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Hello - sorry if this is a repeat question if you happen to belong to packardclub.org. Anyhow - I recently saved within minutes a 51 Packard ambulancefrom getting cherry picked into a portable crusher. In order for me to get this thing moved by Monday - I need a 16 inch wheel. Does anyone know if a 15 inch from a Plymouth, or Chevy or Dodge or whatever will fit the lugs on this old vehicle? If so...please help me and this Packard out. Attached is a pic of this old ambulance so you can see how foolish I can be! Regrettably - the original fire department that this came from has absolutely NO interest in it...they don't even want to see a picture of it!

Best regards - Mike

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As the chassis and wheels on the commercial chassis are different from the Packard passenger cars, I think your best bet will be to contact persons who own one of these vehicles (there are several in the Packard clubs) and borrow a wheel from one of them. Sorry, I don't know what other wheels may fit, I checked my Hollander but it doesn't cover models that new. Good luck, its a worthy vehicle to save.

Thank you Owen for your suggestion. I will continue to track down what I can. I have had some people offer some restored ones for sale; however, due to time constraints and the fact that I am not one to invest a couple of hundred dollars on one wheel for a junk car - I guess my search will just simply continue. Regardless...I am thankful when anyone even contacts me or offers to help in any fashion. I really would like to get this car out of its predicament; I am becoming more and more attached to it the more and more I can't find anything! Thanks again! Mike

Mike,

Had a look at your car in the Registry and I see that 3 above yours is a '54 Ambulance! He also has an apparently good motor and trans for sale!

It may be helpful to PM the owner as he probably would have a better idea than anybody else of what will or won't fit.

Mike, my 51 Packard has 15 inch wheels, but could be different for ambulances. Don't know if this will help.

In my experience with Packards, '54 Buick wheels fit perfectly, only because I used to have a '54 Buick. Now, as for later model cars fitting, late '70s to '80s Olds and Cadillac wheels will fit if you torch out the center hole so it's large enough to go around the hub. This will work to get a car moving, although I wouldn't trust it to drive on a daily basis. (although I have before) If I remember right, the Senior Packards used the 5X 4 & 3/4" bolt pattern, while the Junior used the more common 5 X $ & 1/2", which is Chrysler and Ford, but you have to watch the center hole diamter so it fits the hub. One of the two, Ford or Chrysler, has a smaller hole, I think it's Ford, and won't fit a Packard Junior hub. Chrysler wheels fit a '49 Hudson perfectly, as I've been there before.

The easiest way to compare wheels is to buy a wheel adapter that has the studs for the wheel that fits your Packard, then go around the junkyards sticking it into loose wheels to see if the bolt pattern is the same. Then you'll know at least the bolt pattern matches. Just be mindful of the center hole for the hub.

Worse comes to worse, any well equipted flat bed tow truck should be able to pull in from where it sits. They will just use a set of dolly wheels. That is what they have to use when they pic up wrecked cars off the highway that are unrollable.

If you can get out there and measure the lug pattern that will help you determine what wheels will fit. As Eric stated the seniors used a 4.75x5 bolt pattern, and the juniors a 4.5x5 bolt pattern. Not sure what the commercial pattern used. I have four 4.75x5 rims that I bought mistakingly as I was told they were 4.5x5 when I bought them. But I am in Southern Calif, so that wont help you by Monday.

Bolt PATTERN On 5ive lug wheels have 2, exactly 2 and ONLY 2 dimensions:

Measure the distance between 2wo ADJACENT lugs and between 2wo lugs that ARE not ADJACENT. Or to put it another way:
Place one lug at 12:00 o'clock. Measure between it and the lug at 2:00 o'clock. Then measure from the 12 o'clock lug to a lug at 5:00 o'clock.

Lug bolt size can vary too.

1980 dodge pu 1/2 ton wheels fit my 56 Exec.

BTW, if the center pilot hole is bigger than it should be then this is not a problem. I've ran them bigger than spec many many times on many different vehicles at high rates of speed with no problems. Most stamped wheels are at least 1/4 inch out of round and some as much as 1/2 inch. That centrer pilot is just a gimmick by the car companies. The lug nuts are coned anyway.

Clarification here:

Quote:

Dodge D100 wheels are the Junior size, Dodge D150 (still 1/2 ton, but 5X5") will not. The D150 is considered a "heavy half-ton", where as the D100 is the light duty 1/2 ton. They're still 1/2 tons, and still 5 bolt wheels, just the heavy half has the larger, Ford pickup bolt pattern, which it 5X5".

The light duty half ton Dodges used the same bolt pattern as the MOPAR cars did, excepting the Darts and Valiants, which were 5X4&1/4", or 5X4.25".

Eric. Thanks for the details on the Dodge wheels. Yes, my 80 Dodge Picup was a D100. Very bottom of the line picup for 1980. The only accessory it had was AM radio.

The lug pattern on my 88 Ranger 2.0 4 cyl (14 inch) is the same as the 80 Dodge D100 (15 inch). The only real difference in the 80 Dodge and 56 packard jr wheels is about a 1/4 inch on the center offset.