The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 56 truck 3200 looking for tires what to do?

My truck is pretty original and has 20 yr old bias ply tires on it. "Armstrong" brand 7.00-15 LT's
Should I clean up the old wheels, paint them and get new bias ply's and hubcaps or upgrade to radials? What size radials will work and not hit the tie rods when turning?
Anyone been down this road yet?

215/75/15 is the closest radial equivalent to the standard 6.70-15 bias tire, 225/75/15 would be pretty close to the 7.00-15s you're running now, but would be pushing the limits of the stock width wheels and are getting difficult to get in an LT rating (really, anything under a 235/75/15 is hard to get in LT). If you're not concerned with an OEM appearance, wider wheels from a '73-'87 GM 4x4 in 15x7 or 15x8 will fit just fine, and will open up for larger tire sizes. I'm running 15x8s on mine, with a 30x9.50x15 C load tire. No rubbing at all.

Well I kinda like the stock look or maybe a smoothie wheel with wide white. I really just need to get new rubber on it before one of these bias ply tires [censored] the bed while I'm going to work or something.

Gotcha. Unless you're planning to haul some heavy loads, the P rated 4 play tires will be fine. I personally prefer radials, due to the better handling, ride, and longer tire life, but there's nothing wrong with using bias ply, especialy if you're going for a period look.

That's the catch 22 Bill. I like the look but don't like the ride. I'm going to install a drop axle soon and the ride will only get worse I think. I was wondering if I could retain the original wheels and install a radial tire for now. Think that's possible? I know the radial won't be as tall and steering effort will increase at slow speed but what can you do? Main thing is no rubbing.

Shouldn't be a problem, as long as you don't go to wide with them. The 215/75 or 22/75 15s will be fine on the stock wheels, and shouldn't hurt the steering much. You'll want to bump the tire pressures up a bit from what the oe bias tires run, say 32-35 psi. I run 35/41 in mine, steering isn't too bad, though it is rather stiff at very low speeds due to the width.

Will a tubeless tire do okay on a rim that took tubes originally?

If the rims/rivets are good, you should be able to go tubeless.

You'll hear others says that tubes should not be used, but my tire dealer installed tubes on an Cooper LT radial and honors the warranty.

For what it is worth I had some wheels remade, I had the dish removed and flipped. This way I could use radial tires on my 47 3/4T truck without hitting. They didn't look right, but they got me by until I found a person that would work on the old 2 piece wheels. Now my truck looks like an old farm truck, which I like, its not pretty, but it sure has character.

The '55 1/2 tons were factory equipped with tubeless tires, the stock wheels will be fine without tubes as long as they are in good condition.

Les schwab has some that look pretty darn close. I checked them out and the guy even put one against my wheel so I could see. I don't think I'll have a rubbing problem it's pretty close. About $90 a tire. I think it's made by Cooper but it's called a Classic general or something.