The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Using original wheels with tubeless tires.

Hi, I am re-new to the Forum. About 12 years ago , I was a member and got busy with other hobbies. I am back to my old truck. I have lots of questions about tires:I have a 51 Chevy truck with 216 . It is all original. I have the original wheels with tire tubes. Size is 6.50 X 16 I have been lucky to not have to replace them in the last 12 years. Now I need a new tire and a tube replaced on another wheel.

I have been told that the old wheel with a tubeless tire will not hold air unless it is sanded/powdercoated/ and welded around the valve stem to make it air tight.

Could I get a tubeless tire and still use a tube in it? Should I buy a modern 6 lug wheel and get modern tires? What is the equivalent modern size? I have read maybe is 205-225 X 75 or 85. When I look online for equivalent tires, I see trailer tires, can these be used on these trucks? If I get radials, could I put just two radials on the rear tires for now?

Last question: Anybody know a good parts/service source in the Austin, Texas area? The businesses I contacted locally are not too interested in the classic trucks.

Thanks for your help and sorry about all the questions.

Midge

I'm using bias-ply tube tires with no tubes on my original and freshly powder coated 1951 16x4" wheels. They hold pressure just fine. Tire shop didn't see a reason they wouldn't work, even said if they leaked they'd use a sealant on them. I do have metal valves with a nut and seal on them but the guy said the rubber ones would also seal up.

I've used Dobbs in the past. They mounted my last pair of actual tubeless bias-plys on the same original rims.

Have been running tubeless radials on my '46 p/up's original rims for @ least 15 yrs w. no difficulty whatsoever

I'm using radials on my '51. No problems.
Post this in the Texas area of the Side Lot. There are a few in Austin that can help.
Mark

I just put 215-80-16 radials on my 53 3100. Factory rims. All i did was wire wheel the inside real good and paint. No tubes and so far no leaks. Been about 2 months now.

Mr. Basham, do you have a pic of your 215/80-16s mounted, brand name and cost??
Thank you,
Steve

I can get the info for u this weekend.

When my dad first gave me the truck in 1978 I drove it down to Kelowna from Fintry over about 30 miles of gravel and spent the night at my girlfriend's parents house. The next morning I was getting ready to drive it to Vancouver ( about 300 miles) and went to the truck and found 1 flat tire. I removed the tire and went to put one of the spares that I had and found out that it had a car rear end in it.( Spare tire 6 stud. axle 5 stud ). I took it to a tire place and they put in a water tank and found out that it leaked between the two stamped halfs of the rim that had been spot welded at the factory so I had the tire shop put a tube in it.

they are Commodore 215-85-16 and were around 110.00 each. I think they are made by goodyear but not 100 percent sure. They are a 10 ply tire for a larger truck.

Great Post, I've been trying to figure this out also. Haven't gotten a good answer from any of the local tire stores, except most seem to agree that you can't run tubes in radial tires.

As far as running tubes in radials, I have not had a problem with my Coker radials and their supplied tubes on my original rims.

It's not so much running tubes in radials, it's running tubes in tubeless tires. running tubes in a tire that is not designed to have tubes in them can lead to premature failure from the tube and the inner layer of rubber of the tire casing chafing, which leads to heat buildup and sidewall failure. What causes this problem is that the inner layer of rubber and the rubber that tubes are made of are essentially the same material. Think of it as the same as rubbing your hands together. In a tire, when this happens, the rubber begins to break down. That weakens the casing, as well as the tube. once one or the other goes, the tire will fail.
It should be noted that all major tire manufacturers will void the warantee on any tubeless tire that has a tube installed in it should it fail.

Makes sense, thanks for clearing that up.

I work at a chevrolet dealership so luckly I can stick around after work and do whatever I want to my personal vehicles. I salvaged a couple P235/75R15's that were weathercracked slightly and mounted up with tubes on my split rims. Working great so far!

Good to know. I wonder if Midge managed to find a solution for a tire/wheel combination? If so, could you give us some specifics?

I recently put 235/80/17s wranglers on original 1949 ring rims. I had a bit of a hard time finding radial tubes that fit. All works good now.

I'm running 205/70-R15 tubless tires on original artillary wheels. I've had them on my 52 Suburban for about 4 months now. I checked the air preessure the other day and no air had escaped.

I'm new to these old truck, myself, but I will say that my '39 had a totally destroyed tire when I got it. I went down to the local shop and had a cheap, used tire (radial, no tube) thrown on just so I can move the truck around. It will go 100% flat overnight. Pretty annoying, really. Now if I had wire brushed and painted the rim it might be a different story, but I'm sure that when I eventually get new tires for it I'm going to have tubes thrown in just for the heck of it. I guess I can try doing without after prepping the rims better just to see what happens, as the tubes can always be added later, but it seems more straightforward to just do it up front. I don't doubt that the tube and the tire can create friction and deterioration, but Coker Tire has recommended I run tubes in tubeless radial tires before and I don't see them doing that if it was a really serious concern (but what do I know?). The tire shop recommended it, too, for when I get tires in the future.

Dan

Most of what Coker sells are intended for show use vehicle, or limited non highway use, plus they suggest using the tubes that they sell. Not sure just how much different they are, but they may have the compounds made to work together to prevent problems. I stand by my statements, 20+ years in the tire business, working with all the major manufacturers.

Longbox55 I think you are dead right. One of my Coker tubes let go and I replaced it with another manufacturer's and it is fine.
When I asked why I couldn't patch the tube (like I used to do last century) I was told that I could but, shouldn't count on going more than a couple of blocks.
The friction between the tire and tube is tremendous.
I can't imagine how a tube in a tubeless tire would hold up.

I'll be going tubeless with the good 16" wheels that I have on the 1954 3104 we are restoring.

However, I've got about 9,000 miles in 9 years on a set of Cooper SRM II LT radials that the Cooper dealer put radial tubes in. I travel mostly highways, over 80% of travel at 60+ MPH (but not fast speeds on curvy roads). These are not low-profile radials - they have a profile similar to original bias ply tires (maybe that results in less side-wall to inner-tube movement/friction?).

I have run tubes in my MGA tires since Aug. 1968 and just replaced the tires last years, yes i ran the same tires since 1968.

Sounds like the crowd is divided here on running tubeless tires on original rims.

I now have a 54 3104, but when I have my 55 Tbird, I used radials on the original rims and no tubes. Never had a problem.