The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Big Bolt Tire Economics?

I’ve been enjoying working on my 1954 Chevrolet 4100, and I expect my concerns are familiar to other owners. Part of the appeal was having a simple truck I could work on myself. My plan is to use it for light work around my property, rather than restore it as a show vehicle.

Hunting parts is something I really enjoy, whether online or walking through a junkyard. What has given me pause is the eventual replacement of consumable items, particularly tires.

Mine has six 7.50-20 tube-type tires on the original three-piece wheels. The tread is excellent, but there is some weather checking. I’ll admit I didn’t fully appreciate the tire situation when I bought the truck. I expected some searching, but hadn’t fully considered how replacing aged rubber could turn into a much larger expense if the original wheels couldn’t be reused.

I’ve searched through older discussions here and found useful information. However, many of the posts are years old, and some of the suppliers and resources mentioned no longer seem to be available. There are also valid wheel fabrication recommendations, but those depend on finding a qualified shop willing to take on the work, along with the cost.

I understand that practically anything can be replaced with enough money. For a truck intended for occasional light work, though, a substantial wheel-and-tire conversion changes the economics. The difficulty of finding parts doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the possibility that a routine replacement could require spending far beyond what I originally had in mind.

I’m not expecting a magic answer or complaining about a truck I chose to buy. This is simply a reality check on what it costs to keep these trucks useful today compared with five or ten years ago.

If you’ve recently replaced tires or converted wheels on a comparable truck, what route did you take, where did you find them, and roughly what was the total cost?

For those who have owned and used your Big Bolts for many years, are you finding yourselves asking similar questions about future costs and how much you’re willing to continue to invest in the truck?

ShopRag...love that name ... the answer is there really is no answer. It comes down to as you said economics. There are many ways to address this, spend the money to replace the tires (if you can find them) or spend the money on a more modern combination.

A lot of owners have swapped to newer drop center wheels using the widely available 22.5 tire. Others yet have modified wheels to work with the older bolt patterns.

For me it came down to money and how I was going to use the Truck. Thor hauled it's last ,load of grain long before I got it. I made the decision to swap to 19.5 wheels and tires. My reasoning was that I planned to drive the Truck more often and re-gearing the drive train was part of that. I changed from a 6.17 to a 4.88. The 19.5 tires are considerably shorter than the original 20's, for me that was alright.

As for the economics, I have just over $1200.00 in wheels and tires. I found a set of used wheels from a 90's Motorhome, I gave $400.00 for 6 wheels. I searched the web and found steer tires for $110.00 each, the rears came in at $600.00 for 4.

I have the means to mount and balance the tires myself, that was a huge savings as well.

This was just the route I decided to take, for many it's not what they would want. For what it worth I have put almost 1500 miles on the Truck in 3 years.

Tires are a big thing with larger vehicles. First there are 6 of them and because they are obsolete, they are expensive. If you have the 3 piece wheels, you are fortunate. They are the safest of the tube required wheels. I was in the trucking business for 62 years. I just recently auctioned off the fleet. I have never advocated people buying a 70 year old vehicle and expecting to actually work work with it. I have a couple of dozen old vehicles, but I consider them toys. As for the old bias tires, they are not prone to blowing out like radials. I recommend keeping proper air pressure and just keep running them. Just don't expect to go very fast. My school car was a 1950 GMC and my first big truck was a 1957 550 GMC with a gas V8. I made the switch to tubeless in the 1970's and to radials in the 1980's. Most of my collection is larger trucks that either have spoke or stud piloted wheels. They are easily swapped to tubeless. Here is a replica of my first truck. It is probably in better shape than my first truck ever was, but I wouldn't ever dream of actually working with it.

ShopRag, search for tire installers/dealers in your area that specialize in big trucks, call around and find one that will sell and mount used tires. I found 4 Michelin's on Craigslist for $300, then found a dealer that I bought 4 Firestone tires that came off of school bus steering. I had them blast and paint/powder the wheels and mount everything, I have about $1100 total in wheel paint, tires, mounting.