18" tyres

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by gordon

[moderator's note: this subject was split from the WW2 Compressor thread as it apparently is interesting enough to justify it's own thread.]


I've always had a problem with 18" wheels, or rather the tyres on them. The only vehicles that used 18" tyres in quantity were the DUKW and the Gama Goat - fortunately I was able to get later goat tyres to put on my DUKW.

A lot of trailers and non-standardised trucks used 18" wheels and tyres. I have four 8.25 x 18" tyres on my Ford SnoGo which were apparently an optional size for the Ford that year, but I've had no luck finding replacements for the perished originals.

Are new 18" tyres available in Australia, and if so can you get 8.25" width? I'm reluctant to spend a pile of money buying four for the truck while i'm actively trying to sell it but I'd like to know if they are available at least.

Any Autralian local pattern trucks use 18" wheels too ?

Gordon

Apologies if this is old news but I can't see anything on this thread about them.

Just doing some ringing around. Found a place not far from here at Leeton N.S.W. Aust. who said they can get brand new, light truck tyres in 10.5 - 18's. These are made in India and are not cheap. $425 each, Australian.

There is a Japanese Tractor tyre for about $180 but they seem to think they'd be too skinny, 7.5 18's.

Tony Smith please let me know if you've been down this road.

Hanno, I saw your photo of the Unimog tyres - how hard would those tyres be to get in Oz & cost?

[Ganmain Tony]

Sorry chaps, me again!

Still doing some investigation, might have struck something interesting & useful at the same time wrt 10.5 18inch tyres. Will let you know more when I know more.

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Ganmain Tony

Sorry chaps, me again!

Still doing some investigation, might have struck something interesting & useful at the same time wrt 10.5 18inch tyres. Will let you know more when I know more.

You'll be a popular man if you manage to source some.

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Ganmain Tony

Just doing some ringing around. Found a place not far from here at Leeton N.S.W. Aust. who said they can get brand new, light truck tyres in 10.5 - 18's. These are made in India and are not cheap. $425 each, Australian.

Tony Smith please let me know if you've been down this road.

Nah, never been to Leeton. What's the road like?

That's very good news re 10.50-18s. If they are a usable road pattern (ie: not tractor mud herringbone, etc), and not something like 20ply, then as Keith said they will be warmly received. I can think of 3 people that would be interested in 4 or 5 ea, maybe even at $425.

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by Tony Smith

Nah, never been to Leeton. What's the road like?

That's very good news re 10.50-18s. If they are a usable road pattern (ie: not tractor mud herringbone, etc), and not something like 20ply, then as Keith said they will be warmly received. I can think of 3 people that would be interested in 4 or 5 ea, maybe even at $425.

By the way Tony, I couldnt stop drooling over the Beer Barrel Ford. What an absolute beauty!!!

Road is probably the equivalent of Lithgow to Mudgee - you know, pretty good except for the one spine jarring pot hole where the milk truck turns onto the main road from the one surviving Dairy farm.

Keep the banter coming.....your quips are still better then my best jokes.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Ganmain Tony

Hanno, I saw your photo of the Unimog tyres - how hard would those tyres be to get in Oz & cost?

Tony,

I got it from the Vrakking site, see http://www.aircrafttyres.com/. Don´t know them, but according to their website they "import and export tires all over the world". Fire off an e-mail to them, I´d say.

H.

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Tony,

I got it from the Vrakking site, see http://www.aircrafttyres.com/. Don´t know them, but according to their website they "import and export tires all over the world". Fire off an e-mail to them, I´d say.

H.

Thanks Hanno - will let you know the result's of what I'm looking into as well.

[Ganmain Tony]

and not something like 20ply, then as Keith said they will be warmly received.

This information comes from Frank Cross Tyres in Dubbo -

The first two types of tyres shown here are a 10 ply as are the light truck tyres shown on the previous thread. Apparently they are speed rated at 90-100km/h.

There is a Swedish made radial 10.5 X 18 that also comes with a Swedish made price tag. The boys at Frank Cross said probably double ($800 Aust) but could not give me an exact figure.

Apparently these prices can drop a fair bit. It depends on 'How much they can screw their supplier down'.

If 10 ply tyres are no good - sorry for getting anyone excited.

They did say if they came across any type of 18" radial they would let me know via E-mail.

[gordon]

Since I sold Puff down Under, I now have one NOS 8.25 x 18 tyre wrapped up in the garage that I can sell, bought it after being referred from a link on here.

I don't remember the brand, but it is an original, NOS, not perished or whatever, road tread.

I also own two in the US which I have yet to get picked up, so if anyone reading this in the US wants two I'll put them in touch with the guy who is holding them.

Gordon

[Corey Myronuk]

I am currently trying to track down who got the bulk of the gama goat tires my friend had,he has since passed away and his collection was liquidated but i sorted through some of the 10,000 yes 10,000 GG tires on wheels When i bought the load of twenty i brought back last i saw him.

it's very sad he's departed..
i will keep you posted on the search

oh and the GG tires are a chopped nylon non belted tire..i run them on my M37..they are load range C..max pressure is 22psi..they have worked wonderfully for me but they are very soft and have a large contact patch.Steering is a bit tougher and undampened oscillations on washboard roads are an exciting adventure..but in mud and soft conditions the are awesome..i would not however ever consider using them on a dukw..that is pure danger imho...far too much load and with heat buildup and such or overinflation its just asking for injury.If i was planning to load my M37 to the GVW and take it down the highway i would think twice..
They are also tubeless with a split ring..i was shocked..but its the truth..i couldnt believe it when i took one apart to change a valve stem..


Corey

[Matt Austin]

G'day folks,

Sorry to be a pest and raise the dead, but did anything ever eventuate in relation to 10.50-18 tyres? Are the $425 ones still available?

Cheers,
Matt

[Lynn Eades]

I scored 8 of 14.00 x 20s. 4 were in Dunlop trackgrip tread which I tried to move on to a Matador owner. He didn't want them because they were too big. They were war dept. marked. I gave them away They have since changed owners again and are now with mv. people again.
The other 4 were bar grip Yokohamas. I suspect the Dunlops had been on the rims since not long after WWII and would be almost impossible to remove from the rims (Coles crane)

This post is a response to comments early in this thread (years old)
Just read back through this thread and I imagine that things have changed a little in the world during the thread's life. With more of us on the net able to communicate around the globe, maybe the numbers can be gathered to do a small run on some of these odd sizes.

[gordon]

I have one brand new 8.25 x 18 tyre here in Scotland. It is commercial truck pattern and I think it was made for the MH-Fords in British service.

I bought this years back but it showed up after I'd sold the truck. I'll dig it out and post a photo. Brand new, properly wrapped / dark stored, never mounted.

( not cheap but will sell to a good home )

[Matt Austin]

Indeed, I wonder what the minimum number needed to do a small run might be?

So, if these tyres are next to impossible to find, what have people done?

Does one park the vehicle up, use other wheel/tyre combos, or use another tyre on the same rim?

It's all a learning process for me, and I appreciate your time.

Cheers,
Matt

[gjamo]

http://www.stausaonline.com/military/ndt.html

oops 8.25-18 claimed to be exstock

[Lynn Eades]

Graeme, Sorry I couldn't find them?

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Matt Austin

Indeed, I wonder what the minimum number needed to do a small run might be?

Not too many I believe, possibly as little as 20 units. However the problem is the mould, as they're not kept indefinitely. Odd sizes like 8.25 or 10.50 x 18 may no longer be in existence, and it costs around $30K to make a new mould. Basically a complete new tyre has to be developed, ideally using an old one in good condition as a pattern. You'd have pre-sell quite a few tyres to defray costs, for example 300 tyres at $100 premium. Generally that will be prohibitive, but as Lynn says we have the internet these days, so if we got our act together globally it may well pay in some cases, as the unit cost would be less with a bulk order. One obvious candidate would be original pattern 10.50 x 20 chevrons.

[Bob Carriere]

.... to get MOT certification for public road use. So 20 odds tires have to be donated to the authorities for destructive testing...... and if you are lucky you may get MOT certified the first time...if lucky.

I believe Wallace Wade from Texas was working of reprocucing 18 Gamma goat tires but could not finds anything about it on there web site.

Cheers

[Matt Austin]

Thanks folks,

I wonder if a short/mid-term solution for my vehicle in particular is to modify it to accept civillian wheels that may have a more available tyre size?

Cheers,
Matt

[Tony Wheeler]

I'm assuming the $30K figure includes certification, however I didn't enquire any further. Also the cost would vary for different tyres, and I'm told it's been done for quite a range of sizes, from motor cycle tyres to these Futurliner whitewalls, which I'm told cost $100K to develop. Not much of a market as there were only 12 Futurliners built, and only about 9 survivors known. Apparently this owner ordered only 20 tyres, which makes them rather expensive at $5K each! However it's peanuts when you consider these vehicles have fetched up to $4 million at auction. Same rationale applies for MVs, which might justify an extra $100 each for WD pattern 10.50 x 20 chevrons.

[gjamo]

No guarantees but it may be a lead.

http://www.nebraskatire.com/truck/car

[gordon]

One off, brand new,

GOODYEAR
MADE IN USA
10 PLY
SUPER HI-MILER

Ordinary truck tread, never fitted, dry / dark stored. I found the original invoice and it cost me £150 so will part with it for that, but it is in central Scotland so transport is liable to be a factor.

I've got several images of it and will e-mail them to anyone seriously interested.

Gordon

Gordon@Dodge.Org.UK

[motto]

There was some talk on the G503 forum a while back about Coker Tyres doing a run of 11.00 - 18 tyres. Maybe a few enquiries in Coker's direction would encourage them to speed up the process if they are indeed considering production of this rare size.

David

[Bob Carriere]

....shows listing for 11:00 x 18 tires as available....?

Bob C

[Grant Bowker]

http://www.cokertire.com/1100-18-mil...dukw-tire.html

[Tony Smith]

Also a listing in that size on Universal Tire's site (one buck cheaper!)

https://www.universaltire.com/truck-...ndcc-dukw.html

[Mike Cecil]

...... and 10.50x16 directional Chevron pattern manufactured by STA in the USA also on the Universal Tire site

Mike C

[motto]

I hear from one US DUKW owner that if you try to buy the 11.00 - 18s listed by Universal or Coker they don't in fact have any in stock.
Maybe they are just trying to gauge the interest?

David

[gjamo]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1100x18-b...item2ed0dcf911

[jack neville]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

...... and 10.50x16 directional Chevron pattern manufactured by STA in the USA also on the Universal Tire site

Mike C

I put a set of these on my WOT 2H. Looks like a mini monster truck and really flys now.