47-55.1 Wheel Size Selection

[Dongray]

For a 1950 3100 with stock frame and was wondering whats the widest wheels that can be used for front and back without tubing out the bed?
The front has sids 3" Sids dropped axle and posie springs all around if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

[whitedog76]

If you do a search some have had luck with a 255 tire, others a 245 on the rear. It all depends on your rims, axle, amount of drop, etc...

On the front it's hard to say, considering the dropped axle is now narrower than stock. Most go with 215's on the front, but some have went with 195 and 205's.

[mr48chev]

Whitedog 76 pretty well nailed it. I ran 255-60 15 on 8 inch rims on the back of my 48 for years and there is just enough clearance to get by if your suspension doesn't move around a lot. It is still pretty tight on the inside with the axle and backspacing I have.

I ran 195 or 205 60 14 on the front to get the same % of sidewall vs rim diameter front and rear. Something I picked up from Boyd Coddington years ago when he said that staggering the wheel size on big and little tire setups to keep the sidewall to wheel diameter aspect the same helped with the overall look of the build. That was before the huge rim fad took hold.

Still front or rear and no matter what the wheel diameter is you have to really study what back spacing you can run with any wheel. On my 48 I can't run a stock back space car wheel on the rear as a spare as the tire hits the side of the bed while an old chrome reverse wheel that I had laying around works great for the rear.