Getting tire'd with this truck

[TrampSteer]

I've got staggered tires on my truck. It has 16 on the back, and 15 on the front. Nice rake, works well. Now I am at the point where I need to put on new rubber.

 

 

 

I thought I had it all for $500, but now the shop is saying they neglected to note I have SKINNY rims. Measures 5 inches. All of a sudden, the prices start going through the roof.

 

I've looked at radials, period correct bias tires, radials that look like period correct bias tires, and just getting four new rims and tires and being done with it. But I find I don't have much to base a decision on besides my wallet.

 

 Running Firestone Deluxe Champion 750-16 and 640-15 around. That's ($194+$165)*2 = $718 for a straight up replacement.

 Although I don't know offset and backspacing, it looks like I have a lot of choices where I could get a set of rims for about $200 from Summit, and put on four new cheap $100 radials from Discount Tire for a total of $600 (making the bias look worth $118?)

 Or I could get those radials that look like bias ply tires, but my heart stops when I see the price for one tire, let alone four.

 

 I'm figuring you all went through this before me, and there will be no end to the mysteries I will learn from throwing this question out there. What drives your decision in such matters and where might you head with this choice?

 

As always, Thanks in advance.

Mike

Edited March 18, 2015 by TrampSteer

[Plymouthy Adams]

Mike..for the period most of the rims were neutral offset..in other words..center of the rim for the wheel mount surface.  You have 5 inch now and with that you can measure the distance from the ones you have stock to your inner and outer clearance points.  The bead would be 1/2 of the width to the rear mounting surface.  When measuring watch closely for tie rod to rubber on the front, this is usually the first killer to a set of replacement wheels.  Choosing a wheel from there will be what width you need for the tire you wish to run.  Then you will need to see by your clearances you have to work with if you need to offset the extra width inside, which is a negative offset and or positive, which will place the mounting surface closer to the outer rim.  Wheels are often marked as +/- either in inch or MM...so a positive offset of 1 inch will be +1 and or +25MM approx.  a negative offset will be expressed negative and will have a deep dish appearance while an excessive offset positive will start appearing more flush.  IF you are in the market for replacement wheels..you may have to just bite the bullet and buy then new and with the desire to have the 15's front and the 16's rear for rake...will make it even a bit tougher as the 16's were not common for normal junkyard finds of the 760/70 early 80 era before positive offset wheels became the norm.  Early Dakota wheels may meet your stagger as there were available in 14's and 15's in matching design, allow mounting of the later dog dish and a trim ring for a clean smooth look and the offset is not but a tad greater than neutral.  Again, your front steering tie rod is the determining factor for anything positive.

[pflaming]

I found that 15" car rims would not clear the disc brake calipers. I found a 55/56 dodge 1/2 ton with 15" rims and they cleared so that's what I have on. They also were wider which was another plus for me. The set of four cost me $100. I think this yard has more such rims, so let me know, I'm going there this coming Thursday, tomorrow, going to get the medallion that mates with my hood ornament.

[ruff1148kr]

I'm  with you TrampSteer  I like the way a staggered set of wheels and tires look. I think the rake is very important and nothing whatsoever makes more difference in the look of a truck than wheels and tires and how it sits (including paint). All I can say is it one of the most time consuming decisions you will make. I wish you luck but seeing that I have not been able to make a choice myself, All I can say is you made great choices thus far stick to your gut. and measure   

[Jeff Balazs]

Mike....love the thread title.

So simple....and yet so difficult Hey?. Lot of things about these truck can be that way. You wouldn't believe the gyrations I went through to keep the stock wheels on my 3/4 ton. I did do the different tire size thing on a couple of vehicles I had years ago. Looks great. But I wouldn't do it again. Lets just say I found out the hard way. Not a good idea if you put any sort of mileage on them.

If you end up getting new wheels 5.5" wide gives you plenty of tire options. Radials get my vote. Also if you ever plan to go to disc brakes you need to be very careful about wheel selection.

 

Jeff

[TrampSteer]

Thanks guys. Time for some soul-searching.

[TrampSteer]

Update: Found a set of eight inch wide 15" rims ($65) with the right 4.5x5 bolt pattern. My tire guy has a set of radials that will end up 31" tall so they will be the same as the Firestone Delux Champions I have now. If these rims actually fit well (eye-balled and quick measure only so far) I'll be in radials all around for under $600 out the door. Plus I'll still have the Firestone for spares. We'll find out if it all goes right or wrong on Monday.

[pflaming]

I put a pair of Firestone's 225 75 R15's on the front 12/20/14 @$225, mounted, balanced, et al, out the door on the truck. I have 235'S on the back, I,m very pleased with the results cuz it tracks like a train. Rear tires are 29.5 diameter.

1:45 / 2:00 am every morning. Usually have a partial cup of coffee left over from night before, so sip that down, hate to throw anything away! That gone, back to bed til the 4:00 am stint. I brew fresh coffee then. ' love the quiet early hours, keeps the taggers at bay.

[The Oil Soup]

Can't wait until you're retire'd!

[Desotodav]

I perused this thread before attempting to chase up tires here in Oz today.

I find that my options are very limited here as I have factory (1954) 4 inch x 16 inch 5 stud pattern rims, and I'm trying to avoid fitting 'light truck' tires as I want a more comfortable ride, and it is highly unlikely that I will be carrying any heavy load in the truck!

I found that my best option appears to be the Excelsior bias-ply 6.50/16 tire at $209 each + $25 per tube. My narrow rims proved an issue as most radial tires would decrease the overall diameter too much. I compared the overall diameter of the Firestone ply whitewalls which I have on the 52 truck (28 11/32 inches) with the Excelsior tire (28 1/2 inches) - I suppose that will account slightly on the speedometer for my diff ratio change from 4.1 to 3.54.

My other options were either Federal or Linlong brand light truck tires at $200 and $250 each, or a Falken brand 175/85/16 radial tire for around $300 each.

I will place an order with Antique Tyres tomorrow and hope to have the tires within a few days. I'll sneak in a set of stainless steel 'ribbed' trim rings (at $50 each) and hopefully the wife won't notice! How's that old saying go... It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission!

[55 Fargo]

Permission? Forgiveness? Really, who's really the boss. LOL

[Desotodav]

Permission? Forgiveness? Really, who's really the boss. LOL

 

Now come on Fred, we both know the answer to that one..... I wear the pants, but she tells me which ones to put on ! 

[TrampSteer]

 My narrow rims proved an issue as most radial tires would decrease the overall diameter too much.

That is the crux of the problem if you want to get on radials - same problem on either side of the pond. I'm looking at new rims because I don't want to pay $300-400 for radials on these ( I will never be on the concourse with Jay Leno). My rears are 5" and I can only find specialty radial tires for it. You can barely find radials with 5.5 wide rims and my tire guy is trying to get me to buy new steel 6" wide or greater because then he feels he can service my needs for many decades to come.

 

I appreciate your information Dave, as my adventure with junkyard rims turned out to be 1/8" (3.175mm) smaller in the center so I could not use them. I am in fact back to square one, minus 60 dollars.

[Desotodav]

I may have stumbled onto a cost effective solution today Mike. I spoke with another tire supplier who managed to track down a radial tire called a Maxis UE168 - it's a radial 6-ply 'Light truck' tire which is 175/75/16 with a '104' load rating (900 kg - 1984 lbs per tire). They suggest that it is fitted to a 5 inch minimum rim, but they will fit a tire to one of my 4 inch rims to see how it works as they find that it is also suggested that the 6.50 x 16 tire is also fitted to a 5 inch rim.

The overall diameter (OD) may be of concern though as the 175 tire is 26.93 inches OD and my 6.50 x 16 Firestone whitewalls on the 52 truck are about 28.34 inches OD, which I reckon would almost undo all of the good I did in the 53 truck by switching my 4.1 ratio diff center for a 3.54 ratio. You may be more fortunate with your 5 inch rims though if you were to go to a 205 width tire as that would increase the OD to around where it should be in comparison to a 6.50 x 16 tire.

I'm hoping that the OD figures are altered in my favor by fitting the tires to a 4 inch rim (rather than the 5 inch rim as recommended), and I suppose that I will know the answer in the next couple of days.

These tires here in Oz cost $190 each. Although they are a 'light truck' tire, they reckon that the combination of a radial tire with a low load rating and only 6-ply would make it a great suited and well-handling tire for my application. I looked at a number of other tires today but all came in at around the $400 each mark.

 

EDIT... I checked out the Maxis tires today and they have an overall diameter of almost 2 inches less than my Firestone tires fitted to the 52 truck - so I find that they are NOT suitable for what I was looking for in a tire. The search continues!!!

Edited April 24, 2015 by Desotodav

[Don Coatney]

This is what you do not want to see.

 

[TrampSteer]

So as the jury is still out on this. Found some 15 and 16 wheels at a junk yard on-line but he wants $130/$150 each. I've bought something sight unseen from internet pictures once and don't want to again. Besides, that seems like over double what they should be worth. Plus there was the $27 shipping per wheel.

 

I found some Hankook Optimo H724's (225/75r15) and Cragar 344 Smoothie Rally wheels (15x6, -6mm offset, w/o caps of trim rings) that might do. The wheel backspace is 3.75 which would make the other side 2.25 but I am assuming that backspace is the side that goes against the axle as in this drawing here.

I could be rolling with four new shoes and a spare out the door for under a grand. But that's a lot on money to possibly only come to the conclusion that it looks cheesy.

 

Honestly, this is harder that getting the frame fixed. Soul-searching indeed.

Edited August 3, 2015 by TrampSteer

[Plymouthy Adams]

This is what you do not want to see.

 

bad tire.jpg

yessir Don...down south this is common...lack of salt...goiters.....