Changed it up...new 17" steel wheels and stainless caps on my short bed

[72Cheyenne454]

My wife purchased these wheels for me as a Bday gift back in late 2016. Life got in the way and the wheels got put on the back burner. Sad to say it took me over two years to get these wheels finished and installed... but they're on now and I love the look.

The truck had 15x8 rally wheels on it before and I was looking for a more original look with my own spin on it. I also wanted a bigger wheel, but did not want to jump to 20's - as I like more tire sidewall, so 17's seemed like a good compromise.

At the time I was shopping for wheels, I couldn't find 5x5, 17" steel wheels that would accept an OE dog dish cap. So, I ended up buying Wheel Vintiques Smoothies. Fronts are 17x8 (4.500 BS) and rears 17x9 (5.250 BS). I made up a little jig to center the cap and welded bungs on the wheels to hold the OE caps on. Worked out great. Had them powder coated and installed 235/60 front (28" tall) and 275/60 rear (30'' tall) tires. Again, I wanted a taller tire to try and fill up the wheel well and I think these tires worked out well. Also note, I used one inch wide billet spacers on the rear to get the tires pulled out a little. Without the spacers, the rear tires just looked to tucked in for my liking. I can post Wheel Vintiques part numbers if needed.

One more thing, I also did the lower A-Arm Caster mod before installing the new tires. I flipped both lower control arm shafts around and drilled new locating holes 1/2" further back from the original location. This moved the lower control arms forward - increasing caster. I found the info to do this mod on this board... so thank you to those who shared all the info.

I had the alignment done last week and it has just over 5 degrees of caster now, so it appears to take less steering input on the freeway to keep it tracking straight.

Miles