I have a chance to get a set of H1 rims that have almost brand new tires. One set of rims is the 12 bolt and the other is 20. Is one better than the other?

 

In my world thats the 900 series rim and the 1000 series, the 1000 series(20 bolt) is alot stronger than the old 12's, although alot bigger PITA to split the rim and change a tire, any cost difference?

 

Are you talking about the Military wheels? If so there have been 8 bolts, 12 bolts and 24 bolts. We joke and say if there were a 1 bolt we would run them. Everyone always things more is better. This is not the case. They are "stronger" but when is the last time you have had anyone tell you an H1 wheel didn't hold together? I've sold over 10,000 of them and my answer would be never. We knock half the studs out of our 24 bolt wheels and run them as 12's. They are still all kinds of strong. It shaves a little weight and they go together 2x faster. You can look at the front of my website and that guy (the youtube video) gets 20' of air every time he goes out and he runs 12 bolt wheels. For anything your or I would do with an H1 and 8 bolt wheel would be strong enough. I can show you anythng you might ever need to see on this subject. Please feel free to PM me if you have any quetions you do not want to go public. I've never been scared to ask questions and I like it when others are not too.

If I am off key and there is a 20 bolt wheel that come stock on the civilion H1's I'd love to learn about those too. I can tell you anything you would need to know about the 16.5's. The 17's I know nothing about.

 

I have a few sets of 24 bolt H1 rims. I bought them from a surplus dealer with brand new military tires mounted on them. Around here the rims themselves go for $25 each. The 24 bolt wheels are stronger. I'd be more concerned with the tires on the wheels your buying. (That's if your buying them to use the tires) There's a few different brand tires the military used on H1's. I have 2 sets of Goodyear and a set of "D" load range Bf Goodrich. They also have "E" load range Bfg's that are prone to weather checking with no miles on the tires.

 

I have a few sets of 24 bolt H1 rims. I bought them from a surplus dealer with brand new military tires mounted on them. Around here the rims themselves go for $25 each. The 24 bolt wheels are stronger. Thanks..

 

When I get to my computer I will do an write up with pictures of exactly what options are out there and changes that have been made throughout the years.

 

Seems like there is an echo in here

 

^
Don't be a dick. It's Christmas and there are a lot of people at our home this week.

Lets start with the start of the H1 wheel.

The first wheel was the 8 bolt.

This wheel had 8 bolts to hold both the outer ring and the back half of the wheel together. I will start to cover "which is better". It all comes down to who you ask and what their reasons are. We like the 8 bolts. For many reasons. #1. It's the lightest of the 3 wheels. It came stock with a mag runflat and a 36" bias ply Goodyear tire. This tire did great in the mud but was not known to hold up well on the highway as it had a high crown to it (higher in the middle than on the outside). This tire gave the feel of your front end being light as the footprint until either aired down or on a very heavy vehicle was narrow. 36" tall. 12.5" wide and for the 16.5 ring was the 8 bolt wheel.

 

This is the back half of an 8 bolt wheel. The nice thing about the 8 bolts is the fact that your WMS or wheel mounting surface is on the shell (the back half) where the ring is just that the outer ring.



The silver part is the outer ring to an 8 bolt wheel.


Showing the two picture together after paint just so you see the ring and the back half as the other 2 style of wheels are not made/put together the same.


This is a mag runflat. They have 4 bolts that hold them together. These were use with the 36" bias tires and are a pain in the @ss to use on the 37" tires as the bias tires had a thinner bead.

 

Next is a 12 bolt wheel. These came with a one and 2 pc rubber runflat. This wheel has the WMS wheel mounting surface on the outer part of the wheel and the back half of the wheel has the studs. As a guy that is a wheel builder I like the design of the 8 bolt wheels better and I will show you a few reasons why here in a second. 12 bolt wheels had 37" Goodyear MT's that are a radial tire. 37" tall, 12.5" wide and for the 16.5 wheel.

(pictured is a MTR not an MT)