Tires and Wheels, not so simple anymore...

[Don Quixote]

I am researching new wheels and tires for Rocinante. Right now I am running bias-ply 9.5x16.5s. Needless to say, I am having quite the time these days finding tires so I intend to finally change out the rims as well.

I thought it would be easy to go with 16"s and something tall like a lt235/85r16e but I am seeing that a lot of new trucks are coming with 17" or 18" wheels.

I am trying to set myself up to not have to shell out a ton of money in the next few years finding an obscure tire size. I am there right now.

If I am running a SRW (and would like to stay that way) but I need a stiff tire for the loads I punish the old girl with, does anyone know an ideal rim/tire size to make this happen? By the way, I don't have the power steering so something narrower would be a help.

Any ideas?

[Sicklajoie]

You're never going to see 16" tires phased, not in our lifetime anyways. There's way too many trucks on the road with that wheel size.
Here's a good place to start for truck tires:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...y.jsp?type=HAS
Sounds like you need a tire with a load range E (not all brands have them, my Michelins do.)
235/85/16 and 265/75/16 are both the same height, but a 235 has about 1.5" narrower treadwidth. 265's have about 400lb more load capacity then a 235 tire.

[Don Quixote]

Right now I am running load range F and I have to confess that it might actually be overkill. I don't mind a tough tire, I just don't want a dually. I used to pull A-trains in upstate NY and maintaining 34 tires at a time left me scarred for life. Four is enough.

Thank you for the info, however. I had been wanting the 235s but they are harder to find and therefore tend to be more expensive. I did not know that the 265/75s are the same height. I may take you up on that even if I have to do more push-ups to turn it.

[Sicklajoie]

Here's the specs for different sized Michelins
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....del=LTX+M%2FS2

[CG]

I don't know what SRW is so I might be off base here. I bought 8 lug 16x8 inch steel rims from Wheel Vintiques via Summit. Pretty decent price, and there are tons of 16 inch tire sizes out there.

[cubber]

You should be able to find some steel 16x8's cheap on CL. The Michelin ltx/ms in a 265/75/16 are hard to beat. They are a little more expensive on the front end, but I have seen them last close to 80k miles.

[Prematuregrey]

If I remember correctly from my days doing tires, 265/75/16's are the same overall dimensions as 9.50 x 16.5's, with 235/85/16 being similar to 8.00 x 16.5. Both sizes are the mainstays for heavy duty light trucks like 3/4 and 1 tons with the wider ones generally used on 4x4's. Either size will probably never be phased out so supply should be good for the foreseeable future. Load range E should haul anything you will ever be able to safely put on the back of a C/K30 or less. 16" rims are a dime a dozen at any trailer shop and I think the bolt pattern is the same 8 lug as ours. I've even bolted some Kubota front 4x4 tractor wheels to stock Chevy axles for some fun at the lake once. Wish I had some photos from that day.

[Lemield]

I'm thinking SRW is Single Rear Wheel?

I'm running a LT235/85R16 on my K20 and I really like them. I like the skinny tire look.

[Don Quixote]

Lem, we seem to be on the same track. CG, Lem is right, SRW is single rear wheel and DRW is dual rear wheel. I had to read a lot of of posts to figure this out and even then I still need my kids to translate acronyms for me which is embarrassing as I am in the military and I am surrounded by acronyms.

I noticed that running 235s will put my tires just over the rated weight of my hitch which is fine and the 265s will give me plenty of wiggle room for load bounce &c. but anyone running manual steering will tell you that fat tires are no fun unless you are rather a musclehead. I could convert to power steering but that's no fun either.

I did; however, get the information I was looking for. I was leaning toward the 16" wheels but I am a little behind the power curve with the metric sizes. Now I know far better what I am looking for. Thank you all for your help.

[Sicklajoie]

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Don Quixote]

Sure will. Now that I know about my next tires, I still need to find wheels. I really like my Outlaw IIs but the wife doesn't like them. She seems to like the spoke types, I'm fine with that, now... steelies or alloys?

[Sicklajoie]

When I first got my 69'er, it had Alcoas on 235/85/16s. I went to F*rd steelies and 265/75/16s.

[Don Quixote]

That is a beautiful truck! It is nice to see one so well taken care of up north. Rocinante is a NH truck and still has a few typical NH problems (floors and rockers).

Funny you post the before and afters. I liked the bottom picture and the wife liked the top pic. I used to run wider tires but I found it steered a lot better with the narrows, well, either way, I win!

You don't by chance have the old wheels still, do you?

[Sicklajoie]

Sorry, I sold them to a guy about 40 miles from me.

[Don Quixote]

They look pretty amazing on his truck too, I must say.

[Sicklajoie]

They were really nice rims, I just like steel wheels way better.

[Don Quixote]

I had steelies that I was quite happy with but then they were 16.5s. Originally, many moons ago, according to the order form, she had 16" tube type (8.75x16). Somewhere along the way, he started using 8.75x16.5 (tubeless). It was me that went to the 9.5s. I was quite content with what I had but I suppose it's time to catch up to the times a bit. I figured an upgrade to the '80s is all anyone's getting. I have spoken. :P