Boss 338's center cap issue.

[Badass69]

Hey guys,

I have a set of 338's on my 96 C1500. The truck is sitting with a 2/4 static drop. The 20X10 in the rear is fine but my 20X8.5's up front are the problem. When I got them I had to stick a 1/4" hub spacer in to make the center cap fit over the bearing cover. Pretty common issue....... but now when my suspension hits close to full travel like over a big bump on a highway, my front tires are hitting the inner lip on my front fenders. Hitting and cutting pretty badly on the passenger side but not as much on the drivers side. If I dump the spacers that pretty well alleviates the issue. Has anyone come across a solution for the center cap problem? I know I can roll the fender lip but I am keeping my stock stainless fender trim on the truck and want to stay that way..... so rolling won't really work. Any other ideas, or do I need to dump the rims and start over........

[Low97tahoE]

rolling the fenders are your only option honestly, you could cut the fender trim, roll your fender, and then stick the trim back on with some double sided tape (like whats used on the molding), or glue it back on....or u can get skinnier tires

[Badass69]

Well, I am not going to do that just yet. The truck shouldn't need the fenders rolled and doesn't if I can just dump the spacers. The passenger side may need some trimming but the drivers will clear no problem. It's Boss's cheap center design that is the problem...... I am going to contact the outfit I bought the rims from and go from there. Any normal rim with the same offset as these that would bolt up to the truck without the need for spacers would fit just fine. Oh well.

[XLR8N]

I read in Low88's build thread I think that it was a problem with the design of the wheel and they corrected the issue. Maybe I am way out in left field. It is one of the last few pages.

[Badass69]

Okay I will look into it. I just bought these rims in April of this year and the supplier had to factory order them, so I am assuming I have the newest revision. But who knows.

[Low97tahoE]

ive seen a thread where a guy didnt use spacers, he hammered on the dust cap and flattened it to make the center cap fit

[Badass69]

ive seen a thread where a guy didnt use spacers, he hammered on the dust cap and flattened it to make the center cap fit

I thought about doing that too and tried actually on initial install. Still no go. I am going to pull the dust cap off at try and see if the center cap fits or not just as a test. The hole in the rim is pretty well filled up by the brake rotor so I am unsure if it's just the dust cap that is the issue or the hub itself.

I checked Low88's thread and he has the identical front rim I do ( 338B 20X8.5") and he did not need spacers. The rims have to have changed. I placed my order on April 13th and got the rims right at the beginning of May.

[XLR8N]

I know he got his this month I believe, maybe late may.

[Badass69]

Okay. I just PM'd Low88 to see when he got his for sure. I will contact KxWheels( the outfit I bought them from) as well as Boss if KX does nothing. Maybe there was a change. That would great if there was. Thanks guys

[XLR8N]

[TMooreGraphics]

I wanted the 18" Boss 338's really bad for my truck but just settled for some 15" Torq-Thrust D's all because of this very reason.

I've written Boss wheels and here's what i found out...the 20" wheels have been newly re-tooled to properly work now...however the 18's won't be re-tooled until "possibly" next year some time. Boss recommended the use of a spacer to alleviate the problem and I know of numerous people who had this issue too. One person (slammed95) hammered the dust cap and shaved the prongs on the cap back some in order to make it fit. Then I think he filled the gaps with gray silicone.

I had my eyes on those 18" Boss 338's for some time now but just didn't want to jack around with the cap and then settle for a not-so-perfect fit. I couldn't justify the cost of the newly re-tooled 20" 338's so I opted for the 15" American Racing Torq-Thrust D's to still get my vintage feel...really vintage considering I'll be rolling on 15's. hehe.

Sorry Boss...really wanted those wheels bad...if only they were tooled to fit properly, you'd have had my money for sure because they're bad-ass rims!!

[Sydwayz]

I am running Boss 338 in 18x8 on all four corners. This is a very common problem. Boss Motorsports has stated they are/were going to redo the wheel design to alleviate, but it's never happened. Lots of griping and info on this thread/forum on this issue:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...352320&page=12

1) You want to run DJM spindles and not Bell Tech. Bell Tech Spindles stick out at least 1/4" farther than the DJM. I switched from BT to DJM for this reason.
2) I had my rotors milled down to remove the lip the dust cap grips into. I am not running a dust cap.
3) I had my inner/upper fenders cut down by a body shop.

I can install either the pop in center cap or the knock-offs which have a significant size inner portion. I also ground these down a bit to their minimum.

You can just clip/grind off all of the mounting tabs from the pop in center cap and epoxy them on. I'd buy some extra dust caps just in case.



http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/n...comm500/Tahoe/

[Badass69]

So DJM spindles set the rims in 1/4" further...... Hmm. I may look into those as of course I have Belltechs on the truck right now. That would help me out. I know you are replying about the 18" rim but I want to see of they fixed the 20" one yet. I mean if Low88 can fit them with no mods and no spacers so should I. If I gained overall 1/2" set inward I would never touch my finder lips with my tire combo.

I am actually a member on the 67-72 board and have been following that for a while too. I at least don't have the issues with the brake rotors like those guys do though.

[Sydwayz]

You could also have some of the mounting pad of the wheel milled off as well. This would bring your wheels further in, but would only create more problems with the center cap. I would not recommend this if you plan to tow anything though.

[TMooreGraphics]

I know you are replying about the 18" rim but I want to see of they fixed the 20" one yet.

Yes...the 20" Boss 338's have been re-tooled to fit properly now according to Boss. The 18's however have not.

I would guess though that there are a number of the 'older' ones on shelves out there, so anyone buying these will likely need to ask to be sure they get the "NEW" ones.

[Low97tahoE]

yeh, my brother is a member on here, his name is 1997yukon, he just got Boss 338's about a month ago, and he needed the 1/4" spacers for the center cap to fit

[slammed95]

i have boss 338's, and i had the exact same problems, i just peened out the dust capas much as i could and then ground down the teeth on the boss cap till they fit, theres not much of the teeth so i silver siliconed them on and you cant even tell at all, the fenders i rolled, i kno thats not an option for you, but thats what i did, its dropped 2/4 now but im doin a 5/7 in a couple of weeks, heres some pics

[Badass69]

Yeah..... no word from anyone today. I just don't understand the idea of making a rim in a certain lug pattern where they know that probably 80% or more of the sales will be a certain application ( 5X5 is not that common beyond GM, especially trucks) and then not be bothered to make it actually fit properly. That's why I was happy when I read that they had revised the rims and then ordered a set. Oh well whatever. If it comes down to it I will Kijiji the things and run something else.

[Low88]

those wheel caps on the truck pictured above are totally different than mine.... Mine are big bubbles compared to that. I have a hunch they revised the dust cap and not the rim. I can look into that for you... my friend is a tire guy who ordered these for me

[XLR8N]

those wheel caps on the truck pictured above are totally different than mine.... Mine are big bubbles compared to that. I have a hunch they revised the dust cap and not the rim. I can look into that for you... my friend is a tire guy who ordered these for me

You made me curious and I called American Eagle directly.


** They revised the wheel and the center cap. **

They made the bore a little larger and had to make a new center cap to fit the bigger bore. They way the suggest to fix the problem is use a 1/4" spacer.