Tires

Hey
Just about ready to buy some tires for my truck 1951 l120. Going to use the original split rims and hup caps. I'm looking for some wide white walls to put on it. Was wondering where you guys got your tires from ? And size?

Coker Tire has what you may need .

http://www.cokertire.com/

That's what I was looking at. I don't know what size I would need. If I remember right there 16" rims.

I would go with either 7.00 X 16's or 7.50 X 16. With my preference being the 7.50 X 16. Besides Coker Tire there is also Lucas Tire and M.E. Miller Tire. MM

I just bought 4" white walls, 650 x 16 made by Lester from universal vintage tire. They were very reasonably priced and look great on the truck.

So what is the converted tires size for 7-16 bias tires? Is is like a 205-85R16?
Since radial tires give a nicer ride and longer tread life they seem like a better choice...but I would think
a bias tire is easier for stop or slow turning since tire rides high for those of us with out power steering.

Does everyone with out power steering buy bias tires? Share you opinions of either that you have tried on your international.

I need to buy a new set of tires as well. I plan to drive the truck regularly and not trailer to truck shows.

I replaced my bias-ply with radials that look like bias ply (blackwalls) but they had to make adjustments (invoice said adjusted steering drag link and steering box) when they did it. Handling was a bit "shaky" until they did (the mechanical restorers said they forgot to do it when I commented about it after they shakedown trip I took it on). I wanted the original look but the better mileage. The effect on steering etc is not noticeable at all now, and yes it is manual. I pretty certain they were Coker bias replicas, but invoice just gives size/price, not the source. I have to say I'm happy with the new tires but I am comparing them to 50 year old previous tires. After they made the mentioned adjustment, the truck drives just like it did pre-restoration. For a 1954 heavy duty 3/4 ton, I'm happy to be getting an average of 14mpg, slightly better than pre-restoration (around 12mpg).

To some it may not matter, but the tire diameter will affect the accuracy of your speedometer. And that will in turn affect the accuracy of the gas mileage calculations. Larger diameter rear tire without recalibrating the speedo will make the speedo a little slower and the odometer will also record less miles - albeit not a huge difference, but inaccurate none the less. But it does add up. (The old pennys make dollars principle.) The fewer miles recorded divided by the gallons added will seem like the mileage went down. So what ever tire size you end up with, getting the speedo calibrated will result in the true gas mileage you're getting.
My L110 had 6.50x16" originally. Charts from TireRack.com indicated that was 29" dia. (Measurements confirmed it.) Their charts are very informative for cross referencing all of the old sizes, P-Metric, bias ply, etc.

tire size will change speedo reading for sure, but EZ fix, after you put on the tires, drive with a GPS that reads MPH, or get someone to pace you,

figure the difference, then you can buy a reducer/increase adapter from a vendor on ePay, or other places,

they have a real fancy pants formula to figure it out mathematically but GPS made that unnecessary.

my 1947 Ferd one ton panel read 100mph when I was doing 60, it was easy math, got a 40% reducer, then speedo was spot on.

I have 8-17.5 load range D tires on 17.5 tubeless wheels on my 51 L-120 Panel truck. tires are about 1/4 '' shorter then the original 16'' split ring tube tires.