Tire Selection

If you drive on roads with traffic for safety purpose buy road tires.
And new ones not refabricated.
Thes jeep are hard to drive in the traffic and i don t want you to have an accident.
Afterwards...too late.
You will have fun in tracks with standard tires.

 

Kelsey Hayes never made a 5.50" x 16" rim but did make a 5.50" wide x 15" rim after 1962.

The 4.50 x 16 Kelsey Hayes is standard for all pre 1963 civilian Jeeps.
Kelsey Hayes produced different versions of 5.00 x 16" wheels for various Jeeps.
The 5.00 x 16" KH wheel was first used on M38 then M38-A1.
This exact same wheel became the heavy duty option on CJ's.
If the wheels are in fact Kelsey Hayes M38 or M38-A1 wheels then know that they are 5.00" wide x 16".
For example: CJ-3B's could be fitted with an optional 5.00 x 16" heavy duty wheel.
This same wheel was standard on M606.
This particular heavy duty wheel can be identified by a single 1/8" diameter hole that is drilled through the mounting ring.

The common 4.50 x 16 " wheel weighs 19 pounds and is intended for 6.00 or 6.50 tires .
The optional 5.00 x 16 " wheel weighs 25 pounds and is intended for 7.00 x 16 tires.

The 4.50 wide wheel was originally intended for 6.00 x 16" tires but know that 6.50 x 16" tires fit very well.
Even the 7.00 and 7.50 x 16 tires can fit the standard 4.50" wide narrow rim, but...
I would not recommend running the 7.50 x 16" tire on them for a couple reasons.
One reason is that the narrow wheel is too weak to handle the increased the ply rating.
The other reason is that the correct* tire PSI may be too low when mounted on that rim.
Note: *correct tire PSI has to do with appropriate tread footprint.
Know that running a narrow rim yields certain effects.
Narrow rims cause the tire to buldge near tread centerline.
The center buldge tendancy can be overcome by reducing the tire PSI.

The heavy duty KH 5.00 x 16" wheel was specifically intended for 7.00 x 16 tires.
In reality it is a potentially tad narrow for that 7.00 x 16" tires
5.50" wide should be considered as normal for a 7.00 wide tire.
It should not be considered as optimum but the 5.00 wide wheel does accept the 7.50 x 16".

The rare KH 6.00 x 16" rim was specifically designed for use with 7.50 x 16" tires.
Not to be considered as optimum but it could potentially handle up to 9.50 x 16" tires.

My self I actually prefer my rims to be 1/2" to 1" less than what is considered as standard optimum rim width.
Due to the light weight of the Jeep one can easily run the PSI lower than other vehicles.
I often run tires on slightly narrow rims roughly 25 PSI road pressure.
The exact PSI depends on several factors like bias vs radial rim width and the ply count.
But the final determining factor has to do with appropriate tread footprint.
Running narrow rims has the added benefit of increasing protection for the rim lip.

The tires aspect ratio has a huge effect upon tire selection.
For tall / skinny tires its all about the aspect ratio.
No tires have a higher aspect ratio than the 6.00, 6.50, 7.00 and 7.50 series bias ply tires.
These tires typically have a 95% to 100% aspect ratio. (exact percentage depends on Mfgr.)
The highest ratio for a radial tire are those with 85% aspect ratio.

 

Yep, BFG AT's work great as an all-around tire. On the second set on my GMC-1st went nearly 50k miles. Great on packed snow and ice, pretty good in the deep stuff, and actually work reasonably well off-road unless in deep mud. And quite on the highway. And available at Costco----

And yes, all of the MT's I've driven on REALLY suck on ice and hardpack snow and are noisy. Not something you probably want on a long distance commuter. That said, I run them all the time on the JK. Just VERY careful on ice. And a long commute for us is 150 miles to some more distant mountains.

 

Sorry guys, I have not forgotten this thread. I did end up putting the good tires from my '67 on my '69 so I could get back to school. I was delayed in getting any kind of new tires because the wheels I had agreed to purchase were sold to someone else. However, I have now found a set of 16"x6" gladiator wheels. I'll have to pay a fair amount to ship them from CA... but in my area good early Jeep parts just don't come up often.

Anyway, I am now looking closely at Mastercraft MXT tires in 235/85r16. These tires have good reviews and are supposed to be quiet and good wearing on the highway. Of course they are not ideal for winter conditions, but its probably best that I just avoid going out in the Jeep in that kind of weather anyway. My plan is to go to one of the big chains (Discount tire, etc.) and have them price match a good deal I found online (about $125 each shipped). This way if I have a problem and need to return one or something else happens, I don't have to hassle with an online company or return shipping.

 

How about the 215/85R16 Hankook Dynapro MT's? Or even 235s?

Who sells Mastercraft? WalMart? Likely they are some other tire maker with a Mastercraft brand. Google says ... Cooper!

 

I put basically, that same tire, except bigger.

 

Mastercraft is a subsidiary of cooper. I have only seen them sold at Town Fair Tire.

 

Walmart sells Mastercraft. I probably won't have them install, but Walmart is usually pretty good about returns and warranties. I'll call around once I have the wheels.