Posted by Clint Dixon [108.162.216.31] on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 at 13:21:23 :
In Reply to: as far as i can tell nobody knows or posted by clueless [162.158.122.39] on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 at 10:59:57 :
Okay, here is what I found out about 30 years ago. I bought a 1952 civilian Power-Wagon from a quarry. It was their powder truck. It had 4.89 gears and 7.50x16 tires. I happened to notice one day that the wheels were all the narrower rims with the smaller lock rings, but two of the wheels had more inset than the others. I found that these two could be dualed together and there was over an inch between the tires. The other two with the lessor inset could not be dualed, as the tires would touch before the wheel flanges would. When I tried mating one of each together, the tires would just touch.
The two wheels with the lessor inset were date coded 1951. The two with the greater inset were date coded 1942. I gathered from this that the two that could not be dualed were original civilian wheels and they probably came with the truck. The two that could be dualed were obviously from a WWII 1/2-ton Dodge. The problem was that the two earlier wheels had cracks at from each stud hole to the center hole. The wheel flanges would not quite contact the brake drums until the lug nuts were tightened down. This apparently was what cracked the wheels. The wheels had too much inset and were contacting the brake drums.
No big deal. It was just a quarry truck with no license or registration. It was only used to carry dynamite down steep shelf roads....
Unfortunately, I cut the truck up about 25 years ago and I do not remember exactly how much difference there was in the backspacing between the civilian and military wheels.
Junior