The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Tire Size Conversion

I need a couple new tires on the front of my '63 C10. The old ones are 7.50 16 LT. what would be a modern radial replacement size?

On older Land Rovers (on the LWB/110 vehicles and many "off-roaders"), you'll often find tyres with a size like 750x16. This is another weird notation which defies logic. In this case, the 750 refers to a decimalised notation of an inch measurement. 750 = 7.50 inches, referring to the "normal inflated width" of the tyre - i.e. the external maximum width of the inflated, unladen tyre. (This is helpfully also not necessarily the width of the tread itself). The 16 still means 16 inch rims. Weird eh? The next question if you came to this page looking for info on Land Rover tyres will be "What size tyre is that the equivalent of in modern notation?". Simple. It has no aspect ratio and the original tyres would likely be cross-ply, so from what you've learned a couple of paragraphs above, assume 100% aspect ratio. Convert 7.5inches to be 190mm. That gives you a 190/100 R16 tyre. (You could use the calculator in the section on Classic / vintage / imperial crossply tyre sizes above to get the same result.)
Generally speaking, the Land Rover folks reckon a 265/65R16 is a good replacement for the "750", although the tread is slightly wider and might give some fouling problems on full lock. It's also 5% smaller in rolling radius so your speed will over-read by about 4mph at 70mph. If you can't fit those, then the other size that is recommended by Landrover anoraks is 235/85R16.
On Discoveries, Range Rovers, or the SWB Defenders/Series land rovers you'll find "205" tyres, denoting 205mm x 16 inches. The 205 type tyres can generally be replaced with 235/70R16 or 225/75R16. The 235 is a wider tyre and the general consensus in Land Rover circles is that it holds the road better when being pushed.
If you're really into this stuff, you ought to read Tom Sheppard's Off Roader Driving (ISBN 0953232425). It's a Land Rover publication first published in 1993 as "The Land Rover Experience". It's been steadily revised and you can now get the current edition from Amazon.

Read more: http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html#sizes#ixzz0iA7IxB2z

Article I found for you.

Thanks for the info and article. Wow! It's more complicated than I thought. I'll let you know what I come up with.

I'm leaving my rear tires as-is. They are the same size (7.50 - 16) but are snow tires that are in good shape and I will run them year-round (I'm on a LOW budget).

I want to make sure that I don't end up with larger tires in the front. Same size or slightly smaller is what I am after.

I guess the guys at the tire shop should be able to figure it out???

You seem to have a handle on this and I need to replace the tires on my '61. Now they have larger tires in the back smaller in the front? Don't want to carry 2 spares! So can I put the 31/10.5 on the front as well? That is what's currently on the back.Seems to be plenty of space in the wheel well?

Be careful with the bias ply and radial mix. It's not recommended to mix tire construction.

Try mounting your rears up front.

they are on and fine on the rear.It's the front I'm concerned with?

I understand, if you take your rim and tires from the rears and switch them with your front rims and tires , then go for a drive, you'll see if the taller and wider tires will fit or if they'll rub.

215/75/16 is about the closest modern radial that you'll find to a 7.50-16. it will be a bit wider, but not much. If you're only going to get 2 tires, the radials must go on the rear, per DOT reglations as well as tire manufacturer suggestion. best bet it to wait until you have the scratch to do all 4 at the same time.
RAK, 31x10.50s should work fine on the front of your truck. I've put 32x11.50s on the front of a similar truck with no rubbing.

Thanks new set put on today no problems at all, runs and looks great. Thanks for all the help....31x10.50 all the way around.