Wheel Questions

[BLE Bob]

Got two questions for the group.

First, got a 55 CJ5 that came with an extra set of axles. The jeep and the spare axle both came with 15" rims.

I did not realize it was common for them to come with 15s?


Second questions is not much of a question but more of a double checking my own sanity.

All 8 rim have one lug hole that is wallowed out. Literally 8 rims, 1 hole ruined on each!

Just wanted to double check that this wasnt something OEM, no way it could be,,,,, but you just never know. Its so odd that only one hole on two sets of rims are like that.

[51 CJ3]

It is strange all 8 would be that way. The only thing I can think of to cause it is running with a loose or no lug nut.

[BLE Bob]

Thats why I am questioning my own sanity on this one. How could 8 wheels all have been improperly installed. I can see one wheel being this way but 8!

[gmwillys]

15" were common on later Willys/Kaiser/then AMC.

Drop a picture of the hogged out hole. I would guess that it was done intentionally, but I don't know why. One lug wouldn't get damaged if it was not tight, but if all five were loose, then then all would show damage. Spare tire carrier might have had a larger stud on it, but that is a guess.. Trying to jam a Jeep wheel on something that has a different bolt pattern, again one would need to bore out all five. Ponderous.

[bmorgil]

Some pictures might help. Up close so we can see how the hole was "bored". I am betting gmwillys is on to something, some kind of mounting setup or wheel lock. Or they could have had a wheel lock on them and the holes got destroyed when someone didn't have the right tool to remove the lock without a key.

They came with 15's or 16's in the 50's. I think 16" was more common. The owners and service manuals show both.

[51 CJ3]

I would bet on the wheel lock. Might not been able buy the correct size nut and swapped lugs to make it work. That would account for all eight wheels. When did they quit using left handed lugs? They may have had to change lugs for a lock and made all the locks match.

[BLE Bob]

thanks for the feedback group..

Been a crazy run at work so no time to reply back or grab some pics. Ill try to get a couple of pics this weekend.

I guess in the end this is a good reason to go to 16" wheels

[51 CJ3]

What is driving the decision to go to 16”? When I was shopping I chose 15” because I could not find any 16” wheels I liked for a price I was willing to pay. If I did stumble across something they were out of stock or I could only get 2 or 3 of them. The down side to the 15” wheels is there are almost no tires on the used market but it’s probably been 30 years since I bought a used tire to just get by on.