Wheel conversion from military lock ring to conventional

[Praner]

I'm new to this site so please forgive me if I mess up. I have a 1976 Deuce, dual sets in the rear, and want to replace the lock-ring military wheels/rims and tires with conventional type. Can anyone recommend a vendor that can provide these?

Thanks.

 

[fasttruck]

If you want to continue with 10 tires of the ground find somebody with 11:22.5 tubless rims for "budd" wheels to sell. "Budd" is a reference to the wheel manufacturer and they are distinguished by being "stud" piloted wheels.Most commercial trucks for the past 20 years have used hub piloted wheels so getting wheels compatible with military hubs could be a problem. If you want to go down to 6 wheels there could be other options.

 

[jeffhuey1n]

Contact Boyce Equipment of Ogden Utah. Their website is boyceequipment.com. I’ve done business with them in the past and I recommend their company. All their information is on their website including phone numbers and electronic catalogue.

 

[montaillou]

I'd recommend looking through this site first and seeing what others have done because there are a whole lot of options. When you say conventional, I assume you want to move away from the NDT's (stock) to something with radials. Do you want to switch the wheel and tire or just the tire? Do you want to stick with duals on the back two axles? Dangerous and scary as they are, modern trucks use lock ring wheels all the time. In fact, you'll have a hard time (maybe) finding some shops that will work with the military 2 part wheels - at least in my area, many will not.

If you have money to burn and no time, you can start with vendors like Eastern Surplus (not a bash, I buy from them myself, but they are not the cheapest - and shipping to CO won't be cheap either).

 

[runk]

Just as a note to this conversation, our deuces use a type of wheels termed by OSHA as "CURRENT PRODUCTION: TWO-PIECE SOLID RIM; SPLIT RING". There is a big difference in safety, servicing and availability from some of the other types of "Split Ring" or "Lock Ring" wheels. The difference is the bead seats well up onto the ring on our wheels.
Our wheels as as safe any one piece wheel, once the initial bead seating is complete.
Prior to the seating of the bead, you should be using an appropriate safety cage or at least a big honking set of chains.
Here are links to a couple of discussions from people with better knowledge then I -
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?8276-Split-Rings-(again)
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showt...ings-quot-and-quot-Split-Rims-Widowmaker-quot

And an OSHA poster about them-
https://www.osha.gov/Publications/wheel/3402tube-type-truck-and-bus.pdf

 

[silverstate55]

Accuride made 6-hole Budd tubeless radial 1-piece 22.5" wheels for the military (fuel trailers, IIRC) that have been coming out of surplus sales (GP) once in a while for a few years now. They are the dually-style, NOT the single-style like the M105A3 trailers had. These would allow one to run commercially-available 22.5" tubeless radial tires on a Deuce.

Don't know if you can still purchase them new from an Accuride dealer, but asking usually doesn't cost anything.