The skinny on the Dodge 20 inch spares

[Farmageddon]

Hello all,

I have been seeing a lot of information being posted on a lot of different websites concerning the use of 20" dodge Ram 1500 spares on other trucks. The question asked most is...will they fit. Well I just completed installing a set of four on my 62 uni, I must say for the money it takes for the conversion is less than half of what the Taiwan 20" blings cost. Here is a breakdown of what I used and the associated costs.

OEM Dodge steel wheels, 20x8" (4) .....................................320.00
Tires Falken 245/50/20 (4)..................................................623.00
2" Billet spacers (rear)........................................................65.00
1/4" Dorman spacers (front).................................................18.00
Dorman Cap retaining lugs, 1/2 20 3/4" hex (20).....................17.00
Ford F-100 1997-2003 Center caps (4)...................................30.00
Paint................................................................................10.00

The wheels were purchased from Harris Used Truck Parts in Colorado Springs Colorado, as of a couple of months ago he had several sets of the OEM wheels.

Tires from Discount.

The spacers as well as the cap retaining lugs I bought off of ebay, cant remember the vendor.

Center caps I bought off Craigslist locally.

Modifications:
2" rear spacers have to be used to center the wheel in the well so it wont rub on the leafs.
1/4" spacers have to be run up front because the bore on the dodge is 77.8mm and the hub on the 62 is 87mm.
The later model lugs with the cap retaining ring have to be used so the cap will have something to snap to. If you go with these caps you will have to grind off the plasic jug guides and bend the metal tabs open a little more.

So as you can see the whole project can be done for a little over 1k.

I plan on lowering the rear about an inch and the front about 3 inches to get the look im after.

Thanks
Paul

[orangeRcode]

Great info and nice write-up. Should be stickied for future reference.

Any rubbing issues once you mounted the rear spacers? How about a pic from the rear showing how the sit in the fender wells? Thanks again.

[Toyz]

Those of us running the '73/'79 rears can just enlarge the center hole of the wheel if required, thus centering the wheel without the rear spacers.
Paul

[Farmageddon]

No rubbing issues at all, the 2" spacer centered the wheel in the well perfectly.

[SteveCanup]

"If you go with these caps you will have to grind off the plastic jug guides and bend the metal tabs open a little more."

What exactly do you mean by grinding them off? Could you possibly post a pic of what you did to yours? I put the 17's on mine and did the same as you did, but I broke the plastic 'guides' off completely. I have one center cap that wants to 'sling' off from time to time....luckily, I have been able to retrieve it.

[MY OL 66]

Your list...

OEM Dodge steel wheels, 20x8" (4) .....................................320.00
Tires Falken 245/50/20 (4)..................................................623.00
2" Billet spacers (rear)........................................................65.00
1/4" Dorman spacers (front).................................................18.00
Dorman Cap retaining lugs, 1/2 20 3/4" hex (20).....................17.00
Ford F-100 1997-2003 Center caps (4)...................................30.00
Paint................................................................................10.00


I see in your list of parts that you used different thickness spacers from front to rear.

What front end setup do you have that the track widths are that much different?

I am looking at putting 18x8 late model Mustang 5-spoke wheels on my Slick and have calculated the need for approx. 2" spacers on the back, but I have not looked at the front track yet as my front suspension is not fully assembled yet.

[Rekless]

I am interested in doing this to my 66 but could we get more details and maybe a dot to dot for guys like me who need Lego instructions

[SteveCanup]

Rekless....I have the 17 inch Dodge Ram wheels, but it is the same procedure that farmageddon used. Locate the size Dodge Ram steelies that you want to use, most use either 17 or 20 inch. The bolt pattern is the same as our old Ford's 5x5.5. You will have to purchase 2 inch spacers (ebay is the best place) that have the same bolt pattern, 5 x 5.5 to 5 x 5.5. Also you have to purchase lug-nuts for the Ford Center cap. I removed the centers out of 2 of my wheels and 'reversed' them to get the extra 2 inches in the rear of my truck. The front backspacing is 4 1/2 if I recall, and I am running 2 inch spacers on the front. The rear back spacing was set to 2 1/2 inches when I reversed them. You will have to do some homework on this...but it is doable.
Mine...


Rear wheels that have been reversed...


I am running 225/60-17 front and 265/60-17 on the rear. I did have 225/70-15 front and 255/70-15 rear.

[SteveCanup]

If you use the '97-'03 Ford Center caps (which are available on ebay for $29 with free shipping and they are chrome), you will need to purchase 20 of the Dorman 611-171.1 lug nuts. The lug nuts have a 'washer' on them that the caps snap on to. Just an fyi....

[Rekless]

Well this is just great NOW I have to decide between the 17's and the 20's (all sarcasm intended.) By the way that is one good looking set up Steve Canup

[SteveCanup]

Rekless...Thanks for the compliment. I have a build thread on here where I have just put some detailed pics of the lug-nuts, center caps, etc that might help with any questions that you have. "Steve's '64 Short-bed project"