Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

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The Continental
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Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by The Continental »

Want to get an extra wheel for my '62 and was wondering beside the '61-63 Continentals if anything else had 14" wheels that would fit.
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by Steve K »

The Continental wrote:Want to get an extra wheel for my '62 and was wondering beside the '61-63 Continentals if anything else had 14" wheels that would fit.
I believe that any FOMOCO full size cars built between 1959 and 1965 ran on 14s with the same lug pattern. I know that before 1959 most full size Fords and Mercs ran on bigger rims.
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by toddallen »

Full size Fords of that era had a 5 x 4.5 bolt pattern, rather than the Lincoln 5x5. Wheels from a Lincoln from 64 and 65 were 15 inch, not 14 inch.

My interchange manual only lists 1961-3 Lincolns as replacements- they do not interchange to other cars. If you go to 15 inch, then you would have other options from GM cars.
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by Steve K »

toddallen wrote:Full size Fords of that era had a 5 x 4.5 bolt pattern, rather than the Lincoln 5x5. Wheels from a Lincoln from 64 and 65 were 15 inch, not 14 inch.

My interchange manual only lists 1961-3 Lincolns as replacements- they do not interchange to other cars. If you go to 15 inch, then you would have other options from GM cars.
Thanks Todd. I stand corrected. I better replace my spare with one that will fit. I am carrying around one I was told would fit, but it's from a Merc
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by The Continental »

Looks like I've got another reason to go ahead and buy that '62 parts car.
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by The Continental »

So I've found out that there were some 5x5 14" wheels on GM BOP cars of the early 60s. Will the Lincoln hubcaps fit on those though?
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by toddallen »

So I've found out that there were some 5x5 14" wheels on GM BOP cars of the early 60s. Will the Lincoln hubcaps fit on those though?
My guess is no. I looked up these wheels in my Hollander interchange manual, which is a professional interchange manual used by wrecking yards (it is two books each the size of a phone book). My version covers all cars American cars from 1954 to 1966. The 62 Lincoln wheels do not list any matching interchange unless you change over to 15 inch wheels.

Buick wheels in the 1960's as an example were 5 x 5.5 and 5 x 6.
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by JimFreeh »

toddallen wrote:Buick wheels in the 1960's as an example were 5 x 5.5 and 5 x 6.
Todd, Edumacate me on this.

I've been under the impression that the biggest bolt circle was 5" for passenger cars.
Ford and Chrysler used 4.5 and 5, GM used 4.75 and 5.

For 5 lug wheels, Ford 1/2 ton trucks had 5.5" bolt circles.
When GM went to 5 lug trucks, they used the 5" diameter.

What and when were the 5.5 and 6 inch bolt circle diameters used?

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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by toddallen »

If I look up in my book a Buick, Oldsmobile, or Pontiac in the years 61-3 the bolt pattern diameter is either 5.5 or 6"
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by JimFreeh »

toddallen wrote:If I look up in my book a Buick, Oldsmobile, or Pontiac in the years 61-3 the bolt pattern diameter is either 5.5 or 6"
Hmm. My second car was a 1963 Pontiac Bonneville and the wheels interchanged directly with a 1965 Pontiac Catalina. It was less expensive to buy the used tire/wheel set at the time, vice mounting and balancing on the original wheels. I don't recall an oddball diameter size, it was either the 4.75 (120.7mm) or the 5.0 (127.0mm) bolt circle. But then again, it has been over 40 years.....

http://www.classiccollector.net/Pontiac ... tterns.htm

Buick

http://www.classiccollector.net/Buick_Bolt_Patterns.htm

Olds

http://www.classiccollector.net/Oldsmob ... tterns.htm

No mention of a 5.5 or 6 inch diameter.

Now I'm really curious, I've only encountered larger than 5 inch bolt circles on pickup trucks (5 bolt).
I'm also dismissing really old cars, as Ford and VW had big bolt circles when using the brake drum as the wheel hub.....
I'm wondering if the fitment you are finding was exclusive to a commercial chassis.

Jim
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by JimFreeh »

Going back to the original post question, another reason that the Lincoln wheels are unique is that they used a hubcentric design.

That is, centering of the wheel was performed by the wheel hub, which was machined to close tolerance to match the center opening of the wheel.
Too small a diameter for the wheel hub and even if the bolt circle matches, the wheel will not fit.

It was common practice at the time the center the wheel by using the 5 lug nuts. As you tightened the nuts, the taper would automatically center the wheel.

Mercedes has been using this hubcentric system since at least the fifties, and my Lincolns are the only other early example of this that I've come across.
Hubcentric is a much better way to guarantee wheel centering and subsequent balance.

You can fit a wheel with a larger diameter hub opening, but you lose the advantage of accurate centering.

Jim
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by JimFreeh »

The Continental wrote:So I've found out that there were some 5x5 14" wheels on GM BOP cars of the early 60s. Will the Lincoln hubcaps fit on those though?

The issue is the wheel weights.

Lincolns (and Cadillacs) used wheel covers that gripped 360 degrees of the wheel.
These require a dropped wheel weight that places the weight approximately 1/2" closer to the wheel center.

Back in the seventies, we referred to these as Cadillac weights.

Jim
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Re: Other cars with same wheels as '61-63s?

Post by toddallen »

Jim, you may be correct on the bolt diameter on the early GM cars, my only reference is the Hollander manual, but is no guarantee it is correct. There are plenty of mistakes made in individual books.
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