And...a few months ago I ended up with a flat tire on the freeway in Portland. It was on the front tandem (thankfully!) but it happened in an instant. I heard the inner tube let go and felt the truck start shaking over just a few seconds. By the time I managed to get pulled over on the shoulder of the road, the sidewall was already damaged. I didn't have my spare with me, so I had to leave the deuce there and bribe a friend to drive my Dodge 150 miles round trip to help me change the tire. It was an experience I would prefer not to duplicate!
While I have heard of, spoken to, and seen quite a number of people successfully running the 395's on the stock split rims, I do suspect that it was a contributing factor to my inner tube failure. It has me wondering if the other tubes are in rough shape. The thought of this has kept me from driving the deuce more than a few miles from my house for the last few months. So, I spent some time doing some web mining for info on 6 lug 20" wheels. There are really a lot of options out there, but I believe that the best bang for the buck (currently) are the MRAP wheels with a custom set of adapter plates. No cutting, grinding, or welding is necessary (though I can do this kind of work, I prefer to avoid it on wheels). I have a set of 6 wheels coming from Oshkosh Equipment, a set of 6 adapter plates coming from peashooter, a box of grade 8 bolts and locknuts coming from Cascade Nut and Bolt, and some valve stem parts coming from ebay for my "air adjustment" rig. I hope to have the parts here by next weekend; I will shoot some pics of the new setup!