There are several tire suppliers. The biggest is Coker Tire in Chattanooga TN. Others are Universal Tire in Pennsylvania https://www.universaltire.com , Lucas tire https://lucasclassictires.com/ford-model-t-tires/ You will need to know if the rims are clincher or straight sided.

If, by chance, you are in the States for Hershey, Coker has a large presence there and will likely have plenty of 30 X 3-1/2 tires with them. If you require tyres, you might be out of luck.

Mike

@35mike 

Thanks Mike. Sorry for my poor spelling. In Australia we call them tyres which can be quite confusing here in the US.

I will remember that you call them tires here otherwise could get myself in all sorts of trouble!!

Do you think these rims are clincher or straight sided?

Cheers

@chip 

Thanks for your help. Ill make contact with these tire suppliers and see what they have.

From this photo do you think the rims are clincher or straight sided?

Thanks

The rim pictured looks like a clincher to me. Might have a few others look and comment. Could also show photos to the tire suppliers to get their opinions as well. If you can get someone in Oz to look at the rims to see if they have a split in them or are a complete circle without a split it will also help determine whether straight or clincher?

I am not sure about Chevs that early but I think all RHD were imported from Canada and assembly done by Holden, there may well be a Holden tag on the firewall. Something to be careful of is if it did come out of Canada or copied here in Aus (as some were) there may be some slight differences to the US parts.

But welcome to VCCA

Tony

@anthony-williamson Thanks for the advice. I will remember that.

I was not aware that the chevy's for Australia came from Canada.

Cheers

@chip I had someone take a photo of one of the tires that is still reasonable and it says 4.40-23

Still not sure about the type of rim. I will contact suppliers and hopefully they can help.

Thanks for the help

Have the person that took the photo look carefully to see if the rim that is held onto the wheel with bolt, nut and washer makes a complete circle or has a small gap or split. The rims that are a complete circle use clincher tires. They are the same as a modern bicycle rim and tire. The tire is stretched over the rim and has a raised ring that fits into a depression on the rim. The ones with the split use the straight sided tires like modern automobile tires. It is critical to get the correct type of tire as well as the size. The trucks can have different type tires as the change from clincher to straight sided tires was made in the 1920s.

@737thedon Don, The rim in your earlier post where the fender/mudguard is seen, appears to be a clincher. The rim in the close-up showing the 4.40 X 23 tyre/tire size, appears to be a straight sided split rim. I think the split is visible in the picture.

Pay no attention to my earlier tyre vs. tire wisecrack. It was merely an attempt at humor which clearly failed. What color/colour do you intend to paint your trucks, and will the beds/trays be painted to match? OK, I'm done now.

Mike

@35mike Thanks Mike

I did enjoy your comment and humour. There are many different ways to spell a number of words that I have been getting used to. I have just never come across the word tire before and did not know that it was spelt this way in the US.

I am still a little unsure of exactly how to tell the difference between a clincher and straight sided rim. The rims on both 490's are timber spokes into a steel rim and then on either side there is an additional rim that is fastened to the main rim with the 5 bolts that appears to hold the sidewall of the tire onto the rim.

I attached another photo here. I contacted Lucas Classic Tires who have told me that a 440x23 tire is a 31x4 so I would use a 31x4 tire. Not sure how this conversion works but I will take his word for it.

Anyhow cheers for helping!

@35mike I forgot to say that right now I am unsure what I am going to do with the renovation. The timber beds are both in great condition so I am thinking I will just clean up the timber work a bit and seal it to protect the timberwork. On one of the them the cab is in reasonable condition but the other one has timber rot and will need replacing. Both need new floorboards as they are both rotted away. Both pickups have been in storage and are essentially barnfinds and have been there for 50 years. Keen to see what I can do with them.

Do you have any thoughts on color for the metalwork?

@737thedon The reason for the Canadian connection is it was cheaper to import to Aus from a Commonwealth country than non Commonwealth like the US.

The differences between them continues to paint color and I havent been able to find a formula for paint colors prior to 1948 when they apparently changed paint types.

Tony

@737thedon Don, I think it is time we had a more thorough discussion about tires and rims. 

When you see a tire size like 30 X 3-1/2, you can compute the rim size by doubling the 3-1/2 and subtracting it from the 30, like this:

30  - (2 X 3-1/2)  7 = 23. Most of the time when you see this sizing system, the tires will be clincher style. See photos below.

 Demountable rim clincher style

 Close-up of above rim. The tire must be stretched over this rim to mount. I was taught to stretch both beads at once.

 Another view. A cross section of they rim is "C" shape

 Straight sided demountable rim. Notice that the sides flare out, like a modern rim