QuestionI would like to replace the original tubed wheels with a tubeless rim. What year ford could I use and would it be a pickup rim or car rim? It has the original drive train. Thanks, Steve
AnswerI'm not on this service to advise on trucks, because I'm not qualified for trucks.
However, I believe that the F-100 (isn't that that same as an F-1?) is a half ton pickup, and in that case probably has passenger car wheels on it. Also, tubeless tires were in common use in 1953, so the wheels that are on the truck should be air-tight. I have tubeless tires on my 1952 Ford F-2, and no problems at all with the wheels - of course being an F-2, it has different(8 lug) wheels, but the point is that it has wheels that were designed to work with tubeless tires.
Why do you think your wheels will give problems with tubeless tires?
If your goal is to put radial tires on the truck, however, that is a different story. Radial tires put more stress on the wheels of any vehicle, and you cannot safely just swap to radials without verifying that the wheels were designed to work with radials. In 1953, I'm sure that is not the case, so you need to contact a wheel supply vendor, give him your vehicle information, and rely on them to come up with the right wheel. Criteria are wheel diameter, flange width, offset, bolt pattern and size, center hole size, and locating lug position, if any. One vendor is http://www.metrowheels.net There are many more out there - just do a Google search for "replacement wheels" or the like.
If you do put radial tires on your truck, make sure you take it to an alignment shop immediately after that, the settings are different for radial tires, and driving it with the old settings will make for a bad handling vehicle.
I hope this is at least some help - I know it isn't what you wanted to hear from me.
Dick
