To throw another spanner in the works I suspect (although am yet to prove it) that there were slight production variations over time, as is fairly typical of Land Rover parts. What is ideally needed is a web page or forum thread to enable people to identify ALL Land Rover rims.
Another aspect of our difficulties is that terms like "1-Ton" are bandied around without much reference to what it really means. It is quite normal to find people talking about any Land Rover with extended spring hangers as being a 1-Ton, the same applies with wheel rims, with any wider rim being described as a 1-Ton rim (or, amusingly, as a 1 Tonne rim) when there is no such thing. The parts books do indeed say that 1-Tons had 569204 rims, but we know for certain that some (many?) were built with 569203 rims. I would give Nicks "Kenny" as an example - owned initially by various garages who more then likely had nothing to do with Land Rovers and were not particularly interested in the vehicle, it was simply a tool. The state of the chassis would suggest it was maintained on a shoestring budget. It would seem inconceivable that anyone would have sought out a set of "IIB rims" (569203) to fit to it. Likewise, the fact that it was laid up with the rims still on would lend credence to the idea that nobody knew what they were or particularly cared. The last owner before Nick seemed to know a little about Land Rovers so may have known what the rims were but kept them on. As such, I'm happy enough to conclude the 569203 rims it wears now are it's original rims. The question we do not have an answer for though is why there seems to have been a variation of rims, ie, we know some 1-ton did indeed have the "correct" 569204 rims fitted and still do. Supply difficulties? Optional specification? Or Harry on the production line pulling the wrong set out of the stores? I suspect we will never know for sure. The build cards I have seen for 1-Tons actually make no reference to the type of wheels fitted.
