@jgmtrbb97 

Very sorry for the misdirection.

My brother has a '46 3/4 ton with 17" tires.

He told me some time ago that 17's were harder to find than 15" truck tires.

A quick look says they are out there, but may be pretty pricey.

More searching may turn up something reasonable.

https://lucasclassictires.com/tires/750-17lt-sta-super-transport-8pr/

So if the current tires are tubed… can’t I just take the current tires off and put radials on?

@jgmtrbb97 

I can't see why not.

I can see why you are changing tires, looks like some cracking going on.  🙂

Judging by that, you may have to change tubes, and if you go radial you WILL need radial tubes, but as per previous posts, those shouldn't be hard to find.

Your flaps/liners may be reusable.

Here is a tire with a truck profile that seems more reasonably priced.

It is a winter tire, but I doubt you'd ever wear them out.

Technically they are for 6" rims, but being radials I think they would be fine.

And they are about the right diameter.

And, they have a nice look, and wouldn't look out of place on your truck.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Firestone&tireModel=Winterforce+LT&partnum=275R7WFLTOLD&srsltid=AfmBOooDkJp9Yb44PcvLmyMsPAFhgDcjgRWkjf7H3EZwjJDecMO7guh0

I’m having a really hard time finding anyone to work on the split rims. I have 17” tires that will work on the 7.5” rim, I have the new tubes… but no one wants to do it.
Does anyone know of a stock 8 x 6.5 16” rim will fit or will the tie rod hit?
I am thinking at this point I may have to bite the bullet and go with 16” rim and then install the hubcap retaining clips and go from there with my Chevy caps.  

Any thoughts on if a 16” rim will work?  

@jgmtrbb97 The only multi-piece rims that are really dangerous is a Firestone that has the inner and outer rim clinging to each other in the center. The wheels for your truck will be a two or three piece type which are perfectly safe to work with. You could do the job yourself. I don't know where you live but if there is a tire shop that does farm work, they might do them for you. If you are near Columbia, Missouri, bring them to my place and we will do them together.

If you have an owners manual for your truck, it might have instructions for the safe and correct way to deal with your wheels. Good Luck.

Mike

@jgmtrbb97 

I second what Mike says.

Your particular rims are perfectly safe to work on.

And if you were near me and I was done putting the seed in the ground, I'd be glad to change them for you too.

I don't have a tire safety cage for inflating, so I just wrap about 15 feet of chain round and round through the center of the rim.

I've done lots of 2 and 3 piece rims on the farm, never had a problem.

@ole-olson … found a guy that works on tractors out this way.  He was all in to do it until he saw the tires I wanted to use he said no way.

@jgmtrbb97 I'm confused. 

Mike

@jgmtrbb97 

The only two reasons I can think of that the guy might balk at installing those tires are:

First, the tires are 265's which is pretty wide for a rim made for a 7.50 tire.  A 7.50 is really the equivalent of a 195 or a 215 tire.  A 265 actually translates to about a 10.00 tire

Second, he might be concerned by the date code on the tires??  Some people get their **** in a knot over date codes.  I pay no attention to them, it's the condition of the tire that matters.  And yours look fine on that point.

Did you ask him for a reason for the refusal?

PS

Or maybe he thinks the bead profile is different on an LT radial than on a bias ply tire and rim.

As far as I know it is not.

I think however that the bead on a large truck tire like an 11R-22.5 is quite different from a 10.00-20.

Anyone know what this is and why it’s not connected to anything?  It’s at the base of the emergency brake?  
I found it when I went to replace plate gasket.

@jgmtrbb97 

There is a similar plate on the brake lever on my '46, but...

It was and is UNDER the floor board, and I suspect yours should be too.

On mine it looks like the plate is meant to ride on the base of the lever, with a felt or foam pad on top of the plate and under the floor.

That pad fits snug to the lever, sliding back and forth with it, and is the seal between the lever and floor.

I think this is the seal:

@ole-olson …. I heard back and the gentlemen told me it’s because the 17x7.5 rim is only 5” wide.  So even a 215 75r17 won’t fit and is dangerous.  Said he’d only do it if I got a Coker tire sized for 5” wide rim.

what would you feel comfortable as a tire size?  I did find a 21575r17… but specs do say a 6” rim. 

@jgmtrbb97  @35mike

I don't have the specs for 1955, but I do have specs for 1954.

For 1954, rims on 3800 trucks would be 17x5.0 and would be used with 7.00x17 and 7.50x17 tires... unless... it was supplied with 10 ply tires when the rims would be 17x6.0.

I could be wrong, but I "think" a 7.50 is equivalent to a 195 tire.

Nearly every truck on every farm around here ended up with 1 size larger tire than the truck came with.

Trucks that came with 7.50's had 8.25's on them.

8.25's had 9.00's, 900's had 10.00's etc.

The odd guy stepped up 2 sizes, but that was really too much. 🙂

So... I'd probably be comfortable with a 205, but a 215 might be a little wide, unless you are lucky and your truck came with 10 ply tires and 17x6.0 rims, in which case you would be good to go with 215's.

I would like to know Mike's thoughts on this as I think his knowledge is more extensive than mine.

@ole-olson @jgmtrbb97 I did a google search for tire size conversion and gave up before finding any 17 inch sizes mentioned. The information has to be out there somewhere. I would think that even local tire shops would have access to this information. Specialty tire vendors such as Cokers are asked this question every day and should be able to supply answers. I drive all my old vehicles on bias ply tires and have no problems doing so.

Mike

The 195/205/215 etc. are the width in millimeters. Any conversion would depend on the section width of the tire. A 7.50 tire is ~7.5 inches which converts to 190mm. Converting the diameter is another matter that depends a lot on the manufacturer although most are close to the same. A 190/75 would be close to the same across manufacturers because it's a formula based on ratio (75% as tall bead to tread as it is wide) although I have seen some variation. Of course, if this isn't what you're referring to by "conversion", please disregard.