The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun 1955 Gen 2 3800 - radial tire swap

I have 17 - 7.5 rims with tubed tires. I want to change the tires out to a 215 or 225 65 17 radial tire with tubes.
Anyone have experience with this?
I’ve seen guys at shows and on other sites that say it’s no problem. But wanted a few other thoughts…

I think maybe the first question to ask/answer before going further is are you looking to lower the stance or tire profile with the 65 series radials? The typical tire diameter for the original 17x7.50 tires is around 30 inches. A 215 65R17 from many vendors specs out at about 28 inches.

That's going to affect not only the appearance/stance of your truck, but performance and gas mileage and even may change steering effort to an extent.

FYI - The original 1955.2 series 3800 optional wheels for 17x7.50 tires are 17" x 5.0". Most of the current radial tire offerings I see indicate a minimum wheel width of 6.0" to meet tire manufacturer safety specs.

Rammer,
I have tubed radials on my 53, 3408. The biggest hurdle is wheel balancing. With the snap ring rims, there is no place for the weights to be hammer on. you need to use the stick-on type. I then epoxied them to keep them from falling off. Trust me, you'll never get a perfect balance but it's better than not even having them balanced. The second issue is the lower tire pressure. It does make it harder to steer at low speed. I feel that the radials track better and with the lower pressure, rides a little smoother, if that is such a thing, on a 1-ton! My tires came from Cooker tire. Only because of the diameter issues. I did see someone with a true radial rim on his but I'm not sure as to what they came off of.
Hope this helps!
Jim

I don’t mind if it’s a little lower stance. My goal was to move away from the bias tires due to cost and how hard they ride. I wanted softer ride with the radials and more options.
So due to rim width, you don’t think a radial would work?

Jim what did you do for radial tires… seems to be a concern due to rim width of 5”?

Rammer,

Coker tire, Excelsior Stahl sport radial. It takes a 5” to 6” rim width. Not a cheap tire by any stretch!

If you can find a 75 series 17" radial tire, the narrower rim width won't hurt anything. I ran 205-70R15 tires on the original 4.5" pizza cutters that came on my old car, despite minimum rim width being suggested as 6". Not only did it work fine, but wow those modern tires sure woke up that handling!!

As for balancing, I have had great luck with balance beads. I get them from the local NAPA, they have a chart that determines the amount required for a certain tire size. I have used these for years on OTR Trucks, they work well.

They can be added to tube type Tires through the valve stem.