1936 Dodge coupe wheels Edited pics attached

I have a lead on artillary wheels that have the 5 x 4.5 bolt patter but measure 17 inches from bead to bead. I thought 1936 Dodge wheels were 16 inch? Can anyone confirm this and possible tell me what these would be for? Ford? Would 17s look odd on a 36 Coupe?

Thanks in advance

Bump, pics attached

72 views and not one opinion?

16" was standard on the '36 DB. Those look earlier and may be Plymouth.

Thanks

Those are definately NOT "36 Dodge wheels.

May be these '34 Plymouth....

They are most likely 1/2 ton Dodge truck wheels. My van had a mix of 15" wheels from the 40s or 50s on it when I dragged it home. Before I really got into it's history I bought 16" artillery wheels and put on new 6:00/16" light truck tube type tires thinking that they were the common wheel and tire. I then found out I could get the original build ticket for my 'flat faced cowl and chassis' from Chrysler and lo and behold what does it say for the original wheels? 17" STEEL. (Their capitals) What really broke my heart was I kept on looking for parts at fleamarkets and I found a set of 17" wheels that the guy said "fit nothing he's ever found". I bought them anyways and brought them home. Oh well. Maybe some day I'll find someone who will want my 16" setup and I'll put on the 17"s.

The 17" wheel didn't disappear right away because they may have still been valued for their additional ground clearance on rural roads. My '36 Plymouth P1 came with a pristine 17" spare just like these wheels. Also, I've seen pictures of Plymouths equipped with them. The 17" wheel was still an option on '36 Plymouths and can be found in the parts books. But it isn't listed in as available in the '36 Dodge parts book. I don't know when one was last available on a Dodge, Perhaps ''34 or '35? In the case of my Plymouth with only the one 17" wheel, I suspect that those cars which came with the taller wheel were switched over to 16" replacement wheels rapidly when 17" tires became scarce.

The 17" wheel didn't disappear right away because they may have still been valued for their additional ground clearance on rural roads. My '36 Plymouth P1 came with a pristine 17" spare just like these wheels. Also, I've seen pictures of Plymouths equipped with them. The 17" wheel was still an option on '36 Plymouths and can be found in the parts books. But it isn't listed in as available in the '36 Dodge parts book. I don't know when one was last available on a Dodge, Perhaps ''34 or '35? In the case of my Plymouth with only the one 17" wheel, I suspect that those cars which came with the taller wheel were switched over to 16" replacement wheels rapidly when 17" tires became scarce.

The 1936-42 Plymouth factory service manual shows tire inflation numbers for 17" wheels and some other sizes that I was not aware were usually found on '36 through '42 Plymouths. Not sure if that was a generic section copied and pasted from other Chrysler product line manuals or if those sizes were actually offered as options.

Interesting, at least to me, is that the mounted tire diameter of the 600-16 "Air Wheel" and the standard 525-17 wire wheel were basically the same in 1933. So swapping a 16" wheel for a 17" one would not gain you any ground clearance. There was a larger diameter wheel, I believe 19" but would have to check, that was available as an option to give more ground clearance for cars primarily driven on deeply rutted rural roads.

DodgeKCL, I wouldn't be too disheartened about having a set of 16" wheels and tires. I'll bet that the majority of nicely restore '36 light trucks have 16" wheels on them right now for the same reason I mentioned in my prior post. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that most of their owners don't even realize that 17" were original. Your truck could also have been ordered with part #608415 wire wheels, so maybe that's why the build sheet emphasized STEEL wheels. For some reason my parts book (dated May 15, '36) shows these two 17" wheels being correct up to serial number 811119 and also a very few exceptions after that. It doesn't indicate what followed. Usually that sort of thing indicates one part was superceded by another, but it doesn't show what might have followed. I suppose a parts book dated later in the year would clear up the matter. Maybe 16" wheels became available before the year end. Otherwise, your 16" are probably desirable to any number of '35 and '36 Plymouth owners.

Just for clarity, I'll include some pics, as people sometimes get Dodge and Plymouth wheels confused:

These are 16" Plymouth wheels. I've known people to refer to them as "ten spoke" wheels. They have a hole for the positioning guide peg that Plymouth hubs have. These are mounted with lug nuts. I have seen many '36 Dodge and Plymouth pick ups with these wheels on them. These will readily bolt onto Dodges. They also are nicely gusseted on either side of the lug holes. I know these wheels to be '36s, but I believe that '35s are identical:

These are Dodge 16" wheels for '36. Dodge used lug bolts rather than studs with lug nuts like Plymouth. These wheels don't have a hole for an alingment peg like the Plymouth ones do. Consequently, they don't fit onto Plymouth hubs unless a person breaks off the Plymouth hub's alingment peg (I've seen it done). Also, they have no gussets on the center mounting face and as a result are easily bent. They were a poorly designed wheel in that regard. I knew an old guy who made a jig out of an old hub and a jack, both mounted to the same board, just to straighten his wheels out after a year or two.These are sometimes referred to as "14 spoke" wheels:

I've seen theses wheels called '35 Dodge, and I've also seen them refered to as 16" Canadian wheels. They look just like the Dodges wheels above, but they have a different hub cap retainer:

I not sure that my info here is entirely accurate, so if anybody knows otherwise, please say so.

ply33, I wonder if perhaps you misunderstood me. I was saying that it may have been that some still preferred a 17" wheel and tire to gain additional ground clearance over a 16". How much difference in ground clearance was gained, though, really I couldn't say. I'm to the point in my life where I can't trust my memory as much as I would like to, but I was thinking that I had once seen a '37 or '38 with high (17") wheels on it. My recollection is that it was quite conspicuously high. I also think that a super balloon tire and wheel (like Ford offered) might have been available, as well.

I want to add that the 17" wheels pictured in the first post on this thread are very similar in appearance to the 16" Plymouth wheels that I showed in my post. They have the the guide peg hole and have gussets on either side of the mounting holes which to my mind makes them likely to have been for a Plymouth. They are identical to the one I have as a spare in my '36 Ply. Does anyone know what the last year was for a 17" Dodge wheel? Have a picture of one to share?

I've seen theses wheels called '35 Dodge, and I've also seen them refered to as 16" Canadian wheels. They look just like the Dodges wheels above, but they have a different hub cap retainer:

This one is indeed a Canadian '36 Dodge wheel. The hub caps have the retainer clips on the cap - they engage the retainer ring in the centre of the hub opening. The Canadian caps also lack the raised arrow on either end of the <DODGE> script - they are flush with the curvature of the cap. I believe the US Dodge trucks used the same type of cap. I once bought a '36 Dodge hubcap from a friend in NY State sight unseen and when it arrived I was surprised to find it was not at all like the ones on my car. Another lesson on the differences between US and Canadian production.

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