1 to 1 Ford Wheel Question

[stavanzer]

On Prewar Fords. would the Wheels from a '36-40 Ford bolt onto '32 Ford hubs?

I want to put AMT '36 or '40 Rims on a Worn '32.

Thank You!

[Mark]

'36-'39 had the "wide five" bolt pattern with rims resembling those of a VW Beetle.  I believe the '40 and later wheels would work.  A lot of early Fords, including nearly all hot nodded ones and many otherwise stock ones, were converted to hydraulic brakes using '40 and up parts.  So the wheels would just be part of the conversion for those.

[espo]

Ford started using the 5 lugs on 5" center wheels around 1940 thru the 1948-year model, they continued to use that same bolt pattern on their 1/2 ton pickups and most Mercury's for many decades.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

It depends.

The '32 bolt pattern was 5 on 5.5", '40 Ford was 5 on 5.5" too, vs. the 5 on 5" of some later cars (other than the "wide five" design).

(Though the bolt pattern is the same, I do not recall if '40 wheels will bolt directly to '32 hubs.)

There are multiple ways to use later rims on earlier cars.

1) '40 wheels may bolt directly to '32 hubs, or spacers may be required.

2) Wheel adaptors for different bolt patterns

3) Re-drill the brake drums and use spacers if necessary.

4) Swap wheels and their corresponding brake drums entirely. This was common practice when upgrading early Ford cars to '39 and later hydraulic ("juice") brakes, and can be accomplished with a minimum amount of machine work. Junkyard parts were plentiful and cheap.

Remember that if you're building a "period" car, there were a whole hellava lot more machinists around then than there are now, and finding someone capable of performing these relatively simple mods was no big deal.

1940 16" X 4", 5 on 5.5" Ford passenger car wheels, below:

Wide five wheels, below:

Wide five adaptor, below (there are several designs):

EDIT: The '32 Ford "Blackjack" built for James Hetfield by Josh Mills when I was working for him (I had zero to do with that build) ran wide-five wheels using only period parts and technology. IIRC it used '39 drums, backing plates, and wheels. The car was a contender for the 2017 AMBR.

Edited October 6 by Ace-Garageguy

[stavanzer]

Then I feel safe in using '40 Ford Wheels, on my '32 Phaeton build.

Thank You, Bill for the straight skinny.