Old School Mud & Snow Tires And Vintage-look Radials

Those look great. This is why I have saved an extra set of wheels. I would love to use those off road.
Probably some BFG's for street riding. Spring is coming and I will make some progress on my Jeep projects.

Went to a Jeep show, and saw a nice 59. My son asked how does it do off road since he has a TJ.
Man said, I don't take it off road, "It's original." I understand the work and time in it, but I plan to wheel mine
and see some sights only available by traveling off road. Nothing too extreme, but seeing these vintage Jeeps in
their natural off road environment, man that's the best. These tires complete the look.

Dave

 

Had a set of those years ago on a pickup. Wish I could find new ones! Good tires

 

Loved the Norsemans too, but my fav was the 11-15 tru tracs both made by Armstrong

 

This is the Armstrong Tru-Trac, which was evidently a radial. Its tread pattern appears to have been derived from the Goodyear Hi-Miler XTra Grip's tread:




Too bad these are no longer made! Armstrong was acquired by Pirelli in 1988, and the production of Armstrong tires ended shortly thereafter.

Here's an interesting 2007 article on the subject of old-school Jeep tires & wheels that mentions the Armstrongs: Jeep Tires and Wheels - Jp Magazine

 

Fun article to read! After several seasons of running stock rims/tires on the beach with the Tux, my dad finally broke down and bought a set of widened "split-rims" with the band welded in, and a set of wide rib tread implement tires. They worked very well, but were stolen after the second year while in winter storage.
I always ran 235/75-15 radials stretched onto 10" wagon wheels. I ran tubes, but when aired down, they left a 12" track on the top of the sand. I could go anywhere on the beach, seldom needing 4 wheel drive.
-Donny

 

Interesting subject. I wonder if there is a true difference between a radial and a xply tyres with such design.

 

Mine were bias ply not radials. I bought them in summer of '79

 

I have to add this.
The 1st time I saw radial tires, I laughed and joked about them being half flat. Just a fad, I thought. I'll never spend my money on something like that.
Boy, was I wrong.

 

The best tire debate has to be based on where you ran em. I was on the road about 50% of the time and the rest was on the beach or in the hills running fire roads. The club I ran with had older JEEP's and a few newer (66-71) CJ5's and a few FJ40's-and of course my Dad's Scouts and the new at the time Bronco's. Lots of different types of tires, but the best in my opinion were the Gates Commando's. Overall great service with almost no flats. Seems the Toyotas were the worst for flats-my father in law always took at least a couple of spares for a weekend on the beach. Good times I will never forget and hope to relive again soon. WCP
I forgot to mention that the Gates made it on a trip through the Rubicon with out a worry also. The 2 Land Cruisers both had multiple flats.

 

Here's the Gates Commando XT:






It's been reproduced by Mickey Thompson, but only in size E78-15, apparently for use as dune buggy front tires:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...l1yDI6KkHcnIbX0urt1_t_57u8vyDATUaAskUEALw_wcB

 

Ah yes the Trutrac!
My favorite tire until they stopped producing them. I didn't know a radial was made; I would've liked to try those.
Here's a pic of my 75 back in '92 with 'Tracs on chrome smoothies and an 8' CB whip.
The Good old Days.
Mike

 

Why is it a conspiracy that when you find something good they stop making them?

Got an old set of wheels in the storage container got to be 10 - 12 in wide with a weld bead all the way around where 2 wheels were welded together. Have 60 series tires on them for sand running. Were on an old M38A1 I parted out.
Looked like something used in Gravelrama from back in the early 70's.
Those wheels and tires must have been too much for the running gear, gear teeth had come out the front differential housing.
Dave

 

Maybe a call to Cokey at Cooker Tires and he will make some again.
Those Armstrong tru trac tires were hailed as the best years ago.




Dave

 

For a long time now, Swamper still makes tall skinny bias rubber in the tried and true TSL design. I love the look of them and have owned my share but flat spots.......whew!



That is not my Blue Jeep but a good pic of Swamper TSLs

 

Currently running 7.00x15 STA Super Tractions on my 65' J-3600. love them!!!! A little bumpy until warmed up but that's part of the fun of driving old trucks. Diamondback tires will do a vulcanized whitewall to any tire you like.I'll be going with these Ko2's 215/75/15 soon.

 

Donny, check out the .pdf photo from WadeS just above showing the added vulcanized whitewall. Here's a link to Diamondback: White Wall Tires & Custom Vintage Tires - Diamond Back Classic Tires

Maybe this option could work on the Yokohamas (or some other blackwall) for the Tux.

 

I’m getting these for my Jeep soon.

 

Back in the day most of the exposure I had with off roading was beach riding. Neighbors working at the aircraft rework facility on base would build their own set of wheels to fit "implement" tires. worked real well in the pea gravel sand around here. I didn't see my first set of "snow" tires until much later.

$31.92 - Goodyear Terra Rib HF-1 18/9.50-8NHS tires | Buy Goodyear Terra Rib HF-1 tires at SimpleTire

 

That blue Jeep belongs to good friend RickG over on thecj2apage.com

 

Remember the bias ply tires when Armstrongs and Trutrac were all the rage. But i also remember going to the tire shop and have the guy "true" them. Yep just standing there watching that guy shave miles and miles of rubber off of my brand new tires. Had to pay him for it too...just didn't seem fair. LOL