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I know this info HAS to be buried somewhere on this forum...  

 

I will need to change tires soon, and I would also like to "attempt" to have 6 matching wheels.  I have 6 lug on back, and 5 up front.  The heavy RV dually 14" wheels aren't cheap, but I did find one at least and I can probably find another...  Well to make it worth it, I would need to find three more wheels.   

 

Any tips on what came with the correct front hubs?  Obviously, whatever else is needed too.  

 

And is there by chance a 15" wheel that would fit?  The 185r14c size is a pain to come by even for a mechanic/tire guy!  

 

EDIT:  Okay the thread I thought I was looking for is here:  

 

 

I say "I thought" as it doesn't seem to have any real concrete "you need XYZ" parts off of "model x."  I am liking the hub adapter idea mentioned at the end though.    

 

A search on eBay finds tons and tons of options, and cheaply enough to be seriously considered.  I would need to do more digging to find the proper lug spacing info, and hub centric info.  I wish I could access WME's pictures of the adapter from Custom and Commercial Wheels.

 

WME if you read this, how have those held up?  Are they hub centric???

 

I need to call Monday and verify those are still available, and/or look for others.  And then I guess hunt for 3 wheels.  No sense buying the adapters if I can't score wheels to use them on.    

Edited by thewanderlustking
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Easy way call C&C wheels and order a set of 5/6 adapters and then hunt down the dual 6 bolt rims.

https://www.customandcommercialwheel.com/

The "best" way is to find a salvaged Toyota 1 ton truck, a salvaged Toyota MH, a U-Haul Toyota box truck, in a Pick a Part and get the entire front brake assy. Get the 6/6 adapter, brake rotor, caliper and the spindle. If you can pop the ball joints loose the complete assy will bolt up to your a-arms and ball joints.

All this will get you a bigger front brake and a 6 bolt hub.

No 15" rim that fits that I know of. Possibility are an early Dodge MBZ van with duals and re-drill the hub. C&C might have or can build the right rims

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This place says they have 1 front hub from a 1989 dual rear truck, Bet they still have both of them. Near you

Auto Parts Pros | Lakeland, FL

I have a hard time understanding why you can't find the tires we use. I always buy online and have gotten tires in as little as 2 days. In fact the tires on my Sunrader right now I bought on eBay from a supplier in Florida.

15 inch wheels would need to be custom made. C&C makes them for the Sunrader 4x4's. About 1200 dollars for 6 plus shipping from California. Really not worth it

Linda S

As far as the brakes being bigger, an 1988 with a 6 lug front hub uses the same brake pad part number as my 5 lug 1986 Sunrader

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My 87 Nova Star had bigger front brakes rotors and pads than stock 86-87. But then again there were some other different things about it too.

 

 

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Linda, check out the caliper piston dia. and the rotor thickness and dia

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RockAuto.

86 caliper piston 2". 89 caliper piston 3"

86 rotor dia 10.1" thickness .985"...89 rotor dia 10.31, thickness 1.18

Even if the pads are the same the bigger caliper piston gives more brake force for the same pedal pressure. The bigger rotor has more mass and resists heat fade better.

Edited by WME
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I know once you get to the 89 V6 models everything changes. I just couldn't find any changes in the 87 and 88 models leaving me to believe only an adapter was involved. Toyota also has no part number for any such adapter

Linda S

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Again my Nova Star had 6 bolt steel wheels same as the rear some where in 10,000 pictures is a picture of the production date and I think it was late 86 but titled as 87. Coach builder installed later model parts? Indeed had a 22RE engine there were a lot of strange things about it that didn't match like a 8 leaf rear spring yeah it did ride hard.

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Well I was definitely wrong. Rock Auto shows the  6 hole rotor for the heavy duty brakes. My Toyota part site didn't seem to differentiate between the dual wheel and the standard chassis. Glitch? I have no idea

Linda S

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  • 2 weeks later...

So after a lot of digging an hunting I came to the conclusion if I were to change the wheels, I wouldn't bother with custom ones...  And I guess it wouldn't even have to be 15."  I could go with something cheaply available like the Sprinter 3500 16" wheels.  Custom spacers/convertors are cheaper than wheels.  I am iffy on using adapters in the rear though...  

 

The problem with our 14c tires is I can only get them two places, on eBay, or on Amazon.  Yeah if I have a simple flat, I can plug it on the side of the road.  I have a tire monitor system, so unless I shred a tire, I will catch a slow to moderate leak before damage is done.  Towing for these is expensive enough, and takes long enough, that it makes getting a tow a last resort and not the first choice.  But if I have a complete failure...  The 14c is a tire size that a local shop not only won't have on the shelf, they won't be able to order it for the next day.        

 

Our wheels are outrageously expensive (online), when they can be found.  Three would set me back close to 600.  If I can score some locally, that would probably be a lot cheaper.  

 

My simplest choice might be to buy 7x 14c tires, and carry one unmounted.  Now if they were 16," (or better yet 19.5" lol) I could even lever a tire on on the side of the road.  14c" is NOT an easy size to change by hand though...          

 

Another consideration is that with even just 6 comparable wheels, in an EXTREME PINCH, a flat on the front can be moved to the back...    

 

Anyways, I think for now I have to file this in the "nothing I can do about it without going broke" category.  I am going to try and find 3x 6 lug wheels cheaply/locally.  Once I have those on hand, I can figure out a plan for the front hub swap, or get an adapter. 

 

Having an odd tire size, and no spare, is an uncomfortable combination.  

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Paranoia vs going broke, been there done that. In one year with a 5 bolt front and a 1 ton rear, I had 2 flats on the rear.   After driving over a 100mi with a 3 legged rear axle, the paranoia won out.

My first do was one rim and one adapter, change a rear or bolt the adapter on the front and change tire. At that time C&C would sell one adapter.

My second do over was after 2 years, with no flats 😝, I was able to locate two more rims and bought another adapter. I drove another 2 years with the adapters installed with no problems, again no flats.

It seems that Murphy's part of the equation, got the right parts and right tools, never a problem. Lack something and guess who shows up.  

P.S. the 3 hole and the 6 hole rims use different lug nuts. The 6 bolt is hub centric and the 3 hole center on tapered hnuts

Edited by WME
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Well as I mentioned above, the problem isn't getting the tires online, it is getting them locally.  I am a mechanic and as such have some pretty good resources available.  None of our contacts can even get this size tire.  Why does this matter?  If I have a flat and need a replacement tire, I know I won't be able to roll into any tire shop and find this on the shelf.  Sure I MIGHt get lucky and fine one, but I also might win the lottery too.  The closest any of these are, will be a few days out.  Out on the road, that puts a serious damper on any adventure.  Like the wife will never step back into the RV again kinda damper...    

 

As a mechanic, I probably carry some spares most wouldn't.  A spare fuel pump, cheap and quick insurance since gas sits in these for long periods of time between use....  Some spare belts (I am sure others carry these too).  A handful of other parts like a full gasket and engine seal set, water pump, and a couple oddball parts that don't take up a lot of room, but would put me down for longer than the cost of simply having them on hand.  

 

Tools, amongst those I actually have a jack I can easily lift the rear off the ground.  An electric impact, and a very well stocked toolbox.

 

Anyways, I don't have an intelligent solution for the most likely occurrence, a flat tire.  My boss suggested just having a spare front tire/wheel assembly.  As WME said, I can 3 leg to a shop, but a front flat would be a no-go scenario.  I think this will be my plan.  I am going to start looking for a wheel.  If I find a front one, good enough.  If I find a rear one, well the single adapter suggestion would also work nicely.  I at least have time to solve this.  It will be a few more months before this is going anywhere at the soonest.    

 

Obviously, I will carry a quality plug kit in my tools/spares.  I have a nice Safety Seal set I have had for probably 20yrs.  Now the fun part, where to mount/carry a spare?!  Ugh LOL!        

 

     

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Tires near you

Shop Tires by Vehicle | Tire Kingdom

Even tire places that can't search for a tire without an aspect ratio can search for a 1990 Volkswagen Campmobile. They use a 185R14 tire too. I needed a tire in the middle of nowhere once. A ringy dink tiny tire shop got  me a tire in one day. Also a properly patched tire, from the inside with the right kind of plug can last for years. Been there done that too. 

Linda S

Oh and Toyota spares are mounted underneath with a hoist system. Lots of them on eBay or at any junk yard with Toyota trucks. Only difference if your had all dually wheels you would have to make the crossbar longer because of the extra wide center section

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  • 4 weeks later...

GOOD TIPS Linda!  I need to link some of these posts back to my main "build" thread.  Some amazing info!  Thank you!  I went and registered on Pirate 4x4's forum as they had some AWESOME technical posts on the Toyotas.  All I get there though is crickets....  

 

As for "properly patched from inside" I am VERY familiar with doing those.  I can do a perfect inside patch in about the same time it takes to mount and balance a tire.  But obviously out on the road a shop is not going to let me fix my own tire LOL!  A decent push plug from the outside on a tire that hasn't been ran flat, will get me to a shop.  And with my tire monitoring system, I am perfectly confident driving cross country on a quality string plug.  The key here again is quality.  Once home, easy enough for me to sort out.     

 

I like the idea of an underneath mount.  If I have room for one, I will defiantly do that!  

 

I found inexpensive, but decent tires on eBay.  Cheap enough that buying an extra 7th tire isn't too bad.  The VW Campermobile is nicely stuck in my brain now though, so if need be.  I should ask the boss to look that one up see if he still can't find it lol...      

 

On 3/20/2021 at 10:44 PM, WME said:

The "best" way is to find a salvaged Toyota 1 ton truck, a salvaged Toyota MH, a U-Haul Toyota box truck, in a Pick a Part and get the entire front brake assy. Get the 6/6 adapter, brake rotor, caliper and the spindle. If you can pop the ball joints loose the complete assy will bolt up to your a-arms and ball joints.

All this will get you a bigger front brake and a 6 bolt hub.

 

This is my favorite option.  I still have plenty of time, so I am going to keep hunting for this one.  Time and a LOT of other projects on it to deal with before spending good money on new tires just to sit and age....  Important thing is to just keep looking and hope to find this golden egg.  

             

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  • 4 weeks later...

Alright a Unicorn has been found!  My boss just FaceTimed me from the local yard.  There is a 1991 Warrior with everything still on it and 6 pretty wheels.  I’m going to call my local parts house in a minute  to try and get some more specific info.  I am after three pieces of info. 

 

1) is the master the same, or bigger?

2) Are rear brakes the same?  

 

And brain misfired...  I guess prices for rotors no pads.... meh. We know the fronts are bigger.  

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It is hard to figure out at RockAuto on my iPad here at work, but it seems the masters are different too?  Part numbers don’t match. Also seeing some larger master options, one 7/8” one for instance.  Need to do some more digging tonight I guess.  I have the local parts person looking on worldpac for me too. 

 

Yep, was going to whack ball joints loose and grab the whole front assembly. Plus the three wheels. No point in going 5rough the trouble and not having the spare to match lol.  

Edited by thewanderlustking
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There was one gotcha...  I pulled EVERYTHING including the ball joints. It was easier to unbolt than whack. They charged me $15 each ball joint....  Ouch. It was an expensive outing at almost $500...  

 

Then the gotcha was the lower ball joints from the ‘91 don’t fit on the ‘86 (‘85 whatever). 
 

I got there at 10am.  I was there until 3pm...   Then I got home and realized I had left my ladder, and had to go back for it. I look like a tomato. The front hubs didn’t take long, but the other goodie I got, was a NIGHTMARE!!!  
 

But, the hubs are now on, brakes bled, 6 lug wheels are on, and it is back on the ground!  
 

If anyone wants, I will do a DIY thread on it sometime soon. I have to figure  out the master cylinder situation first. I was taking lots of pictures though!  There are some tricks the average driveway/parking lot DIY mechanic might not see. And I figured out at a couple the hard way too. 
 

1B8C6DAE-2C22-4A2C-A51D-BCF9FB199684.jpeg

Edited by thewanderlustking
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