Changing Rims from 16.5 to 16

[tscopeland]

Hey there,
I found a good deal on some 16" rims/tires off a 95 Dodge superram 350. I want to swap them out for the 8x 16.5's that I have on my 77 Minnie Winnie

They have 235-75-16 front tires and  245-85-16 rears.

does anyone see any reason why these won't fit??

Thanks 

[denisondc]

  You may have already checked these factors:  Smaller rims often have lower maximum weight ratings.  You would want the 16" rims to have the same, or nearly the same maximum weight carrying rating as the 16.5.  This may or may not be stamped into the metal of the rim somewhere.    The smaller rims need to fit over the brake parts on your RV, not only so as not to touch, but with a little bit of clearance to allow for the rim bending slightly when doing hard breaking or hitting bumps.  My 17" rims are about 1/4" from the brake drums on the rear axle.   I dont know if your Minnie Winnie has dual rear wheels.  If it does, check the offset of the 16" wheels.  This is so two tires mounted as 'duals' on the rear axle will not touch each other.  With radial tires means there would be a slight bulge at the bottom.  The two tires must not touch at this point, or will overheat the sidewall.
  And the tires used on the 16" rims would need to have about the same load rating as the ones that the RV had on it.

[JDxeper]

Be sure to check if your rims are "COINED" or not and if the new ones are also coined!  My 78 has coined rims.  For questions on coined rims just do a search and there are lots of info.  JD

[tscopeland]

Thanks guys

I do have dually rear tires and the rims and tires I am looking at are duallys too ( off a 3500 ram) so I am guessing they have the same or better load rating.

the tires on the rears are alot bigger than what i have now so I don't know if they will fit in the wheel well (Looks very close)?

I found a cool site that lets you compare tire sizes it even tells you the MPH change to expect on your speedometer

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

anyway while I was out there measuring things up it seems the rims I have are 17" but the tires say 8r16.5 is this possible?