Wheels and tires help! ??

[Rune]

It's time for my 96 E350 4x4 to get new shoes, but I have to admit wheels and tires still mystifie me. Any help would be huge, I don't want to make an expensive mistake.

I want to go as big as possible without increasing the lift much, which is probably 1" - 2" now. I'm planning to re-gear. I'm trying to decide between 33" or 34". Opinions on what I can get away with without fender trimming?

I get the 3 numbers in tire sizes (exterior diameter, width, interior diameter), but I don't understand the numbers in wheel sizes. You got the diameter, which matches the interior diameter of the tire, but what's the next number? It seems like that should be the width, is it? That number seems to usually be 8 or 9. And then where's the offset number. Ugh, so confused!

Basically I'd like a 33" - 34" tire on a 16" rim and I"d like it to stick out from the fender 1.5" to 2" further than stock so it will be flush when I put on off-road fender extensions. I don't like the look of wheels that are too deep-dish, so I assume I'll have do get the desired extension outside the fender with a combination of a little offset in the wheel and skinny spacers on the axle. Right? So given all that, what should I buy? Give me the numbers/details. TireRack links also would be magical.

Also looking for tire recommendations. It will be mostly used on road at speeds less that 60 mph. However when it does get used off road the conditions will likely be pretty extreme, including large rocks and slick mud. Not talking rock crawling here, but not a walk in the park either. Will be air locked front and rear. Would like tires that wear slow, look aggressive and run quiet.

 

[J!m]

This is a big question and I suggest you first get further educated on tires in general. 265-85/16. This indicates a “section width” (not necessarily tread width) of 265mm. And it varies between manufacturers. 85 indicates the tire height or “aspect ratio” which in this case is 85% of 265mm or 225.25mm. And the 16 is the rim diameter, in inches.

The approximate height of this tire is 16+((225.25*2=450.5)/25.4)or 16+17.74=33.74 inches. Actual height will vary.

But if you are planning to carry stuff off road, please pay attention to the load rating of the tire. You want a truck tire, not a passenger car tire. BFG made a MT in load range C and range E. It is very easy to overload a C range tire on expedition. And it leads to avoidable failures.

“Sticking out” may look cool but remember the original design is such that the centerline of the tire is between the inner and outer wheel bearings. Moving the tire out (or in for that matter) places additional load on the bearings beyond design. So if you have a 1-Ron rated truck, and move the wheel center outboard, your rating will go down. Again if you are just building a grocery getter it’ll be fine. If you plan to load up to 8k pounds and go across the country, that’s a different story.

 

[Rune]

?‍♂️ So I had that basically all wrong. Thanks for setting me straight J!m.

Can you shed light on my wheel confusion also? What are the relevant numbers there? 16 is the rim diameter. What is the 2nd number which is usually 8 or 9? And where is the offset number and how does that work?

Mahalo

 

[shenrie]

8 or 9 will be the rim width (or 7, or 6.5 etc, etc). measured from inside lip to inside lip. NOT outside to outside.

as far as offset, you will want to google that. lots of info out there explaining offset and backspacing and how it pertains to what youre trying to achieve.

but in short....

 

[J!m]

That offset picture is worth a thousand words.

Now I wanted to point out that the oem wheel may have an offset. That is usually factored into the design to keep tire center between bearings. You therefore want to match that offset as closely as possible.

You can create more positive offset with spacers, but they often require longer wheel studs or bolts Be installed. And finally, wheels can be hub-centric or lug centric. That matters too...

 

[tatanka48]

IMHO the above SPACING & OFFSET suggestions are worthy reading/following

as also mentioned above if all you are really doing is making your grocery wagon LOOK COOL you'll likely be OK for a while...

the center of the tire relative to the weight applied to the spindle and bearings should represent FACTORY design specs if you intend to really load this wagon up for serious back country travel w/ minimum worry

JUST THIS OLD MAN'S 2¢ WORTH

T

 

[J!m]

Beating this horse a bit further, I did not mention that if you go to a wider rim, the offset needs to be adjusted as well.

So for example: stock rim is a 16x5.5. Offset is 25 (usually stated in mm although it might show only the number) and it is a negative offset in this example. So the mounting surface is 25mm (about an inch, which is 25.4mm) inboard of the wheel centerline.

Ok. New rim is 7 inches wide, or 1.5 inches wider. In order to keep the center, well, centered, we need to adjust the offset.

Based off the centerline of the rim, we are 3/4” either side further away to make that 1.5” overall gain. 3/4” is ~19mm, so we need to increase the negative offset number from 25 to 44. This increase will most likely cause rubbing of the tires under compression and/or before you hit steering lock. This is why tires are sticking out- the hold the same offset as stock to reduce rubbing but then the centerline is not in stock location.

Each piece of the puzzle can cause further changes to become necessary so you need to dig in, take real measurements on your rig and determine if you can do what you want looking at the entire picture.

Who thought changing tires could be so complicated...

 

[Rune]

So is it better to get tire extension out side the fender with spacers rather than offset? Or are they both equally bad?

 

[grampswrx]

One problem you are going to find is that there are very few wheel options in a van bolt pattern. That means that the bolts that the wheel sits on are in a different configuration than most other vehicles. For example, basically no wheels from ford trucks fit on ford vans. So the problem is that if you want a wheel that sticks out, you have to use spacers since you cant buy a new wheel in a different offset because no one makes it. If you drove a honda or subaru, you can buy the same wheel in like 6 different offsets depending on how far in or out you want it to sit. With a ford van, you basically pick the wheels and it comes in one offset.

So you should pick wheels you like that fit the van, get tires that you want that fit. Then use spacers to decide if you want the wheel poked out further.

Go on tirerack.com and put in the specs for your van. Then look at the wheel options. They have 28 with a 0mm offset and 13 with a -6mm offset. That's 41 options and they only have 48 wheel options total. So if you want a lower/higher offset than either 0 or -6, you only have 7 wheel options and then you may find those wheels to be ugly.

 

[Rune]

It's a 4x4 conversion so I think the axles are from the same year F350. Is there a way to determine what the axles are? I know they are 8 lug....

 

[shenrie]

^^^ if its a Quigley you can call/email them with your vin and they will tell you exactly what axle it left them with.

 

[Bbasso]

Post pictures of both axles and wheels, we'll be able to see and hopefully help more.

 

[grampswrx]

If that’s the case then you may have better luck. Like others have said, post up some info so we have some more guidance as to where to direct you. Lucky that they make lots more wheels for trucks than vans.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bbbthreat]

If it's a 96 Quigley E-350, it is an 8x6.5" (165.1mm) bolt pattern with 0mm offset wheels, with 16"x7" wheels. They used the stock ones from the factory. This may be a good time to think of converting to the 8x170 mm bolt pattern used by all the new Ford trucks. Swap out your front hubs for newer ones, and purchase adapters/spacers to convert the bolt pattern for the rear. The rear end of the E-350 is narrower than the front, allowing the ability to do so. I used Stahl Steel adapters and Timken hubs when I converted my Quigley E-350.

Also, if you are after a specific offset, check these guys out. Not the cheapest, but have a variety of options.

https://www.customwheeloffset.com/

Use this tool to help figure out what you need.

https://tiresize.com/wheel-offset-calculator/

 

[shenrie]

^^^ agree with above regarding swapping to the stock f350 8x170 hubs. That way you don’t have to buy the custom and very expensive quigley hubs when they wear out. Plus they are easy to find. Providing of course you have that style of axle.

Also, instead of spacers in the rear I put the 10.5 sterling rear axle on my quigley. It has a wider stance so you get the width without spacers.