disc brake wheels - or - NON-disc brake wheels, that is the question...

[jocko]

Good morning folks - I've been following along on the disc brake stock wheels thread (and markeb01 has some great info on the recent and previous threads) . The picture of the radir wheel that demonstrated how a wheel is not a disc brake wheel helped me understand the difference between the wheels. Since i want to eventually put discs on my 66, I'm in the hunt for a set of early 70's-80's stock wheels - but first I wanted to check my current wheels to make sure they were NOT disc brake wheels.... especially since I already dumped a bundle on powder coating (I know, not the best planning of the build). Anyhoo, once I pulled the wheels, I really wasn't sure anymore that they were not disc brake wheels - so am posting a few pics to see what you may think - are these disc brake wheels OR stock mid-sixties non-disc brake wheels. 3 pics of the inside of one of them - I don't see the extreme inner wheel taper that the radir in mark's pics had - but then again, it's not exactly "flat" heading to the center, so not sure if discs would fit or not...

Appreciate your help - just curious if anyone out there would know at a glance which wheels these were - disc or non-disc. Thanks!

[markeb01]

Those are very interesting wheels if you're a steel wheel fanatic (which I am). They appear to have the early style center with 3 hub cap bumps, a somewhat curved surface, and the slots between the center and the rim are curved and parallel to the rim. The center of a disc brake wheel is flatter, and the slots between the center and the rim are almost straight across forming more of triangle shaped gap. However your centers appear to be mated to later model rims with safety beads (indicated in the photo) at least on the back side.



I can’t tell if they have safety beads on the front from the photos. Most of the early wheels I have seen don’t have safety beads at all. Although Chrysler invented and produced the safety bead rim since 1941, I don’t believe GM used them until the mid-late 60’s. So - your wheels are no doubt the original drum brake wheels, but apparently engineering changes were occuring that modernized the rim portion at least.

In any event, I’m thinking those will fit over stock disc brake calipers, both because of the cylinder shape of the back of the rim, and also because the backspacing is so shallow because the rim is so narrow. The part of a drum brake wheel that normally interferes isn’t there. I would certainly fit them up before spending money on other wheels.

[jocko]

thanks markeb01, i was just thinking the same thing (i.e. wait to spend $ until I try to fit them over discs). I look at it this way - I have a set of stock truck 6-lug rally wheels that I know will clear disc brakes, so I have a fallback plan in case these don't work. If these didn't fit, then I could stick the rallies on there until I could scour the yards for some newer steelies. and then there may be 4 or 5 really nice powder coated 15x5.5's for sale on ebay... But I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks for the excellent info - much appreciated. as for the safety bead - I don't believe mine have it on the outside face - but they are the 3 bump cap retainers like you mention - so agree they are probably originals. I would never have noticed the safety bead if you hadn't pointed it out - thanks.