9.00-13 Tyres

Originally posted by Mike Kelly

To FV623 alias ZOE : Yes please , a Morris Commercial Steering wheel would be great . They are prone to disintegrating , made from a hard bakelite or rubber ? Apparently a fellow in the US , I was reading on the Bantam car web site the other night , is very skilled at making steering wheels from polyurethane epoxy liquid .


Water pump too ! I had fun disassembling one - crack. . . bang , little bits of cast iron impellor went all over the garage floor . Swear - curse XXX XXXX . The MC water pumps are nice though , two ball races , once pulled apart , they are easy to rebuild , repack with modern grease , they will last for many years .

You have to be so carefull with old tyres . The problem with 900-13's is they are rather like a ordinary 6 ply car tyre , they have thin walls . The larger 900-16's have much thicker walls , and even though badly cracked , they will withstand road use . 900-13's would blow out readily if in a perished state , whereas 900-16's will keep going , I have seen it happen . Some of the 900-16's I have seen at rallies would have a roadwotrhy inspector in fits .

OK, good stuff Mike, I'll see if Mrs Notton can do the "free" 2kg and under parcel trick. . . . . . . . . . .

Of course we don't have to send a rare MC pump all the way down under for you to shatter the impeller, I can do that easily with the 25 ton floor press, nothing yet hasn't come apart albeit in several bits of shrapnel now resting in the darkest recesses of Ballard's garage, as they do.

Tyres are a really important area here, and we've seen the horrors at shows too. The police are really hot on applying the UK law to the letter, you can absolutely guarantee they take a peek under all circumstances and an illegal one is a 3 point + fine job.

IIRC we are obliged to have 1.6mm over 3/4 of the central area and "visible" tread elsewhere; any Kojak impressions anywhere and you've had it. Then it gets looser about being in good condition and commensurate with the vehicle performance; I wouldn't like to argue the common, as-new Dunlop run-flat side wall cracks even though the walls are almost 2" thick. In fact the often used Ferret RFHS2 T24's fail just one aspect of our Construction and Use definition for pnuematic tyres; theoretically they are then defined as solid and may only be used on pre 1910 vehicles at 15mph or less.

Of course the insurance people instantly let themselves out at the first whiff of a potentially arguable tyre, as they are so adept at doing.

In terms of ply statements, do bear in mind this is always a "rating" and has nothing to do with what is actually in there now since one layer of rayon or other modern stuff is as good as the several layers of canvas the old ratings referred to.

R.