im looking to replace my wheels on my d350 drw. they are bent real bad . so im trying to figure this out.any help would be great thank u.

 

Wheels on the gen 1's and gen 2's are all the same. Lot's of years to be available in the wrecking yards. I have a set off a chevy 1 ton out here that might fit. I'll check tomorrow.

 

Second gen wheels will require a different lug nut and the Chevy wheels will need to have the center machined out to fit the dodge hub. Just FYI.

 

i have a set of second gen wheels but they take a different style of lug nut. the hole where the studs come threw the second gen wheels the holes are not tapered for the lug nuts .

 

1st Gen. DRW wheels are "coined" LUG-centric.

2nd Gen. DRW wheels are flat-faced, HUB-centric, and require flange-washered nuts.



ALL Chevy/GM DRW wheels are the same bolt-pattern, BUT the center-hole is about 1/4" too tight and will not clear the hub of either Ford or Dodge.

The GM wheels have always been HUB-centric.

When mounted on a GM/Chevy, they utilize a separate conical-seat plate that goes on top of the wheel(s) and uses standard conical nuts.

These wheels can be used WITHOUT the plates by using flange-washered nuts instead.

The GM wheels MUST have the centers lathe-turned to fit the Dodge hub.

A big advantage to having the GM wheels machined to fit is that you can have them machined HUB-centric.



All Ford DRW wheels until the changeover to SuperDuty/METRIC ?1999? are a bolt-on fit on Dodge and vice-versa, PROVIDING one uses the correct nuts.

Pre-1984 Ford and Pre-1994 Dodge wheels are identical.

The 1985 and later Ford wheel is HUB-centric, flat-faced, and uses a superior flange-washered nut.


The solid flanged nuts used on the 1989-1993 Dodge DRW do not properly seat and line-up the coined Dodge wheel and are the cause of vibrations and shimmy; the prior BIG conical nuts used for many years on both Ford and Dodge are much superior to the solid flanged nut.

Do not get the Dodge solid flanged nut confused with the much superior flange-washered Ford nut, as they are two entirely different animals.


New wheels are available from several concerns.

Beware of "junk-yard" wheels, as four out of five of them will be warped badly.

This warpage is not usually evident until the wheel is mounted on a true arbor and spun slowly, as in you can't tell by just looking.

Do not mix and match the various styles of wheel side-by-side on the same hub.

 

How did they get bent?

You might want to check the hubs and axle flanges for run-out if the truck ever got hit sideways.

I also had a nimrod at a tire shop not line up the duals and had the outer rim riding on the locating dowel.

Jim

 

That is far more common than one would think and will warp one for sure, especially if said nimrod is also a pit-crew wannabe with an air-wrench.


Air-wrenches, no matter how "properly" they are thought to be used, have warped more rims and rotors than vehicle accidents have.



I grew up in a big family-owned tire-shop and not many of the guys my miserly father hires have ever been mechanical Einsteins, compounding in me the understanding that, if one cares at all about their vehicle, NEVER take the whole vehicle into a tire-shop for tire work.

(The same goes for any vehicle work.)

ALWAYS only take the wheel(s) and do the bolting on at home WITH A HAND WRENCH.

Better yet, get yourself one of those Harbor Freight bead-breakers and their manual changer, plus a few tire irons and their bubble balancer, plus a set of Centramatics, and do the whole job at home.



As for junk-yard wheels, there are several reasons why one seldom gets an un-warped wheel at a junk-yard.

Usually, the vehicle is there due to being in a horrendous crash.

The wreckers then slide the wrecked vehicle sideways up out of a ravine with the wheels snagging and hanging on every ledge and concrete culvert between the landing site and the wrecker planted on the highway.

All wrecking yard guys also rebuild wrecked trucks; they get first chance at any wheels that escaped damage to replace the warped ones that were on the wreck they are fixing.

The wrecked truck, often being in the way, will get scooted sideways by a big articulating fork-loader numerous times before finally being sent to the crusher.

No wheels survive all of this un-damaged.

 

my truck sat for 8yrs before i bought it. i t also had a slide in camper in the bed for that time. my wheels are pretty rusty around the rim . most of my tire stuff is done threw discount tire an i watch everything they do .i also give them the ford sltye lug nuts to center the wheels i also watch them when they do this. also i running a set of 235-85 16 bfg comerical t/a tire . i would like to find some better wheels or new ones .

 

Air wrenches/guns have their place. But that place IS NOT to tighten up lug nuts. The last people to do the tires on my truck (Goodyear) used a 3/4 impact to tighten the nuts, and the torque value was, like, 15 'ackity's' . So when I had a flat on the inner, I destroyed my impact socket trying to get the darned thing off. Ended up using a 3' cheater bar on a breaker bar with an extension. Not very happy.

Still, at least it taught me to never go to a franchise tire supermarket. Discount Tire, Tire Kingdom, Goodyear etc etc, seems like they all

 

I have some rims with round dowel holes and on my 90 D350 dowels are slotted. The round ones you can run on front but not the rear. If that helps any. LEE

 

THEpo of my d350 thought it was a good idea to grind the line up dowles off !!!!, Well , at least the tire shops don't have to worry w/ lining up the dowel holes NO WAIT, they don't anyway.

 

I have watched the tire monkeys mount the tires and have the valve stems facing each other, they usually figure it out, if it looks like it is getting too difficult for them I will show them how it is done.

Usually when I hand the guys a pair of lug nuts I have to go and get the shop manager so he can explain it to them in Spanglish what he is supposed to do with them.

Jim

 

My suggestion would be to go to a 17" or bigger wheel. The reason being is if you have ever thought of putting a rear disc brakes upgrade kit the larger diameter rim will clear the rotor. Just a thought for future upgrades.

 

Jim-----Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa, i thought maby it was just me, when i finally got mine home, jack it uptook off the wheels , lined up the slots, used my 2- centering lug nuts retighened the wheels, smoothed out the ride (i use a 3/4" long wrachet w/ socket).