bolt patterns on trucks

[383ina83]

Somewhere along the line, the bolt pattern on dodge trucks changed. On their 1/2 tons anyway.
I'm told that the new bolt pattern will let wheels that fit other(choke!) trucks swap, thus letting a low buck praject stay that way by using a set of second hand wheels. Sadly a set of nice second hand wheels for an older(83) Dodge truck is hard to come by.
Question-Is the newwer bolt pattern really different and if so will wheels interchange with other vehicle manufacturers bolt patterns.
Another thought. If this is the case will the hubs interchange from newer to(83)in order to update my truck.

[Christopher]

My 86 Ramcharger has a 5 lug with 5.5" bolt pattern,same as the new Rams.My 79 Dodge Red Express had a 4.5" bolt pattern.

[383ina83]

Thanks christopher now I have an idea about what yrs. the bolt pattern was changed. Can I swap assemblies from newer to my 83. drums,rotors etc. so I have more wheel choices. if so is it an easy swap or not.
thanks for the info.

[Christopher]

I would think you can on the front,but my knowledge with trucks is limited.On the rear you will have to swap axle shafts,and depending on what rear you're using,there could have been some changes made over the years,so my advice would be to match things up.(bearing size,c-clip size etc.)

[Elwenil]

Ok, I'm not sure if you have a 2WD or 4WD, but it was my understanding that the bolt pattern on 4WDs changed to the larger pattern in 82, when Dodge went to the "new" body style. There has been a bit of swapping around here because everyone wants the 82 to 84 Dana 44 out of them because they are stronger. I think in 85 Dodge went to the vacuum actuated axle, which in weaker, and before 82 they had the small hubs and bearings. The wheels should swap from 82-93 with no problems. I think the new Rams have the same bolt pattern, but have different back spacing.

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~Elwenil~ ~.\|/.~

[Dakattack]

My 84 ram 2wd had 5 on 4.5 pattern. I thought they didn't change to the new pattern until 1994. Guess I was wrong. Hmm that's good to know.

[sixpackguy]

4x4 1/2 tons starting in 1980 have the larger
bolt pattern. Also, 1/2 4x4s before 1974 had this pattern. The only 4x4 full size trucks to use the 4.5 bolt pattern were the full time 4x4 trucks of the mid to late 70's
The large bolt pattern is the same as old ford 1/2 (yuck)._

[Dakotakid]

5 Lug pickups and Ramchargers changed bolt patterns in '84 or '85, I'm not sure which year exactly. Ram full size vans changed the year after.

[GILBO]

for what it's worth, my 84 4x4 ram has the large bolt pattern

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if it don't lope there's no hope

[drewhan]

ok, somewhere in the mid 80's the 5 lugs changed from 5-4.5 to 5-5.5. The beaty of it is that you can interchange ford and chrysler wheels big or small 5 lug freely providing that they are reardrive offset, and the hub bores fit. Very simple. My '79 dodge pu 5-4.5 will fit my late model dart as well as my 69 fury. Don't be afraid to say ford when it comes down to wheels. You can come across many bargains due to more availability. For example a beatiful set of old nostalgic 15x7 ET wheels on my Dart came from a 71 suicide door t-bird, and I got a bargain on them.

[Slammed 360]

I have a 91 dakota with 15x8 centerline scorpion wheels. They are 6-4.5 with 3" of back spacing and they tuck under a 2"-4" drop. I couldn't find any other truck that had the same bolt pattern.