Chevy 8 lug wheel patterns

[ScottyBoy]

I have an early 50's Chevy truck that I need to replace a wheel on. I'm not sure of the exact year of the truck. How would I find out if a mid to late 90's 8 lug Chevy wheel will fit on it. The problem is one of the wheels is a 16.5 and rather than try to find a 16.5 tire, I think it will be easier to just go to the local junkyard and find a 15 or 16 inch wheel and tire that holds air. This truck is not driven on the street, it's strictly decorative truck. But I do need all four tires to hold air.

 

[ScottyBoy]

I was reading something I found on Google, and a guy was saying that he tried 8 lug wheels from a 90's 2500 Suburban, and they will NOT clear the factory style tie rod endson a 53. But he explained that he was modifying his suspension anyway and they fit fine with a modified suspension.
Another thing, how do I find out what year this truck is??

 

[Black02Silverado]

What is the truck used for? Can you just pump the tire full of Green Slim?

 

[ScottyBoy]

The truck is strictly parked outside for decoration/to draw attention. We tried green slime already. The wheel has to be spinning for a while for the slime to fully coat the inside of the wheel and tire. And the truck doesn't move, so that's why it didn't work.

Upon further research on Google , it seems that the 8 lug bolt patterns on pretty much all Chevy Ford and Dodges are the same up until recent years. But the difference is the hub spacing and the wheel backspacing. As long as I find a wheel that fits over the hub and has decent backspacing, then it should work.

 

[ScottyBoy]

I'm still not 100% sure on the year of the truck, but I believe it's either a 1953 or a 1954. It's a Chevy 3600 truck.

 

[That Crazy Squirrel]

Okay, my question is why do you need all the tires to hold air if it's just a decoration? Seems to me that you could put it on blocks or stands to take the weight off the wheels and they'll look fine without air in 'em, so long as they stay on the bead. A little bead seal before pumping them up to seat the bead should glue the bead in place and make it stay after the air leaks out.

Hell, for that matter, fill the tires with expanding foam insulation. Just pull the valve core, stick the tube in and let 'er rip. Might need more than one can per wheel, but that stuff is cheap.

 

[Draenor]

Hell, for that matter, fill the tires with expanding foam insulation. Just pull the valve core, stick the tube in and let 'er rip. Might need more than one can per wheel, but that stuff is cheap.

^ This. Farmers do that..or fill 'em with water for weight.

 

[Black02Silverado]

Hell, for that matter, fill the tires with expanding foam insulation. Just pull the valve core, stick the tube in and let 'er rip. Might need more than one can per wheel, but that stuff is cheap.

^ This. Farmers do that..or fill 'em with water for weight.

This stuff might be a little stronger than the can spray foam. Polylevel.

 

[That Crazy Squirrel]

Hell, for that matter, fill the tires with expanding foam insulation. Just pull the valve core, stick the tube in and let 'er rip. Might need more than one can per wheel, but that stuff is cheap.

^ This. Farmers do that..or fill 'em with water for weight.

This stuff might be a little stronger than the can spray foam. Polylevel.

The truck doesn't have to run on them, the tires just need to look inflated.

 

[ScottyBoy]

Okay, my question is why do you need all the tires to hold air if it's just a decoration?
.

Well, quite honestly I do not know, but I have to do what my boss tells me and he wants all 4 tires inflated. The truck does not run, but we do move it maybe once or twice a year. We move it by pushing it and/or pulling it with a tractor or several men, or both. It just sits outside the store as a decoration for the most part. Last year they moved it inside the store for about two months and used it as a display. I think they wanna do that again this year. So moving it from it's current location will involved rolling it from the front, all the way around back where we can actually fit it through the roll up doors, and the. Through the center of the store. Total distance I woe estimate it wil move about 200-250 yards.
And for the thought of filling it with foam or something similiar, it has been sitting flat so many times that the sidewalls have split. It's been on a flat tire since January, and my boss just told me to get it aired up. When I went to air it up, air was coming right out of the sidewall just as fast as I was pumping it in.