As dumb as it might sound, I am trying to determine the original tiresize and wheel size for my 1952 1/2 ton, GMC pickup, 116" wheelbase. It currently is equipped with six lug wheels. Deekay
Welcome Deekay! Glad to have you aboard and I know Wolf and Zig are tickled that there is another GMC guy on the forum. Standard tires for your truck, as it would have come from the factory, should be 6.00x16 6ply bias tires. As for the wheel size, and don't quote me here, they should have been 16x4.5 rims. Post some pictures when you get time, but do us chevy boys a favor and just post pix of the rear!
1952 Original Tire Size-1952 GMC PU Thanks, Ken. I have been researching that for a while. I am new to this; recent (first) restoration project. It isn't a pretty rear, yet, but it will be. Thanks, again.
Of Course , You could simply look in the original owner's manual , it's $9 and belongs in the glovebox of every oldie out there....
Hey welcome!!! its always nice to see some more GMC guys here, keeps the chevy guys in check. Ken and Nate are awesome help here, as is most everybody! These guys know their stuff, and can honestly if asked diagnose an engine problem by sound! Amazing! https://talk.classicparts.com/showthread.php?t=11532 Anyway here is my thread for my 3/4 ton rims, quite a bit different then your 1/2 ton, but the tires could be the same. I got the largest passenger truck tire I could get without going to a HD truck tire. I did this because of price. It would have been over twice as much to do the HD tire, as Firestone had a sale buy 3 get one free! Good luck and post some pics up of your truck. I use the free photo site photobucket, and it has worked great.
Fwiw For what it is worth, my '53 gmc 1/2 ton came to me with 15" and i swapped them out for 16" one piece rims and put on LT21585r16 (but that is too big for the SPARE ONLY side spare mount as it rubs on the cab & fender - don't ask me how i know)
When its side mounted the rear fender needs a dimple in it for the spare to fit, there is a site somewhere (Nate prob knows) showing how to measure and cut a kidney shape in the front of the rear fender then flip the cut out piece to form the new dimple
Spare Tire Dimple It *might* be in the acessories book but for sure this information is listed on The Stovebolt Page . For a competent body & fender man this is a straight forward job . I'd not attempt it .
Competent For someone who has done welding on their own trucks its not a bad job, because you are welding an upside down piece into the arch it will help stop distortion, not like your welding a flat panel, two pieces with compound curves, go easy with the torch and you will be fine, check out the stovebolt site like Nate said and you will find very accurate measurements and details showing exactly how to do it as if its factory.
a slightly shorter tire for my spare I have the short bed and i did find the instructions on how to cut out the indentation, flip it over, and re-weld it back in. However, my body man was taking way too long to get anything done, so i ended up knocking that item off his project list by locating an original indented fender and just swapping them out. My tires are just really tall and therefore still make contact with the cab and indented fender only when mounted on the side spare rack. I will just get one single tire that is shorter and will clear adjoining body so it will not rub to solve that problem. (after picture below) When i did the "cut-out instructions" research, it made perfectly logical sense to me, but my body man was very reluctant - mostly because he personally did not like the look of the spares on the side and he really did not want to CUT into a perfectly straight fender......good thing there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Truck Owners Manual Page Here is a link to the load/tire section of the 1952 owners manual: http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyowner/52tom102.htm The Chevy index of the Old Car Manual Project can be found at: http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/index.htm Happy reading! Steve
I believe it was 6.50/16 stock. I am running 205/75 16 on the 53 which is supposed to be the closest thing in modern tires.
