The Great Thread debate on classic wheels.

[Robb2778]

Hi Everyone!  I'm a long time member that doesn't post much.  Mostly, due to being able to find the answer I needed in a quick search.  But I made the mistake of going down the Rabbit hole of 32 pages of posts about wheels.  Lots of great information has been gathered here, but it's brought me up with more questions.

I'm running a 74 D21 with 17.5" wheels on it, I went out to check on the motorhome this weekend and the tires that I just put on the rear axle (16 years ago) are flat and likely near the end of life.   This has lead me to look for nice shiny alcoa-like large diameter wheels.

I haven't researched enough to even start thinking about back space or tire height yet, but I've found a few different paths to look into;  Please stop me if I'm making a mistake you've already made and learned from.

Option 1: Suck it up and buy 4 x Westlake 17.5" and call it day. 

Option 2: Adapters to 10 lug wheels.  I'm not a fan of adapter kits, especially when I'm often ~14,000lbs with the trailer. I would feel better about a hub kit if I could find one that was hub-centric for both the face and the wheel.  It looks like Buy Truck Wheels has a kit for the pre-94 dodges. https://buytruckwheels.com/collections/adapter-kits/products/8-to-10-lug-adapter-kit-dodge-ram-3500-drw-1993-older-w-alcoa-19-5-wheels  Does anyone know if the factory axle is machined for Hub-centric or is just centered on the Coined lug?

Option 3: Change out rear axle and front hubs/axle.  More work than I'm willing to commit to right away, but It would be nice to switch to a taller gear with modern wheels. 

Option 4: Start a thread on Classic Winnebago's and wait for Dave to tell me exactly what will work the first time.

I know a number of you have been down this road before me, I really appreciate any tips and experience you have.

[LJ-TJ]

I droped down to 16" wheels. Streight bolt on. If I need a tire or blow out a tire in the Catskills everybody's got a 16" tire. Made very little difference. Put the speedometer off a few miles per hour. However impervise, adapt, over come.

[yellowrecve]

I'm also running 16" wheels. They are coned same as the 17.5. Straight bolt on. I'm using LT215/85R16 tires. Very close to the same over all circumference of the 17.5 and leaves enough space between the side walls of the duels. The problem is on the front wheels. A little grinding of the brake caliber is needed for the rim to clear.