lutter5-0

Oh shoot, I missed the heritage part. Just went of the 04-08 section. Gonna have the best bet sticking with an OEM bolt pattern, i.e. 5 or 6 (04+).

gmb13

Simple solution, Just get the drill out and drill one more hole!!!

dualfuel

nfldfordman, you have floored me with all that information.

If they made F150’s up until 2014 with 7 lug nut wheels, maybe there is a light
aluminum wheel out there already. Ford may even have some.?

nfldfordman

The "regular" 2004 and up trucks have 6 lugs, so about 98% of F-150s. The 7 lug heavy duty package accounts for the other 1 or 2 percent, so you're right, the 7 lugs are rather rare. All new style 2004 and newer trucks that don't have the HD package have 6 lugs, so that's not rare at all.

You have a heritage 04, so your truck might as well be an 03 for all intensive purposes. Ford made 2 different generations of f-150 in 2004, most were the new style truck, the heritages were the same generation as the 1997-2003 trucks. Leftovers, if you will. Can certainly be confusing when looking for parts, if you're not used to it.

The 1997-2003 (and 04 heritage) trucks (without the rare HD package like you have) had 5 lugs.

As to 8 lugs, no F-150 came with 8 lugs, so that's a no-go. The only way to do that would be to swap complete front and rear axles from an F-250 or F-350, and that's gonna take a ton of custom fabrication work.

nfldfordman

sorry haha, just trying to help out and clear up some of the confusion.

Ford made aluminum wheels for the newer 7 lug trucks, however I'm not sure they will work on your truck due to some differences in the design and size. (The newer trucks cannot accept 16" wheels as the brakes are too big, they all have at least 17" wheels, and they tend to be wider).

I'm not sure what may be out there in the way of aftermarket wheels. Theread aren't many choices for the 7 lug, as you said. Definitely see where you're coming from on the wheel selection issue.

Heavy_Metal

I thought i read here that someone had some blanks drilled to fit the 7 lug. Maybe in the wheel/ tire subforum...

dualfuel

nfldfordman, I will never know how you got all that info stored away in your head, thank you.
okay, I think a 17” inch wheel will be a good way to go, if I have to change the brake calipers and the hardware
I will be lucky to get away with that.

nfldfordman

You might be right, now that you mention it......



you wouldn't even have to do that, your truck will have no issue with accepting a 17" wheel, since it's bigger than the 16" the truck came with. Just couldn't put the 16" on the newer trucks, since the brakes are too big. The other way around is no issue.

The only other thing is, especially with shopping for aftermarket wheels, you gotta take into account the back spacing and wheel offset. Offset is how far from the center of the wheel, that it mounts to the truck......I attached a picture below that might help you if you're not familiar with it if it's not roughly the same as the factory wheels, one has to be careful about making sure it will fit.

Also, a random picture from Google of an 09-14 7 lug F-150, showing the aluminum wheels offered on those. they'll be hard to find used, due to the rarity of the 7 lug, so you'd probably have to pay good money for new ones from ford. I'm still not sure if they'll fit the 04 heritage, I thought I read something online about it, but I can't seem to find it now........someone else might know.

If you have a good truck accessory store close to you, I'd suggest stopping in and seeing what they can find for you in the way of custom wheels. Choices are limited of course, but they should be able to help you if anything's out there

Mulestang

Like dualfuel says, go try a custom wheel shop. My friend went through this after he "accidentally" bought a HD 7-lug for his daughter. After weighing the time and expense of going to more common lugs, he decided custom wheels were a better choice for him. I believe he ordered the wheels from Discount Tire.

dualfuel

The diagram of the back spacing is excellent, it clear and self-explanatory even a dummy like me gets it.
the picture of the aluminum wheels looks cool too. There is hope for this truck yet.
Just before I call up a custom wheel store, (and we have em). The rear axle needs to be limited slip, it is not at present. It is a 10.2 will I be able to make this into a limited slip, or are parts for this diff rare too.
Mulestang,I kind of bought this truck by accident too, I was looking at everything else except the wheel lugs, just thought it had eight, never thought to count them.