The 5x5.5 15" rims were used on F100, at least in 65, and several years before that. The "innie" rims that is. Sometime in 66 the CC trucks got "outie" hubcaps. And then in the 67 and up series, all were outie. What is "innie" and "outie"? See the next pictures. Basically the location of the "nubs" that hold on the hubcaps. Note however that the outer profile also is different.
The 48 and later (maybe to 61?) rims do indeed have the correct nubs for the
rims, and the 16" rims are intriguing. BUT -- they are only 4 inch wide
rims, designed for very narrow, tall tires.
The later 15" stock rims are 5" -- still pretty narrow, but OK, IMHO. And
remember, if you are going to keep manual steering, you must avoid overly wide
tires anyhow.
Where to find -- took me two months of junkyarding, but I found em' You'll get
some duds too -- there are 4 1/2 wide "innie" rims out there too, and they are
hard to tell from the 5" before you take the old tire off. I got a 4 1/2 off
an old ranger -- maybe that was what they were on. Who knows. But I got
my rims eventually. Took a while, but they are out there.
FYI, the 4, 4 1/2, and 5 inch measurements I am talking about are NOT from the
outer edge of the bead. The industry standard measures from the bottom of the
bead, where the sits at its deepest point. More tire stuff I've learned along
the way. Usually this inner bead measurement is about 1/2" narrower, so
that the overall rim depth is about 1" wider.
I have heard rumors of a company somewhere that does reproduction rims.
Perhaps Wheel Vintiques, but I am unsure.
Finally, a caveat -- the old rims were made for drum brakes. When you do the
disk brakes, at least in a twin Ibeam (65 and 66) setup, the disc brake
calipers will rub. The later rims have a different profile on the backside,
allowing clearance for the calipers. It is possible (though I do not know for
sure) that the repro rims will not have this problem. And for 61-64 folks that
do different type of disc conversions, I think there is no problem there
either (but not certain). The rub is rectified by using a 5/16" spacer which
puts the rim out just enough from the hub to stop the rub (poetry, ha!).
See the next pic for a better idea of the profile which I am referring to.
The inside or backside of the rim is to the left. The left rim is a old
style "innie" rim. The right is a standard Ford rim used with disk
brakes. Arrived with the first disk brakes in late 60's (discs were
option in 69 I think) and phased out when Ford went to different bolt spacing.
Not pictured here, but I have one, is a rim with the old, drum brake
profile, BUT outer rim appearance like the later "outie" rims. These are
of course rare, as they were used from 66 to 72 only, and only on vehicles
with drums all around.
Please email me with corrections or additional information that you might have
for me to improve and enlarge this page.
June 13th, 2004