What tire and wheel combo looks somewhat era correct?

[Cutterman]

I am working on a 48PW that I am doing a 6bt cummins/1990 dodge running gear retro-fit and am getting pretty close to needing wheels and tires. I'm looking for a tire and wheel that would look about right. I know a few guys used a Michelin that is now discontinued . I have seen several tires that look a little bit like a front end loader tire. That looks pretty good but don't know what size they are.

[Desoto61]

Tire wise I don't think you have too much to worry about, unless you want them to look like the old NDTs most tires will look OK as most trucks are going to modern radials anyway, something with a more aggressive tread pattern may fit the "image" but I doubt my tow truck had really aggressive off-road tires most of it's life.

As for wheels, the stock units are 16", but the real trick is the BUDD lug pattern, which you're never going to mimic on a modern axle without some serious custom work. Something with a dish to it like a dually type rim however would again fit the "style" of the original.

[Alxj64]

Stazworks sells R20 wheels in the 8 lug flavor but have an industrial / vintage look in some of his styles, and then the Continental MPT is a large industrial looking tire that is speed rated for highway use.... its what Legacy has been using on their bigger trucks for a while... They sell a 38" 40" and 43" I believe... but all R20.

[godzilla]

Im going to be running 16" tubeless dually wheels on mine with 38x11.00-16 super swampers. Ill be running dually axles front and rear to match the factory axle width. That size swamper is pretty close to the factory 900-16 tire which is close to a 35" tall tire. I might go with custom wheels from marsh racing or long wheel company. Check them out, there pretty reasonable.

[cj7and8]

Cutterman, Do you have any pics of that 48? Sounds like an awsome rig!

[Brutus I]

I am also restoring a 48 Power Wagon and thought I would share what I am doing.

Initially I looked for 9.00R16 tires to go on the stock wheels. I found pretty much three options for tires in this size. Either the same NDT style as original, STA Super Lugs, or Michelin military tires such as the XL, XZL, and XML. I didn't want to stick with NDT. The STA tires looked ok but I would have preferred the Michelins. Well apparently they stopped producing those years ago and now you can hardly find them and when you do they are very expensive. I found some in Canada but the shipping cost was ridiculous. In addition since these were radials I would have to get radial tubes. On top of all that I called many tire shops in my area and none would work on split ring rims and I don't have the knowledge and tools to change them myself.

I looked at doing custom 16 inch wheels to resolve that issue but I was still faced with the problem of limited/expensive tire options on top of a lot of money for the wheels.

Then I looked at other military tire options and came across the 37x12.5R16.5 which I can get locally in lightly used condition for less than $200 each. These are commonly used with military style Hummer aka H1 aka HMMWV wheels which are also readily available and cheap. They come with a 8x6.5" lug pattern. Now how to mount those on our 5 lug hub? The local tire seller suggested I look at billet adapters. Got a quote on a custom set of 5 to 8 adapters and that came back at $900. Ouch! In addition both the H1 and Budd wheels have a 7" backspace so there was no room to work with on the adapters. If they are 2 inches thick that is going to push the tires out 2 inches on each side from where they would normally be. There are companies that make replacement centers for the H1 wheels. I don't care for how they look. The ones I saw were sunken into the wheel and many have a rock ring around the outside so you have a gap between the inner and outer part of the wheel. Long story short I found a company that is going to weld new centers into the stock H1 wheels with the Budd wheel lug pattern. The cost is less than custom wheels would be and they will have basic military look that I think will be a good match for the truck.

I'll update and post pictures once I have everything installed. It will probably be a couple months.

[Brutus I]

Well scratch all that! I managed to find a shop that will work on the split ring wheels so I'm going to stick with those. Still an option to consider for those that want real military tires and can't find the Michelin 9.00R16's.

[defdes]

Does anyone know if the Power King NR50's will work on the Budd split rings? The people at PK said yes and I knew some folks were running a Power King I just can't find which one. http://simpletire.com/sigma-9.0016lt-nr50-tires

OR this is my other option:

http://simpletire.com/specialty-tire...lt-lt286-tires

[dad2nick]

The truck in the foreground has the Power King 9.00x16 directional bias ply tires. Great tires, but they are stiff and get flat spots in the winter until they warm up.

[dad2nick]

These 10.50x16 STAs look period correct military style. Not my truck.

[defdes]

The truck in the foreground has the Power King 9.00x16 directional bias ply tires. Great tires, but they are stiff and get flat spots in the winter until they warm up.

Is that a tube tire, or a tubeless run with a tube?
Is that the model NR50 I sited above?

[dad2nick]

You have to run them with tubes and flaps on the Budd rims with split lock-rings. NR50

[defdes]

Thanks, for that. They seem like a good inexpensive option.