Hello all,

Longtime lurker and finally jumped in head first with a bone stock 1978 F150 that should be here in the next week. Truck has the factory wheels and I want to go with something more modern.

If I do a 17" wheel, what's the max tire size with no lift that won't rub? I've got my eyes on this wheel/tire combo but its a 73 and from what I gather it should be fine but I don't know what I don't know, so go easy on me.

1973 Ford F-100

Thanks all!

 

I ran a 33's on my 79 with no lift.... no problems. Wheel size was 15 but I don't think a 17in wheel would matter in your situation. You should be ok.

 

Excellent. And if I go to black wheels, what parts need to be changed over to black around the lockers and hubs?

Thanks!

 

Depends on what you're looking for. I suppose if you want, you could rattle can those things black...or leave them their natural color.

 

Was just thinking about this today. My 1979 F-150 might be due for tires this year and was thinking 33" on 17" wheels would look pretty good. Has some nice 15" mags on it now that look good with the truck though. Not sure what that much sidewall would look like.

 

So after living with this truck for a month or so, I've decided I prefer the "35-inch tires on no lift" look. So I'm curious...

Check out this link, specifically the fitment video at the bottom of the page. They claim the wheel/tire combo fits with no issues but I'm curious what people here have to say about that?

I'd prefer an 18" wheel so I can fit the larger Willwood brakes from Fat Fender. I can't see a reason an 18" wheel would be worse than the 17" wheel in that link.

However, I'm just still coming to grips (no pun intended) with the brakes on this truck vs literally every other car I've driven in the last 20 years so maybe I won't need to upgrade the brakes? I don't know.

Any thoughts?

 

What gears are you running that you are considering 35" tall tires? My 79 has 33's on 15x10 wheels no clearance issues.

 

Sweet truck!

I'm running whatever this thing came with on a 78 F150 4x4 with auto transmission. Does it matter? If so, how can I find out?

My truck is 100% pavement city crawler so I'm not worried about off-roading or any of that. I'm just purely going for the look in that last link.

 

Axle code on the door jamb is 16J which looks like 3.50. Everything under the truck looks to be original sans new shocks, exhaust, and other wear items so I'd assume that is correct.

 

I made the same assumption, axle code said 4:11's but PO put in 3.08's. I jacked it up spun the rear tire through twice, counted the driveline rotations. I just had it regeared back to 4:11's but I have a 6 speed auto. You might confirm. Assuming its original those would be pretty tall gears for 35's. Are you looking at those $2400 brakes from Fat Fender or the $1400 ones? How about some pics of your truck? The truck in the link is cool looking but no question those tires may rub at some point. My .02

 

I would imagine 35's would fit with no rubbing provided you had the right backspacing.

I know my 78 Bronco is not an F150, obviously, but it's basically the same thing as far as the front half goes. I put 35's on it with no rubbing. The wheels are 15x8's with 3.625" (3 5/8") backspacing. If I had had more backspacing, like 4", they would have rubbed on the radius arms. I was even able to stuff the wheels in the wells off road with no issues. As far as they could stuff with the stock suspension anyway.

A lot of aftermarket rims come with 4 - 4.5" backspacing, which limits wheel selection for these trucks, especially in the larger rim sizes. Not too many rims in the 17"+ range have backspacing around 3.5" and you'll see guys use wheel spacers to push the wheels out.



Definitely has a "stuffed" look to it, for sure. It's been lifted now, though.


Attachment 279890

 

Cool Bronco Doosenberry.

 

Thanks. I wanted a SWB F150 4x4, but this thing popped up cheap on FB, so I own a Bronco now. lol. That's how this crap works it seems. Gotta have it when you see it.

Also on the backspacing, it's only really necessary on larger diameter tires. For instance, my F100 has 29" tires and the rims it has are 17's with somewhere around 4" of backspacing. It's 2wd rather than 4wd, but no issues with rubbing. I had those rims on my Bronco with 35's and they rubbed, that's how I knew what I needed before I bought the new wheels and tires for my Bronco.

 

32-33” is about max with stock ride height and no potential for rubbing

 

Are you saying that for factory rims or just in general? I know when using factory rims that you'd have to use a smaller tire if you wanted no rubbing.