Wheels

My husband bought me a 51 chevy with a Camaro something. I want to buy some new rimes. Ralley I think? The wheels on it now are 15 inch & the tires look to be 8 inches wide. How do I know how to get the correct measurments? I want to do this without his help. I saw where he signed on to this site & got some previous help.
Thanks alot, Marty

51 chevy 1/2 ton. 350 chevy engine. automatic tranny with power steering.  

Hi Marty

I recently put 15X7 Chevy Rally wheels on my 1950.

http://rides.classictrucks.com/ride/1085750/olblue/1950/chevrolet/c20/photos/6.html

if these are similar to what you want they are quite easy find on Craigs list, but you need to be careful that the rims will run true and will most likely require some blasting and repainting.

You will want to check that you have the correct spacing of the lugs.  My guess is that you have 5 lug and they are on 4 and 3/4 inch centers?

What size tires does your truck currently have? This should be stamped into the side wall. e.g. something like P225R15-75  
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1950 Chevy 3600

1942 Ford Jeep

We need a little more information regarding the Camaro something as it could relate to a rear axle or the front suspension or both.

To cover all bases though we can hit it one by one.

If the rear axle is from a 2nd generation Camaro/Firebird (F-body)the primary concern is the back spacing of the new rims.  The outside width of the truck bed is 50 inches and the outside to outside dimension of the camaro axle is 61.5 inches leaving you 11.5 inches to play with.  For illustration purposes lets assume you want to use 15 x 7 rims.  The GM rally rims typically have a 4.25 inch backspacing.  This back spacing eats up 8.5 inches of the 11.5 inches mentioned before leaving you 1.5 inches of clearance per side.  Tires typically buldge out from the edge of the rims 1 inch so this leaves you with 0.5 inches of clearance between the tire and the bed sides which is NOT enough.  The tires will rub on turns and when entering/exiting ramps/driveways. I try to keep at least 1 inch between the rubber and the bed sides and more is better.

To prevent this your new rims should have a back spacing of 3.75 inches.  Using the same measurements this will give you 1 inch of clearance between the tire and bed sides.

I have this same arrangement on my 54 pickup.  I am running the GM rallys (4.25 BS) and to to get the required clearance I am running 1 inch spacers on each side.  This gives me an effective backspacing of 3.25 inches.  I am running 235/70R/15 tires and have right at 1.o inches of clearance between the inside fender lip and the tire sidewall.  The following link provides useful information as to how wide a given tire size is on a specific rim width.  http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/specs/radial-t-a/12.html

Using this information you can determine how much rubber you can fit inside your fenders.  I am basing this on stock fenders and bedsides so it you have modified either on your truck you will have different clearances.

On the front end things may require more measurements.  If your truck has been modified with a camaro subframe, and has been lowered significantly, your concern will be tire to fender clearance.  The Camaro subframe is not the best option for the AD series trucks as it is too wide IF installed such that it lowers the truck.  Assuming your truck has this subframe and is lowered you will need a back spacing of 4.5 inches to keep the rubber off the fenders during turns. Other concerns enter in also.  If you use a tire that is too wide it may interfere with the sway bar or steering linkage causing tire rub which is not a good thing.

Again we need more information on how your truck is set up to give you good information for the front.

To keep things simple on my truck I run the same size rim/tire on all four corners.  As I put over 15K a year on it I like to rotate the tires front to back to max tire life.

With more information we can help you out further.
What size rims/tires are you wanting to run?
What is the rear axle from and how is it mounted - leaf springs/four link/other?
What front suspension do you have?

Once you make your decision though you might want to run this by your husband just to double check everything.  It never hurts to get a second opinion and it can prevent mistakes.  Enjoy your truck.

If I missed something here I am sure someone else will give another opinion.  

Thanks for your post. OL Blue sure looks nice.
Tires on my truck are Dunlap GT Qualifiers P245/60R15. They are 8 in wide. I will keep them because they are pretty new. The rimes are all crome with 15 small bolt heads around the rim with 5 bolts in the middle. They are 4 1/2 in from center to center. I don't like them. The spare tire is P195/75R14. Why 14 I don't know. BUT the rim looks like more of what I want. It is black with 5 odd shaped holes in it with small crome edges on them. It also has wide crome ring on them. All I want is a black rim that I can put crome nuts on & maybe a small beauty ring. Your 3rd pic looks like it is a painted rim.
My truck is not lowered.We bought it from the son of a guy that died 3 years ago.
The only thing Joe knows about the truck is that it is a 79 Camaro 350 with a 350 turbo transmission. He now has it running & is working on the lights ETC. I want to buy the rims without buging him. I also don't want to buy used stuff. THANKS  

Marty

Sounds like you have some pretty wide rubber on the truck already.  While everything that Houston says is very correct, my hunch is that if these 60 series don't rub you shouldn't have trouble with fender rub,but I did have to chamfer the corners on the bed cross beams to add clearance on the inside and you may need to also.. No big deal.

Your spare sounds like an Oldsmobile Cutlass wheel.  These were 14 inch in diameter and would fit this same bolt pattern.  If you can insert a picture, we may be able to direct you to a source.  
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1950 Chevy 3600

1942 Ford Jeep

Hey All!

Thanks for all the input. A guy from the car club is going to help me locate some rims & I'll buy some new tires. 8 in tires are to wide for me. Will post a pic when I get The Wright's Whiskey Wagon in shape. My husband has a 36 Ford that he made into a Taxi. Can't wait to get my truck on the road.

Thanks Again!  

Glad these guys could help you out.