I used fellow TDR member JPittinger’s advice and did the following: Jack up the vehicle, take off rear tires/rims, install 2 lug nuts to hold the drum on. Start the truck, put it in 1st and low range of the transfer case – this makes the drums turn REAL SLOW. If you have an auto, you may not be able to do this – whatever you do – make sure the drums turn REAL SLOW so not to hurt yourself. I then used a 4 1/2″ grinder to remove metal from the outside of the rim so that the new rims would fit. If I had the time would I do this again – maybe. If you have the time to take the drums to a machine shop to have them turned – That would be much faster and no where near as messy (grinding dust everywhere).
The approximate dimensions of the rim’s outer lip width was .325 before – and approx .25″ after – note – these measurements were not real accurate since I don’t have accurate instruments!!
After I did this, I checked the rims on a balancer. They were off just a tad – most people wouldn’t even notice (one was .1 oz the other was .2 oz). If you have a balancer – go ahead and true them up.
Then I installed the rear rims – yes, it is a tight fit. Make sure you remove enough metal from the drum to allow for some expansion of the drum. I have about 1/16″ clearance.
The front bolted on w/o any problem – BUT you need to check clearance of the brake lines. I found the right side to be fine. The left side I had to bend the hose bracket to make sure the tire wouldn’t rub on the hose when turning. According to one of the attached posts – there are steering interference problems that need to be addressed in the 98-99 trucks
Attached are a couple of photos.
Here is a pic of the OEM Chrome rim on the rear
Here is a pic of the new (2002) aluminum rim on the rear axle
Oh Yea — I found this out the hard way – do NOT leave the dust from ginding the drums on the vehicle – remove it immediately! If it gets rained on – you will have to buff/compound the vehicle to get the little rust spots off – grrrrrr.
[thanks to Dan_69GTX & TDR used with permission]