Posted by Keith in Washington on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 02:00:07 :
In Reply to: Re:Robert posted by Mike Stone Idaho, USA on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 10:56:19 :
Here is what you will find stamped on the ffpw wheels and lock rings.
The date stamp is on the wheel. It is on the outer surface of the wheel between the holes for the lug nuts. You will see a two digit year code. 47 for a WDX built in 47 if it is still the original wheel. The date stamp may not match the titled year of the truck as it reflects the manufacture date. My ffpw is titled a 52 but all date stamps on many parts including all wheels are 51. You will also find several other items stamped in this area of the wheel (the Budd name, and a single digit number that I am not sure what it is but it may be a line id number or something and a single alpha character in one or more places.
The lock ring has the wheel size stamped into it. Trucks that came with 9.00 x 16 tires should have 6.50H-16 stamped into the lock ring. Stamped directly below the wheel size should be GY-LTS% (where the % is a symbol of some sort). I suspect that GY Stands for Goodyear. I am not sure what the LTS stands for. I am not sure if anyone else made the lock rings, if so there may be a different code where the GY is stamped.
Trucks with that came with 7.50 x 16 tires have a narrower wheel. 6 inchs wide if I am correct. They should have a different wheel size stamped into the lock ring. I would suspect that the wheel size code would start with 6.00 and may look something like 6.00#-16 where the # sign would be a character. I am not sure it would be an H like the 6.50 wheel but the wheel size stamp should follow the same format with the appropriate code in the # position. The lock ring on the 6.00-16 wheel is also smaller in size (ie not as wide so less of the lock ring will be visible when looking at the mounted wheel and tire.
Combat wheels have similar information. You will find the date code the Budd name logo with patent number and the word duals. ther are also several alpha and numeric stamping around the lug nuts holes. The bolt on lock ring has a little more information than the ffpw lock ring. It will have the manufacturer's name "Goodyear AR Div" stamped into it. Stamped directly below this is the wheel size 6.50-CS-16 and below this is a date stamp "Made in USA 1-42". The same symbol that appears on the wheel size stamp on the ffpw lock ring also appears directly after the Goodyear name. There are are also two warning stampings in the combat bolt on ring "Warning deflate tire before loosening nuts". My combat rims do not necessarily have matching date codes on the wheel and lock ring which is not surprising knowing the military. The dates on mine range from 42 to 45 on both the wheels and lock rings.