The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Tire Size Confusion: 1955 Chevy 2nd Series 3600

My 1955 Chevy Second Series 3600 has, and always has had, 7.00x15 tires. Last night while looking through the Shop Manual, at the back it lists tires and inflation, but does not list that tire size. The smallest is 6.70x15. What should I have? Can I put the 6.70x15 on my current rims? Thanks,Scott

I went to chevy.oldcarmaunualproject.com and looked up the inflation charts and weight charts. The 3600 tuck had 15-6 and 15-8 tires listed. The 3100's used the 6.70-15 though. I'm guessing that the 7.00-15 were installed out of convenience more than anything else. I'm in the same boat with my 54 3600. It came with 7.00-15's also. I've upgraded to modern 16" rims on mine though. I'm still debating on whether or not to go with Bias or Radial tires.

The tires for the 3/4 ton aren't listed by size other than rim size. The "15-6" and "15-8" designations are actually rim diameter and ply rating.
BTW, if you're considering radials, make sure to get the tube type if you plant to keep the 2 peice wheels. If you want to go tubeless, consider swapping to a single peice wheel.

The 15-6 and 15-8 confused me, when everything else was listed in tire size. Thanks for clearing that up for me too.

I realize this was started by me years ago, but is there a Radial replacement for the 7.00-15 tires? I'd be keeping the split rims. I'm not really liking the idea of radials, but can't seem to find a set of Bias-Ply that are reasonable.

Example 7.00-17 or 700-17 means the rim is 17 inch under the lip
The diameter of the hole in the tire rubber is 17 inches
The 7.00 or 700 means the wall of the tire is 7 inches
With these numbers you now know the diameter of the tire
The plies is also in the tire spec and listed on the rubber
8 ply is a common work tire good for 2500-3000 lbs per tire with appropriate pressure
I’ve also seen 10 ply
And sometimes modern tires list “ply equivalent”
Because the tires aren’t made the same anymore internally but they want you to know easily what to compare it to in the old books

I usually stick to max load specification anyway and ignore the ply or equivalent ply numbers

For my 1 ton I made sure to get a load rating over 3000 lbs as I fill that thing up till the auxiliary springs are nearly bottomed out sometimes

Check out Sampson brand tires if you want actual tube type non radial for split rims and actual work load rated capacities

In 2011 I bought 2 new 7.00-15 Load Range D (8 ply rating) nylon cord bias ply tires from a local tire shop. The were Power King brand. I don’t know where you can buy them or if they are still available.

I have found those on-line and I'd rather buy those. I most likely will thanks to the stimulus check. I was hoping there might be a used, cheaper Radial option on facebook. Now, can I get away with a narrower tire on that rim? Perhaps a 6.70-15? Maybe a 6.50-15?

I was under the impression that tubes cannot be used with radials.

John

Close, you can't use bias tire tubes. Gotta be radial tubes.

RonR

My Suburban has 16" Cooper radial truck tires with tubes and little red-plastic stem protectors to prevent/lessen "chafing" against the slightly rusted tube holes in the rims.

I have only put about 1,000 miles a year on them since around 2004.

It needed new "shoes" for its 50th birthday party.