to go to the later 5 lug

[ChevLoRay]

Originally Posted by huero

5 lug will get you better wheel selection.
6 lug is better for everything else.

I have 6-lug discs from Early Classic Enterprises on my '69, because I already had a set of aluminum wheels with decent tires. If I ever decide to go to 5-lug rotors, a stock replacement rotor for a 71-up GM truck will be a plug-n-play replacement. The rear end is a different question. Don't want to carry two spares....heck, don't even carry a spare at all. May need to consider doing that, but I have one so not to worry.

My '96, with 5-lugs on the other hand, has left me looking for 5-lug wheels that I like. You'd be amazed at how many wheels are 6-lug, not 5-lug. Maybe it's because of the diameters that I am frustrated in what it out there, but that is the deal. Larger diameter wheels are where it's at, so planning for the wheels you want should be the driving force behind whether to go with 5 or 6-lugs. Well, that and whether you want to carry 2 spares, if you do the front in 5-lugs and the rear is still 6-lugs.....money and stuff figure in, you know.

I went with Corvette-style rallye wheels from Wheel Vintiques. They have 6-lugs and I like 'em.

[ortegamotor]

here are a few pic of what i did.and the reason i went with the 6 lug over the 5. i had found a cool set of rims on CL for 300.00 and that basically pointed me in the direction i needed to go. you see there are a lot of newer 6 lug trucks out there at people with newer trucks have all kinds of options so you always see killer deals on used rims.i did have to add adapters to get the back spacing right 1/2" in the front and 1" in the back. but as you can see it was worth tha added expense.Tony

[chevguy7]

I will probably end up sticking with 6 lug on my truck so I won't have to mess with the rear axles.

[Lated]

There is an initially higher price to switch to 5 lug from 6 due to swaping the rear axle but replacement rotors for the 6 lug cost more, usually about $40 each. I went with the 5 lug but I had a 72 parts truck that I pulled the rearend out of.

[Wasted Income]

You DON'T need to swap out the whole rear end. All you need is 5 lug axle shafts and 5 lug drums. It would take 2 hours at the MOST to do the swap.

[Scott68-93-97]

Wasted income the problem with that swap is the 5 lug axles are longer, so I beleive its on one side the drum wont sit over the shoes correctly there is a couple of post about this. Some guys pull there shafts fill the holes and have em' drilled for 5 lug and some order replacement shafts for the early axle in 5 lug form, early classic sells a five lug conversion axle kit for the narrower axles. I'm torn on this one myself due to now of days there are definatly more wheels for 6 luggers out there now

[Frizzle Fry]

Selection aside, I just like the look of five spoke wheels over six in most cases. ortegamotor definately has one of the nicer six spoke wheels that I've seen.

[chevy one]

Anyone know where is the best buy for the six lug rotors to fit 71 spindles? The best price that I have found is around $89 a piece.

Ortegamotor, love your truck; it's like looking at the twin of mine.

[Wasted Income]

Originally Posted by Scott68-93-97

Wasted income the problem with that swap is the 5 lug axles are longer, so I beleive its on one side the drum wont sit over the shoes correctly there is a couple of post about this. Some guys pull there shafts fill the holes and have em' drilled for 5 lug and some order replacement shafts for the early axle in 5 lug form, early classic sells a five lug conversion axle kit for the narrower axles. I'm torn on this one myself due to now of days there are definatly more wheels for 6 luggers out there now

Interesting...I could swear that when I built my truck all I did was swap out axle shafts to convert to 6 lug in the rear. However, that was 14 years ago and memory fades a bit

I do remember getting a full front and rear suspension from a '71 GMC, so it's possible that I rebuilt the GMC rear end and threw it in...?

[ChevLoRay]

Aren't there issues with axles here? Seems like I recall a slew of posts that say that rear ends from '60 through '69 are the same, but the '70's have different axles. As I also understand, the rear ends through '75 have the same axle lengths from '70, even though they switched to leaf springs across the board in '73.

[r8edx2000]

Thanks everyone for the input