Common wheels to tow a ‘64 Barracuda

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briansb71

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Greetings all!

Just “inked” the deal to buy a ‘64 Barracuda project car. The car will need to be towed about 200 miles home on a 2 wheel “car dolly” type trailer (driveshaft removed). Of course, dummy me didn’t think about pulling the 2 rear wheels with perfectly dry rotted tires before leaving the car yesterday after closing the deal, so rather than driving another 400 miles round trip to retrieve them, I hoping I can slap a couple decent (maybe even trailer rated) tires on some cheap “steelies” for the upcoming tow home. So, what I need to find out is what are my best common cheap, junkyard find steel wheel alternatives to replace those little 13” Valiant wheels on, hopefully, the cheap and easy? I understand the “5 on 4” bolt pattern are hard to swap? Again, the car won’t be “living with” these wheels and won’t be driven with them on the back. Just something to get it the approx 200 mile tow home without (hopefully) any safety issue?

Thanks, in advance, for your best ”low buck” suggestions!
 
It all depends IF you will update to 5 on 4 1/2 BP wheels later, or get some 14 in SBP wheels. Easiest and cheapest deal is to pull the 13 in wheels on there and order some new 13 cheap tire at a tire store there and swap over for the trip home?
 
Definitely won’t be swapping hubs/axles in this dude’s yard, 200 miles from home. The second solution involves scoring another set of 13” Mopar steel wheels, but since none the junkyards around me ever have anything older than the 1990s any more, that seems unlikely … but I will keep scanning the usual local online sources for a pair.
 
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How much of a gambler are you?
A 5x100mm wheel is VERY close to a 5 on 4", but it is NOT exact. There have been many that have gotten away with using them, but there are hazards (loosening lugs).
There are hundreds of cars that use 5x100 pattern. I'm sure you can find wheels in the boneyard, the question is are the tires any good.
(If your gonna buy new tires, might as wl by them for the right pattern wheels.
I might be tempted to try 5x100, and plan to stop every 25 miles for the first hundred or so, just to check the lugs.
The 5x100s are probably 100 times more common in a boneyard than 5 on 4.... if not a thousand times.
(Google cars with 5x100 wheels)
Edit: each stud would be 1/32" off-center. .031 to be exact.
 
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13” sbp wheels are getting hard to find they have been getting tossed daily and have been for years.
Use what you have just get good rubber on them and remember drivers side lug nuts are LEFT HAND threads.
Ridhty is loosie one drivers side.
Bring it home safe.
 
i'd scare up some 5x4 to 5x4.5 wheel adapters and then hit the yard and get a pair of spares off like a jeep or something.

5x4.5 opens up A LOT more wheel and tire size options and if you don't want/need the adapters and spares after the trip you could probably sell them for like 1/2 of what you paid.
 
All good suggestions and thanks for them! I had forgotten that I do have one of those harbor freight manual tire changers and a modified pallet to mount it to (for stablity … and add my weight standing on it and it ain’t going nowhere!) hiding in the garage hoard, so I will probably just order up a couple of inexpensive new 185/80-13 trailer tires ahead of time and just swap them onsite. If a portable tire inflator doesn’t have the wind to snap the bead in place, I can hit a gas station for some air … I’ll be ready for something cold by that time, anyway! I think I will wait until I can break down all the tires, sandblast/check the rims for true, and repaint them before investing in good “keeper” tires. I get the appeal of stepping up to 14” wheels … but, man! I am a sucker for those “faux” Barracuda wheel covers with the “pretend chrome lugs” on ‘em!

Yeah, waited 35 years to finally land a big glass Barracuda (life stuff got in my way: college, marriage, moving, etc. etc. with many many ‘near miss’ cars along the way), so I really don’t want to ruin it (or hurt somebody) just getting it home!
 
briansb71 said:
All good suggestions and thanks for them! I had forgotten that I do have one of those harbor freight manual tire changers and a modified pallet to mount it to (for stablity … and add my weight standing on it and it ain’t going nowhere!) hiding in the garage hoard, so I will probably just order up a couple of inexpensive new 185/80-13 trailer tires ahead of time and just swap them onsite. If a portable tire inflator doesn’t have the wind to snap the bead in place, I can hit a gas station for some air … I’ll be ready for something cold by that time, anyway! I think I will wait until I can break down all the tires, sandblast/check the rims for true, and repaint them before investing in good “keeper” tires. I get the appeal of stepping up to 14” wheels … but, man! I am a sucker for those “faux” Barracuda wheel covers with the “pretend chrome lugs” on ‘em!

Yeah, waited 35 years to finally land a big glass Barracuda (life stuff got in my way: college, marriage, moving, etc. etc. with many many ‘near miss’ cars along the way), so I really don’t want to ruin it (or hurt somebody) just getting it home!
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the tire machine is a game changer. if that's the case i'd just grab some trailer tires and armstrong it. if you don't wanna hit the gas station you could always set the bead with ether.

while not correct, 67 & 68 cudas had exposed lug wheel covers for their 14" wheels. which means you could get some 1/2 decent rubber and fit good brakes under there too.
 
Topless69 said:
Wally World sells and mounts cheap tires - you could just tow it there and roll it into a bay
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Unfortunately, towing it anywhere to replace the tires just won’t be happening! I can swing it with the HF machine, though.
A5A089C3-7149-4ED7-B32B-6042D6819C8F.jpeg
 
junkyardhero said:
the tire machine is a game changer. if that's the case i'd just grab some trailer tires and armstrong it. if you don't wanna hit the gas station you could always set the bead with ether.

while not correct, 67 & 68 cudas had exposed lug wheel covers for their 14" wheels. which means you could get some 1/2 decent rubber and fit good brakes under there too.
Click to expand...
Good to know! I will keep that in mind … especially if the 13” tire supply completely evaporates! Looks as if it might!
 
eekvonzipper said:
Probably just going to order a set of 13” trailer shoes off the “Jungle Site” (Amazon). They should get me back home and also be handy for moving the car around the garage and driveway while the work goes on. The front tires are holding air and since the front wheels ride on the tow dolly, no safety issues there. While I wouldn’t get out on the road with them, they can roll the car around alright.
Click to expand...
 
briansb71 said:
Good to know! I will keep that in mind … especially if the 13” tire supply completely evaporates! Looks as if it might!
Click to expand...
if you're looking for anything reasonable in 13" it's basically BFG 205's or a small handful of 185 all seasons in the 125-ish range; or for something that actually performs: toyo proxes, hoosiers, firestones all at 175+ a pop.

or if you really gotta have that look and want red lines, they're like 300 each.
 
Towing blast from the past.
We raced a Class 11 Baja Bug in the desert around the homeland, 2 races per year. 1200 cc and the internals better have a VW stamped on them :lol: stock 4 spd transaxle, Baja kits were good, take the windows out, required safety equipment, paint it white. Just to get it across town to the staging area, we didn't need a trailer, $49 at Auto Haus got us a tow bar. Made up a light bar to put across the nerf bar in the back and off we go. I just happened to get behind one of our competitors on the way to the tech line and see that the cute little aluminum crank pulley is spinning as he towed his car to tech :eek::lol:. Ya know Ed, you might wanna check you shifter. Luckily he didn't hurt anything that showed up in the next 400 miles of dirt racing :lol:
 

briansb71 said:
Greetings all!

Just “inked” the deal to buy a ‘64 Barracuda project car. The car will need to be towed about 200 miles home on a 2 wheel “car dolly” type trailer (driveshaft removed). Of course, dummy me didn’t think about pulling the 2 rear wheels with perfectly dry rotted tires before leaving the car yesterday after closing the deal, so rather than driving another 400 miles round trip to retrieve them, I hoping I can slap a couple decent (maybe even trailer rated) tires on some cheap “steelies” for the upcoming tow home. So, what I need to find out is what are my best common cheap, junkyard find steel wheel alternatives to replace those little 13” Valiant wheels on, hopefully, the cheap and easy? I understand the “5 on 4” bolt pattern are hard to swap? Again, the car won’t be “living with” these wheels and won’t be driven with them on the back. Just something to get it the approx 200 mile tow home without (hopefully) any safety issue?

Thanks, in advance, for your best ”low buck” suggestions!
Click to expand...
Just a heads up on changing tires on a 64 Barracuda, which I just recently did myself! Make sure to check the ends of the lug bolts, & see if the driver side lugs have an "L" on them! This will indicate that they are left handed threads which comes off by turning them the opposite direction you normally would to take them off.
If they are drum brakes & the lugs have never been replaced, like the ones on my 64 Barracuda, they're left handed on the driver's side & Right handed threads on the passenger side.
 
I thought about that and checked the prices at U Haul. For the cost of the rental, I can just about buy all four new passenger radial tires for the Barracuda. The dolly is sitting behind my garage. It’s a ‘one in the hand; two in the bush’ kind deal. I gotcha about the tires though; smarter to just get a couple radials than to save a few dimes on the trailer tires. The car will be sitting out for awhile, waiting it’s turn, so I’ll probably just pull the wheels with the new tires and store them inside, so they don’t take weather. Probably also just bit the bullet and make an extra trip to pull the rear wheels to take with me, check the oil in the diff, and check/free the rear brakes if they are stuck. The goal on moving day is to arrive, get the wheels on, get her loaded up, and make tracks for home asap. After mulling it over, another trip to the car is cheap insurance to streamline moving day! My last tow involved a trailer flat, in the dark. What should have been a easy 1 hour trip turned into a 3 hour nightmare trying to buy a tire and wheel at 10 pm. I guess after a half dozen silky smooth tow experiences over the years, I was overdue a bad one. Trying my best not to have a repeat performance with some due diligence this time!
 
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