The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 9.00 X 20 military tires

Will the stock rims on a two ton chevy accept the 9.00 X 20.00 military tire? Will there be a problem with the dual wheels?

Thanks,

Pappy

What is your rim width?
What is your dual spacing now?

What are the recommended rim widths for the tires you want (find out from the tire manufacturer)?
What is the minimum dual spacing for those tires?

Make your comparisons and decide.

For a guide and general info check the Accuride wheel catalog, they have a couple pages on this stuff.
A link to the catalog can be found in this tech tip
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/wheels/

Grigg

Sorry, I should have been more specific, I have a 54 chevy standard cab two ton (6400) I was not aware that there was more than one wheel size on these trucks. I'll have to check my truck tomorrow as it is at a friends.

Thanks,

Patrick

Military tread ? them biasply NDT's ? . . .

Some of them 9.00's are only 6ply I would be checking the ply ratings to make sure they are the heavier set . . .

They wear out fast and fail often just a heads up.

they'll fit on 20"x 5.5"-7.50" wheel's

Mike

Just out of curiosity, why do military tires have that tread design? It would seem traction tires would work better for drive tires instead of the military tread design.

They will work on the back with the proper width wheel on the front they're going to rub on a tight turn. They do pretty good on dirt but don't preform well on pavement.

they are non directional, so you can't tell which direction they went.....

I never thought of that I always thought that they used such a terrible tread design so that the troops wouldn't steel them LOL

LOL that too . . . but most importantly ? they were CHEAPIEST . . .

lowest bidder gets the contract . . .

Mike

I agree, buy 8 ply if you can find them. Denman Tire still makes them. Cocker tire has 12ply and Universal tire stocks 900-20 in round shoulder only 8ply. The 900-20 may of been a post war size as you can only find it with round shoulder. If you look at footage and photos from early WW2 the half-tracks and Trucks used a tread design that looked like a large v-tread almost like a Farm style tire. One of the reasons they started using the traditional NDT is because of the Rubber shortage. The NDT tires used a lot of vinyl and synthetic materials. They stated using synthetic rubber during the war and the Military style NDT used very little real rubber compared to previous tires. That is why they wear out so fast because the tread isn't very deep to begin with. The other poster is correct about the lowest bidder, however it's for the design not production cost. Over the years every major tire company has made these tires, Firestone, Kelly, Cooper, Goodyear, and so forth. About six months ago I saw a tire dealer liquidating an entire building of old tires in Union MO. I saw a hundreds, and I mean hundreds of Military tires being loaded onto a Trailer. Every size possible. I was told they were 20 to 50 years old!! I believe they all went to Independence MO and then to Mexico. Here are some links.

http://www.universaltire.com/truck-and-military/military/900-20-sta-military-ndcc.html

http://store.cokertire.com/900-20-ndt-military-12ply.html

"Just out of curiosity, why do military tires have that tread design? It would seem traction tires would work better for drive tires instead of the military tread design."

Well that is interesting. I have always thought it had nothing to do with that but so they could be used in any position w/o regard to direction. Interesting.

You'll notice that the military no longer uses the old NDT tread design (at least I don't think so).
Now they seem to use a lot of Michelin X(something) tires with pretty aggressive block tread designs.

Grigg

I had NDT's on my Army Land-Rover. They do drift around a bit, and don't like to go more than 50 mph. They do however, do quite well off road, and in deep sand and mud. Before that it still had the Nato tires, the Michelin X, with steel belted sidewall. What a pain in the [censored] those were to mount! The newer tires wear better, and are stronger, but they don't look as cool, and don't make as much awesome tire noise! I loved those NDT tires.

The U.S. style NDT tire was very close to the German "M" tread. I'm not saying we copied it, but they do look a lot alike and the Huns had them first. In regards to another reply, They needed a tread design that would appear the same forward or reverse as not to give away the direction of travel. When I joined the Army in 89 we still had M151a2 Jeeps and M35's with the NDT's. They weren't worth a crap in bad weather like snow or ice. The post war tires had a round shoulder and the war time tire were square shoulders. The round tires would "float" really bad at high speeds. I'm surprised we used them as long as we did. The humvees use Goodyear wranglers 16.5 inch with combat wheels.

I never heard a word about direct of travel and I doubt it would take much of a scout to determine the direction of any army with the crap they leave behind. Granted I was not a truck driver in the Army so I don't know what they were told.

The Term Military NDT stands for Non-Directional-Tread

It would not be difficult to determine which direction a vehicle is traveling. Because the front axle turns the front and rear wheels do not travel in the same path on a corner. Combined with fact that the dual rear track would always run over the front single tire track. The "Non-Directional" would have to refer to the rotation of the tire. Tractor tires for example are directional.

That's what I thought the idea was.
Then a spare tire fits any location on the truck without dismounting it from the rim and remounting it.

Grigg

I've known what the term represented for nearly 50 years since I was in the Army but I still believe the pattern was developed as one that could be used in any position, i.e. steering axle, drive axle, inside, outside, or trailer. Curbside or roadside alone of course would change the rotation. A true all position tire which is almost manditory for a tactical military vehicle. I maintain it has more to do with that and less to do with rotation for security purposes which IMO is nonsense. Military acronyms cannot be taken at face value as they are often the product of some dubious thinking. I doubt we'll settle it here however. They worked and that is all that matters.

Here's a good place to talk about such things: http://www.steelsoldiers.com

I spent most of my time there (and still spend some) prior to buying our '54. Military vehicles are an awesome hobby and share a lot in common (from a restoration standpoint) with our stovebolts.

As far as the topic at hand, I don't know why they couldn't serve both purposes (versatility and security). I'm sure tread-marks were not a keystone in the security strategy of the armed forces, but every little bit helps. Imagine some enemy scouting party coming across a single set of tracks traveling in a straight line. They probably wouldn't have the time or inclination to follow these tracks forever to find a turn or other evidence so, any confusion you can cause might save someone's life.

I have a 1946 1.5 ton with 4 new 750-20 off road tread on the rear. I'm considering putting NDT's on the front just because they look cool!