Falkens on Dexstars, DIY version (1 Viewer)

[island45]

Back in about 1985 I drove our 1970 blue/white fj 55 from Washington to Massachusetts and back with my wife and two kids. 29" tires. I decided we needed some 'rubber overdrive on the way back so I found a junkyard with some 16"wheels from a mid 60s chev panel truck. I cut the centers out with a carbide cutter in a 3' piece of pipe using the rear hub as my 3 speed lathe. Got four 7.50 x 16 hwy tread from my wife's cousin and headed home. I have run a lot of split rims over the years on cruisers and fords, but kind of sick of the poor chinese tubes out there. Decided to do this.....(keep in mind I live on an island with no machine shop) Dexstar 16 x 6" trailer wheels. Cut the centers out with a holesaw. I planned on making a pilot plug for the holesaw, but as it was my lucky day, the holesaw was a snug fit on the raised lip of the dexstar. No need for a pilot. I have a milwaukee hole hawg with a pipe handle. I will be 70 this month and I am 5'6" and 150 lbs so I needed something to stabilize this operation. I bolted the first dexstar to a mounted 15" LC tire and wheel as a base. Nice and solid. Cutting was smooth with no surprises or violent grabs. The ring fell out and it's paint proved the hole was centered. Tool about 2 minutes per wheel. It didn't really need to be so perfect as our cruisers have a lug centric wheel system.
A little cleanup with a drum sander in a drill. Scuffed the black powder coat with a small orange cup brush from napa that has fine grit in the nylon bristles. Painted with krylon 'classic gray'. Then I mounted a set of Falken Wildpeaks in a 255 85r 16s using my old manual tire changer from the '50s. Tires measure exactly 33" inflated , not on vehicle. Whole shebang ran me right around 1500.00 and so far, very happy with the results. That's my '79 FJ 55 burried under the ford tin,international rear fenders, suburban 3rd row seat, dodge steering wheel etc etc. EDIT: Looks like I got my photos out of sequence.