Today was my lucky day.  Today I found out what the rims are that are on my truck.  They came with the truck and you know how that goes.

 

They are old out of production US made Rickson LTS rims. 

http://www.ricksontruckwheels.com/customers/gm-drw/006/5.jpg.php

 

Apparently, according to Heather at Rickson, these are rare, sought after and some of the best custom built rims they ever made.

 

The small company that made the wheel for Rickson pre-machining was swallowed by a bigger fish and stopped making the parts for Rickson.

 

If you don't know them already, Rickson is a great resource.  They handle the narrow market of crossover wheels and tires between the 3/4 ton and 1 ton trucks and the commercial trucks.  They make some really nice wheels!!!!

 

Now to get a proper sized spare from them LOL  Still have the original 16" spare with the original tire still hanging on to it for dear life LOL  I guess I can always roll 1 and 1 worst case. 

 

Someone brought to my attention that the studs miss a couple of threads on the nut.  Has anyone ever encountered this before and should I be worried?

Edited June 27, 20186 yr by leety

Ask Rickson

LOL that's what I said I did.  They are Rickson wheels for sure.

I believe he means ask Rickson about the thread engagement on the lugs too. They should know.

Yes. I meant ask Rickson about lug nuts and what they recommend. 

lol yes I did that too, but sometimes it’s good to get multiple opinions.  You never know what you might lean.

2 hours ago, Royal Squire said:

Yes. I meant ask Rickson about lug nuts and what they recommend. 

 

Edited June 27, 20186 yr by leety

I don't have any experience with lug nuts not fully engaged. But on the job during structural steel inspections if nuts and bolts are not fully engaged I have to get a structural engineer to say whether the engagement is sufficient. This is where I think Ricksons judgement would be the gospel.

20 minutes ago, dripley said:

I don't have any experience with lug nuts not fully engaged. But on the job during structural steel inspections if nuts and bolts are not fully engaged I have to get a structural engineer to say whether the engagement is sufficient. This is where I think Ricksons judgement would be the gospel.

I got an answer back from rickson just now.

 

They said it’s fine and that I have nothing to worry about!!

Those might be forged wheels rather than cast. The metalurgy changes drastically between the two types of wheel construction making the forged wheel far superior, so much so that they cost almost 3 times the normal cast aluminum wheel on the market.

 

To get educated on forged aluminum wheels go to Alcoa website. Their video shows their forged aluminum wheel to be even superior to steel while tested under pressure in a press. 

 

They do take a minimum of special care, explained on the Alcoa website.

 

BTW, the aluminum wheels that came stock on the 95-97 Ford 3/4 to 1 ton trucks had the Alcoa forged wheels. 

48 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

Those might be forged wheels rather than cast. The metalurgy changes drastically between the two types of wheel construction making the forged wheel far superior, so much so that they cost almost 3 times the normal cast aluminum wheel on the market.

 

To get educated on forged aluminum wheels go to Alcoa website. Their video shows their forged aluminum wheel to be even superior to steel while tested under pressure in a press. 

 

They do take a minimum of special care, explained on the Alcoa website.

 

BTW, the aluminum wheels that came stock on the 95-97 Ford 3/4 to 1 ton trucks had the Alcoa forged wheels. 

Definitely forged according to Rickson.  

 

Thank you I'll look into the Alcoa info.  Good to know.

 

Excellent document!

 

https://www.arconic.com/alcoawheels/catalog/pdf/2017_service_manual_english.pdf

Edited June 27, 20186 yr by leety

Yes the close up does look like its a forged wheel. Hard to tell at times... even the color of the aluminum is different, but once you study those characteristics you will begin to see the differences.

 

Don't ever let the wheel balance shop put wheel weights on the outside where they can be seen because the unlike metal will cause discoloring in the wheel coating and oxidation to the aluminum underneath. I turns a white milky color in the coating and won't come off unless refinished.

 

  I request that any weights be placed on inside of the wheel using brake clean first and then apply the sticky stick-em weights. They have been okay so far for a lot of years.

1 minute ago, JAG1 said:

Yes the close up does look like its a forged wheel. Hard to tell at times... even the color of the aluminum is different, but once you study those characteristics you will begin to see the differences.

 

Don't ever let the wheel balance shop put wheel weights on the outside where they can be seen because the unlike metal will cause discoloring in the wheel coating and oxidation to the aluminum underneath. I turns a white milky color in the coating and won't come off unless refinished.

 

  I request that any weights be placed on inside of the wheel using brake clean first and then apply the sticky stick-em weights. They have been okay so far for a lot of years.

 

Rickson said they are forged so that's a solid 100%

 

Th weights are interior now.  It's a great point your raise for the future, thanks for that.

I think Alcoa is a very high quality company and maybe the only one producing forged wheels for the American market

 

I'm glad to be able to help and that truck of yours is a very lucky find.

The wheel stud threads will have increased torque per thread to get the full lug nut torque, this will shorted the life of the stud, as well as make them more prone to thread stripping. 

 

General rule of thumb is 2-3 threads exposed past the nut. 

 

I would install longer studs at your next maintenance event. 

I had a tire shop refuse to put my Alcoa/Ford wheels on my truck. They said you'll have to take them back home and do it yourself because the lug nuts arent able to go on far enough. I got home and counted the number of full turns. Each one was grabbing a full 8 turns. Made some phone calls about this and everyone said it is fine on that size stud. Mine are torqued to 110 ft. lbs. hauling a 3000 lbs. camper for 11 years on long trips and never a problem. This on a 3/4 ton.

 

This is just another opinion, but from several phone calls to tire shops also.

 

Edited June 28, 20186 yr by JAG1

2 hours ago, AH64ID said:

The wheel stud threads will have increased torque per thread to get the full lug nut torque, this will shorted the life of the stud, as well as make them more prone to thread stripping. 

 

General rule of thumb is 2-3 threads exposed past the nut. 

 

I would install longer studs at your next maintenance event. 

I may do that even though the wheel manufacturer siad it’s fine.

 

I’ll be going down a lot of dirt roads with an 1800# camper on top.  It it were just going to be on pavement, I probably wouldn’t bother.

2 hours ago, JAG1 said:

I had a tire shop refuse to put my Alcoa/Ford wheels on my truck. They said you'll have to take them back home and do it yourself because the lug nuts arent able to go on far enough. I got home and counted the number of full turns. Each one was grabbing a full 8 turns. Made some phone calls about this and everyone said it is fine on that size stud. Mine are torqued to 110 ft. lbs. hauling a 3000 lbs. camper for 11 years on long trips and never a problem. This on a 3/4 ton.

 

The wheel mfg said to follow the Dodge torque settings in the manual for the truck.  With the 1/2" studs it should be #90-110.  However what I know from street/track cars is that you add 10# for aluminum wheels over steel.  So steel wheels get 90 and aluminum wheels get 100 on street cars.  So I may go 120#  I've sent the question to Rickson to see what they have to say about it.

Edited June 28, 20186 yr by leety

110# seems low, dad almost lost a wheel at 120#. 

 

The 2001 FSM calls for 135# for SRW and 145# for DRW. 

 

I know Alcoa says 120 and I think that is what I'm doing but cannot remember exactly. It also most important to every once in awhile scrape that interface of the mating surfaces between the wheel and the hub so corrosion doesn't build up. I have heard of guys not being able to figure out why their aluminum wheels won't stay torqued or tight. Is because every time you rotate or get new tires you need to scrape off the mating surfaces on both wheel and the hub. That slight build up from unlike metals has to be kept to a minimum.

Edited June 28, 20186 yr by JAG1

1 hour ago, AH64ID said:

110# seems low, dad almost lost a wheel at 120#. 

 

The 2001 FSM calls for 135# for SRW and 145# for DRW. 

 

I'm nerdy but apparently not nerdy enough.  Can you kindly tell me what FSM, SRW and DRW stand for?  :-)

Field Service Manual

Single Rear Wheel

Dual Rear Wheel

 

13 minutes ago, AH64ID said:

Field Service Manual

Single Rear Wheel

Dual Rear Wheel

 

Kicken' thanks!!!

1 hour ago, AH64ID said:

110# seems low, dad almost lost a wheel at 120#. 

 

The 2001 FSM calls for 135# for SRW and 145# for DRW. 

 

What does the FSM say about the front wheels?