ALCOA Wheels

about $600 a pop

Reasonable when you factor that crack testing/blasting/painting old spider wheels would cost you about half that.

Alcoas just wouldn't look right on the old 690 though, hey kenny ?

unless you could get "spider" alcoas .. .. so how is the dodge 690 going ? .. ive a 361 powered 760 now . . the old 318s are a much quicker motor !

She's still in storage. I've been gathering little bits 'n' pieces for the rebuild.
I'm planning to take the cab off soon and get started on that. I want to get the frame blasted and painted, too. I've just got to work out what kind of body I want. I originally wanted an alloy pantech with a luton peak. As you know, the back of the chassis has been cut, so I'm thinking of cutting it back further and making it a banana back, possibly still with a pan'.
Anybody you'd recommend for chassis work?

recar up here in Newcastle are reasonably priced ..the 760 dodge i have now is virtually identical truck to yours except for the motor and gearbox . . i never did get around to finding a detroit powered beast

Hey Basil, Just a recap on the Alcoa's syndrome. I was at a truck show last weekend and a large company I know were showing me the problems with Durabrights that they were having. On the backs of their dog trailers the finish was near ruined due to the trucks having gravel etc in them after tipping and the truck driving along. The rocks were sliding around and had ripped the anodised finish to shreds. Of course, you can't polish them so they were buggered.

Made me rethink the benefits of them. However there were a number of trucks with the Alcoas chrome plated and the finish was brilliant.

Personally, if it were mine and for show only, I'd have standard polished ones and be hitting them with the autosol.

will put my 6 cents worth in on this one.
I was a tyre fitter back when the ally wheels were coming onto the showroom floors ...
We were advised by the manufacturers that steels and alloys should not be mixed under any circumstance, because of the expansion rate thing.

you can put alloys and steels together AS long as you put the alloy on the outside. the main is problem if you dont put the alloy on the outside and put it on the inside it will buckle. another problem with mixing them is the hub area on an alloy is alot thicker than a steel so you end up with alot more thread sticking out. if you were going from steel to alloys you may have to fit longer wheel studs. dura brites are a great option for the low matenance factor. but as previously mentioned can pit in harsh environments. i drive a b-double fuel tanker and deliver to mine sites. the first axles on both tri-s cop a blasting mainly. the drive only seem to get minor pitting. but after 1.7 million km the wheels still clean up with little effort and look good.