I received my 87 B2000 earlier this month as an early brithday present. The guy that owned it before me, bought some rims for this truck.

Okay TWO FULL sets, one modern set (chrome five spoke, not pictured) and one set that I can't identify. (see pictures)

If some-one could tell me who made these rims I would thank them muchly.....

And yes, I do have two left rims and two right rims. Because those do happen to be directional.

The tires on the rims now are the apropriate size for the truck height wise, 205/75-15. Where the factory is 205/70/14
The tires mounted to the factory rims are actually a 27x8.5 AT.

My question is on the hub size, Factory Mazda rim is about 4 1/2 inch hub

Alloy Rims are 5 1/2 inch hub, will they work on this truck?

The bolt pattern is an exact match, but the hub hole on the 15 inch rim is to big.

Will these rims properly center themselves when torqued down?


Pete



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There were a few different manufactureres that made this style wheel. The first one that came to mind was Progressive. As for the hub size this is common for aftermarket wheels to be bigger so that they are more universal. As long as the lug nuts are properly torqued you will not have a problem. These were quite popular in the 80's and early 90's.

 

American Racing (I believe Type 57) looks just like that as well. So long as you are using the lugnuts that center themselves into the stud openings, once they are torqued down you'll be fine.

 

Thank you all for your help,

They are American Racing rims. What is currently on them now are 205-70/15 LT tires. However, those are shredded and need to be replaced.

On the modern chrome (rusty now) set are some high performance street tires that are 215-75/15, with about 85% tread left. I will be putting those tires on the american rims when I get the truck home.

I may live at the beach but I don't drive on it, so street tires are perfect for me.

For now I am stuck the 27X8.5 A/T's on the stock 14 inch rims.

The lug nuts I have (all 24) are taper fit so they will line up the rim just fine when torqued. It appears to me that those rims didn't come with center caps when new, is this true or did someone lose them over the years?

Again thank you all for your help,

Happy motoring,

Pete

 

I'm sure you can get centercaps that fit for those rims. They are most likely the barrel style that installs from the inside of the rim. Look to see if you have a small recessed lip around the inner side of the flange at the hub. If you have the recess, your centercaps install from the inside. If not, then one of the snap-in designs will probably work. I'd take one of the wheels to your local tire store and give some a fit....

 

Unfortunately There is no Recess on the inside and the Previous owner said they didn't come with caps, but I do work for NAPA auto parts so i do have access to most Aftermarket suppliers, including American Racing (through one of my vendors).

I had them bolted to the truck just to see if I liked them. They didn't look that bad without the caps, so I might just live without for now.

pete

 

call balkamp and ask for there number and what store do you work for?

 

Balkamp can't do much for me except tell me to go through the supplier directly and tell them I am ordering through them to get the discount. I have the number for american racing and will be calling tommorow.

My local tire shop had a few american rims and centers laying around and will look at them at a later date.

I am really not that concerned about finding them, just a curiosity at this point.

I work for the store in Seaview, Wa (Independent, not Corporate store).

And to think, I am ASE P2 (parts tech) certified and I am having troubles.........I must be barking up the wrong trees today........

My buddy in vancouver said he will bring over some centers from his garage and see if they work. The Americans he had on his Jeep were stolen one night when he had the axles being rebuilt. (results of Mud+big tires+Built engines+Alcohol= fun and carnage!!)

The other real problem with this is, the truck is in Vancouver, Wa. 130 miles away so my information gathering is a little slow.

It should be drivable tommorow once the clutch master and slave cylinders are in.

So hopefully within a few days I will have the truck here and don't have to wait for answers. I could just go out take measurements and get whatever numbers I need.

Thanks for the idea though.

BTW do you work for NAPA also? Not many people refer to Balkamp directly.

 

Well I finally got a clear answer on the center cap issue........

The answer I got from American Racing was to buy a generic set of chrome center caps in the correct size, as the orginal caps are difficult to get now.

I talked with one of my warehouse guys [sm=hail.gif] for NAPA and found out that most of the time people just use a blank chrome center cap on those rims.

I also spoke with my tire guys down the street [sm=wootwoot.gif] , they said the same thing. Put generic chrome caps in place.

I have a pair of chrome caps in the store and am considering buying them (plus another set from my portland warehouse if they are the right size) and putting them on the rims when I finally get the truck home.