Help with lug nuts and wheels

My son has a 87 F250 6.9 that's he's been working on. He recently bought some aluminum bullet holes (16x8) that were mounted on a 95 F-250. Lug nuts weren't part of the deal, so he was going to use his old ones. I just want to verify that his are the correct type. The wheels are tapered at the bottom, so I'm assuming his will work. I'll link a couple pictures.
He went ahead and mounted one, and the inside of the wheel slightly rubs the tie rod boot. So I guess backspacing is different between the years, which we weren't aware of unfortunately. Would spacers be an unwise choice, or should he buy different wheels? If new wheels, what the heck is the correct backspacing? These wheels are 16x8 with 315 75's mounted on them. The previous owner had some 20x10 wheels on the truck, with 12.50 wide tires that rub at full turn. That's one reason my son wanted to make a change, but now not sure what direction to go. I'm an old Toyota Land Cruiser guy, so we are learning the F250 together.

I have some wheels like that on my 89, and the inside is very close like yours. I noticed they put balance weights on the inside of the rim and they are almost wiped out from rubbing on something under there. But they have been on there for years and drive ok. The lug nuts on mine are very tall aftermarket type with a square shoulder and washer.

You really don't want more than 3.5-4" backspace for your f250. Those look shallow on the front side... I'm gonna guess 5" backspace? Might be better suited to a 94-02 dodge.

Since these trucks are already ~4" wider in the front, I think it's best to avoid spacers. Just find the right wheels.

Just make certain the lug nuts are deep enough to accommodate the amount of stud sticking thru the wheels. The nuts shown appear awful shallow.

franklin2 said:

I noticed they put balance weights on the inside of the rim and they are almost wiped out from rubbing on something under there. But they have been on there for years and drive ok.

Click to expand...

After my recent tire experience, I doubt that I'll ever go back to tire weights. I'm a FIRM believer in balance beads now.

Yeah, he probably needs to find different wheels with correct backspacing. It's our fault since we didn't research enough. Just figured if they were on a 95 F250, they would work on a 87.
His old lug nuts are open on the end, so the stud can come through when tightened.
Thanks, all!

The cone bottom lug nuts are WRONG for that type wheel... Please don't use them.
What you need for a mag wheel is a flat bottom lug with a washer.

If you look at the first photo, you will see a tiny ring around the cone of the cone style lug nut.
That tiny ring is the ONLY contact area you have with the wheel... it will fail.. promise you..

Use the correct lugs, which will give you full wheel clamping pressure. Torque them to the Ford spec.. You will live longer...

G. Mann said:

The cone bottom lug nuts are WRONG for that type wheel... Please don't use them.
What you need for a mag wheel is a flat bottom lug with a washer.

If you look at the first photo, you will see a tiny ring around the cone of the cone style lug nut.
That tiny ring is the ONLY contact area you have with the wheel... it will fail.. promise you..

Use the correct lugs, which will give you full wheel clamping pressure. Torque them to the Ford spec.. You will live longer...

Click to expand...

I will attest to this tried that once and lost a wheel doing about 55 and was lucky to only have that arm bent, and some new underware.... And of course some new lugs and nuts

G. Mann said:

The cone bottom lug nuts are WRONG for that type wheel... Please don't use them.
What you need for a mag wheel is a flat bottom lug with a washer.

If you look at the first photo, you will see a tiny ring around the cone of the cone style lug nut.
That tiny ring is the ONLY contact area you have with the wheel... it will fail.. promise you..

Use the correct lugs, which will give you full wheel clamping pressure. Torque them to the Ford spec.. You will live longer...

Click to expand...

I get what you're saying, but the pics really don't show definitively if the nut seat in the wheel is squared-off, or angled. The witness mark on the nut could be showing us the lower half of the nut is contacting.

You're right though, use the right nuts for the wheels.

Sorry, don't agree. The wheels are bored for "Flat bottom " lug nuts... not cone bottom.
Google "flat bottom lug nut" and you will find what you need...
ORiley and Napa sells them for about $6 each... I just bought a set of 32 of them for $45 on line, for one of my trucks.

Not to jump this thread, but in my case, I got a super deal on a set of 17 inch Mitchlen tires with wheels from a 2018 F350. The wheels are metric 8x170MM lug spacing... and I'm mounting them on my 92 4x4 F350 with 8x6.5 inch lug spacing.
The 92 uses 9/16x18 thread lugs..... the 2018 uses 14MMx1.5 thread lugs..... the wheel adapters I bought convert from 8x6.5 TO 8x170MM [online $134 plus $7 shipping].

I got the Metric lug nuts with the deal [32 ea. 14x1.5] but the wheel adapters came with lugs for mounting the adapters [cone bottom 9/16x 18 thread x 32 ea.] BUT... had 9/16 x 18 wheel studs, instead of 14MM x 1.5.... WOOPS...
SO, I had to buy all new flat bottom lugs in 9/16 x 18 thread, to mount the 2018 wheels, which are hub centered AND not made to take cone bottom lugs [no hub centered wheels use cone bottom lug nuts].

So.. Been there, done that... recently... Now I can run late model rims and 17 inch tires.. on my OBS truck...

G. Mann said:

The wheels are bored for "Flat bottom " lug nuts... not cone bottom.

Click to expand...

To me, it looks like the dark area is tapered. I can't tell without a better pic or touching it. The OP needs to add more details.

EDIT: And those aftermarket wheels probably have a 5.125" center bore so they're not going to hub-pilot on any 4.88" Ford hubs.

u2slow said:

To me, it looks like the dark area is tapered.

Click to expand...

I've always thought so too.

https://www.uswheeladapters.com/wheel-spacers/

My bet is the wheels are hub pilot wheels with flat face lug nuts.. if you want to use them safely, figure out what you have...
You may want to install a set of wheel adapters for hub pilot wheels. like the link above.

It's your baby, but when a wheel falls off in traffic... it's a wild ride and could hurt you.

IDIBRONCO said:

After my recent tire experience, I doubt that I'll ever go back to tire weights. I'm a FIRM believer in balance beads now.

Click to expand...

I guess I missed it. What happened? You got a link? One reason I'm curious is that I mount my own tires & thinking about beads etc. Got a machine but no balancer.

u2slow said:

To me, it looks like the dark area is tapered. I can't tell without a better pic or touching it. The OP needs to add more details.

EDIT: And those aftermarket wheels probably have a 5.125" center bore so they're not going to hub-pilot on any 4.88" Ford hubs.

Click to expand...

I am in this same situation with some aluminum rims that came on a 84 Bronco II I just bought. They are sawblade American Racing AR-08 wheels. They look the same as above, except someone had them on there with acorn style nuts.

Like the pictures above, it's hard to tell what the wheel takes, since the acorn nuts have possibly pushed out the shoulder of the aluminum wheel, making it "look" like it's tapered when it may really not be.

When I went to take them off, my impact would not budge them. I had to take a breaker bar and a long pipe on the bar to break them loose, if that tells you anything. It's a big red flag to me that they are not the proper ones.