For a single-rear-wheel truck, what years of wheels will interchange?
When did they change to a metric bolt pattern?
Are there other issues (clearance,center hole size, etc) that limit interchangeability?

I'm not sure what year truck I'll end up with, but most of them come with aluminum wheels and aluminum wheels eventually leak. When that happens, I'll replace them with steel rather than having them resealed.The further back I can go.the easier it will be to find replacement wheels.

 

All of the 03 and up wheels will fit each other. I have seen third gen wheels (03+) on second gens, but not first gens. (not saying it would not work, just ain't seen it.)

The older rims (02 and older) will not fit on the 03+ trucks because they are a 16 inch rim, you need at least a 17 to clear the calipers on the 3rd gens.


hth...

 

I know for sure all second and third gens will interchange with the exception of second gens going on third gens because of the calipers like mad hat said. I'm pretty sure anything pre-'94 (1st gen) had Dana axles and a different bolt pattern. Like I said, the 1st statement I know, the second I'm pretty sure.

 

Aluminum wheels leak, and need to be resealed.... Hmmmm..... trying to grasp this one...

 

It does not say where he's from, it may be due to road salt and corrosion...

 

unless he's talking about 2 piece wheels... ours are all one piece..

 

my aluminum wheels leak like crazy, in the winter they lose about 30 psi every 2 weeks, and once a month in summer. didnt believe it either till i bought a used laramie 05 that had the factory aluminums.

 

The dodge trucks have never gone to metric, even the new 2010 is still the 8 on 6.5" bolt pattern. Wheels 03 to 10 all interchange with the same backspacing. I don't know about the gen 2. GM and Hummer use the same bolt pattern, not sure about the backspacing.

I run one piece aluminum wheels on my CTD and Bronco. I have never experienced significant air loss from either one. I took the Bronco out of the garage the other night after not driving it for 3 months, the air pressure was at 31 psi, I usually fill them to 32 psi. I check the air pressure on the CTD monthly, at most they might be 1-2 psi off of what I set them at. I had 3 piece aluminum wheels on my 1994 300Z, two of them leaked about 5 psi/month.

 

I wasn't aware that the aluminum wheel leakage problem was unique to the rust belt. When I've had wheels resealed, the tire shops implied that it was the nature of aluminum wheels to need resealing after a few years. Guess I'll have to move to Arizona. Around here, porosity is pretty much taken for granted. A Buick dealer even tried to tell my sister-in-law that he couldn't sell her new tires unless she bought new wheels. Naturally, she went to an independent tire shop where they resealed the wheels and sold her new tires.

It looks like I was wrong about the metric bolt circle. I thought I had read it in a Dodge brochure. I went back and checked, and the brochure doesn't say anything about bolt circle size. It's the 2011 Ford brochure that says the bolt circle is 170mm (200mm on the Dually)
If Dodge still have the old bolt circle, that should make it easier to find wheels, but probably not steel wheels if they have to be 2003 or later. You don't see many steel wheels on late-model trucks.

 

I'm pretty sure what you're experiencing is bead leakage and can happen as rims corrode... the easy fix is to ask your tire shop to use bead seal when installing your tires... It's a complete myth that Aluminum wheel will become porous and leak.. having your wheels re-sealed seems like someone is making a little money on non-issues..

 

I've never watched to see what they actually do, but I always assumed they were talking about resealing the bead area. Even though they do use the word "porous", it did seem a bit far-fetched that the leakage would be through the body of the wheel. If the corrosion had gotten that far, I'd worry about them disintegrating at speed. Maybe that's what the Buick dealer was trying to imply.

 

back in the 80's ford had an issue with alum wheel porosity and the rims actually leaked... I'm sure lots of people still believe aluminum wheels all leak... as far as your buick dealer goes, don't put it past them to tell you what it takes to sell you new rims...

 

I had that issue (bead leakage) on a Lexus. Turns out it was the Goodyear tires, not wheels that were the cause. There were bumps on the tires at the bead line that prevented a good seal. It took 3 tries to finally get enough bead sealant on there to stop the leak.

FWIW, I have had the 04.5 stock aluminum rims since new with factory Michelins and now the Hankooks. No leaks here.

 

They are backwards compatible all the way down....



(not my truck btw, that beauty belongs to member blackfordd)

 

Great looking first gen B
Blake!