Diesel Bombers - Fitting 2002 Aluminum Rims On A 1996 Truck

Jack up the vehicle, take off rear tires/rims, install 2 lug nuts to hold the drum on. Start the truck, put it in 1st and low range of the transfer case - this makes the drums turn REAL SLOW. If you have an auto, you may not be able to do this - whatever you do - make sure the drums turn REAL SLOW so not to hurt yourself. I then used a 4 1/2" grinder to remove metal from the outside of the rim so that the new rims would fit. If I had the time would I do this again - maybe. If you have the time to take the drums to a machine shop to have them turned - That would be much faster and no where near as messy (grinding dust everywhere).

The approximate dimensions of the rim's outer lip width was .325 before - and approx .25" after - note - these measurements were not real accurate since I don't have accurate instruments!!

After I did this, I checked the rims on a balancer. They were off just a tad - most people wouldn't even notice (one was .1 oz the other was .2 oz). If you have a balancer - go ahead and true them up.

Then I installed the rear rims - yes, it is a tight fit. Make sure you remove enough metal from the drum to allow for some expansion of the drum. I have about 1/16" clearance.

The front bolted on w/o any problem - BUT you need to check clearance of the brake lines. I found the right side to be fine. The left side I had to bend the hose bracket to make sure the tire wouldn't rub on the hose when turning. According to one of the attached posts - there are steering interference problems that need to be addressed in the 98-99 trucks

Attached are a couple of photos.

A
OEM Chrome rim on the rear

B
Here is a pic of the new (2002) aluminum rim on the rear axle

Oh Yea

I found this out the hard way - do NOT leave the dust from ginding the drums on the vehicle - remove it immediately! If it gets rained on - you will have to buff/compound the vehicle to get the little rust spots off - grrrrrr.

C