New Hooves for the Moose Truck

[FordGuy100]

285/75/17 would probably be the tire I would chose if I went 17"

And, from the time I was looking at 16" tires, it seems like all the same treads/brands are still available. Maybe one day it will get some taller wheels, but until then, its 285/75/16's for me.

 

[FordGuy100]

Supposidly Eagle alloys are made in the USA, thats what the site boasts at least. Some forums confirm, while others say some are made here, others are made overseas.

After some more forum reading, this page contains the wheels Eagle alloy makes here in the US.

http://aewheel.com/wheels.cfm?id=2

My 186's are at the bottom

 

[ghunt]

i have to wonder if there is enough meet to machine down a 16.5 rim to get a 16 tire to fit on there safely.

might get in trouble with the DOT police though if they ever caught wind of it.

i do like the older rim style better but the new ones look sharp!

I've heard of people doing that, but I can't believe there's enough material to take 1/4" off the entire perimeter of the rim and still have something that is structurally sound...

 

[93turbo_animal]

Me too.

I think the biggest difference is the deep dish vs. the shallow dish rim or atleast it makes as big a difference as the stlye change to me anyhow but it really changes how the moose truck looks to me anyhow

 

[93turbo_animal]

Mel another question but did you have any problems with the old rims needing retightened after being put on? I have bever had any problems with the factory alloy rims but when I went to the aftermarket aluminum wheels I had to retighten once and sometimes twice after they had been removed and reinstalled before they would stay tight

 

[Agnem]

Aric, I don't have enough miles on them yet to know. They just went on last Thursday night, and I put 12 miles on the Saturday morning. If somebody has links to rims made here, then by all means post them. I knew about Alcoa, but all I saw were dually wheels, and wheels for the big big trucks. I could certainly have custom made stainless lug nuts if I so desire, but at least the McGaurds are made here. That's $200 worth of lug nuts I bought already. I'm sure stainless would be more than twice that. I still have 2 more tires to buy, and I'm not sure if I can find used ones before rally time. If not, I'm out another $700, so I think I'll let the lug nuts slide for now.

 

[my85ford]

Out with the old.....

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And in with the new....

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Hard to believe that this truck spent 27 years rolling around on those 16.5 X 10 X 8.5 made in U.S.A. alluminum wheels of unknown origin, and that I have now given them up for made in china American Racing Baja wheels that are 17 X 8 X 8.5. At least I can now stick with the BF Goodrich tires I have always run, albeit now in a 37 X 12.5 X 17 size. I never would have thought when I went from a 16" factory rim to a 16.5" aftermarket rim, that one day I would be forced to abandon them due to difficulty getting tires. But then I imagine when my dad bought a Studebaker Commander that he would someday get rid of that car because he couldn't get wiper blades for it anymore.

The old Moose Truck wheels will probably spend some time under the Moosestang or Scarlet Moose for a little while, until they will not pass inspection.

As for the cost to buy 6 new rims (don't forget - I have to re-outfit the Moose Tail), 6 packs of McGauard lug nuts, and 4 new tires, I think it sufficient to say that God is questioning my sanity.

It looks good Mel I love your truck.

 

[93_444idi]

super swampers are not dissappearing, they are in the process of changing plants and no new tires are being made atm. I bought a used set of 36/16.5 radials for 200 last november, found out the reason they were selling them so cheap about 6 miles down the road. Tire blew. Needed another and was unable to buy new due to them moving. Hopefully they'll be back soon.

Mel, why not just stick with 16.5 and 37" radial military tires? They're cheap and abundant.

Regarding lug nuts, I just bought 32 gorilla 'triple plated chrome' lug nuts for $70. My uncle swears by mcgard but they seemed to have the same treatment so I went the cheaper route. He's gonna be buying mcgards for 4 8 lug trucks here shortly... Gonna be an expensive lug nut bill.

 

[Darrin Tosh]

Looks good Mel! I know it was a tough decision and you did a lot of research but it turned out great!

One option if you don't think that they are wide enough, install some correct trac spacers to bring out the tires and rims about 2". It is hard to see in the pic if this is the case or not, but it will make a pretty major difference in how the truck will look.

Congrats!

 

[6.9poweredscout]

super swampers are not dissappearing, they are in the process of changing plants and no new tires are being made atm. I bought a used set of 36/16.5 radials for 200 last november, found out the reason they were selling them so cheap about 6 miles down the road. Tire blew. Needed another and was unable to buy new due to them moving. Hopefully they'll be back soon.

Mel, why not just stick with 16.5 and 37" radial military tires? They're cheap and abundant.

Regarding lug nuts, I just bought 32 gorilla 'triple plated chrome' lug nuts for $70. My uncle swears by mcgard but they seemed to have the same treatment so I went the cheaper route. He's gonna be buying mcgards for 4 8 lug trucks here shortly... Gonna be an expensive lug nut bill.

well i heard the same thing it took 2 weeks for them to gather 4 tires for me. then i heard from the place i get my swampers from that they may not be opening the new suppliers? i hope they're wrong!

-Jon

 

[hesutton]

Look great Mel. I guess I'll be sticking with the 'ol 16.5's as long as I can still get the 37 inch Military radials. Once those are a pain to get, I'll likely bit the bullet and get different wheels/tires.

Heath

 

[Russ]

Mel thanks for the explanation, you shocked me with made in china. I think the wheels look great on there. They look alot like the factory Alcoa's, but bigger. But Eagle Wheels are made completely in the USAEagle

 

[88beast]

any of youre custom wheel manufactures will be in usa not like weld but boyd cottington for example will do any design and offset you wish they still produce in america with american (usually alcoa) aluminum now they get expensive with a full custom wheel but something that is a normal for them they are competive with youre china manufractures

 

[Dieselcrawler]

he cant run spacers. pa law. no wheel spacers allowed.

 

[93turbo_animal]

Mel I was wondering about the old 5 slots loosening up on ya. It only took 50 miles on the new rims to loosen up so just an fyi