What's your preference?

yep, they were smaller back then, thinner also.
take a look at this video, 1968 rubicon trail ride.
I was talking to my son about the stock vehicles doing the Rubicon and how now a days the jeeps are almost never stock.
then I saw a hacked jeep with center suspension pivot on the front. watch till the end.
A bit of history. Crank that gas pump, a woman driving,
people hanging on for dare life, no seat belts, no fear just a love of bouncing your brains out.
Vintage Rubicon Trail Jeepers Jamboree - YouTube

 

that's when stock would still would get you home . thanks for sharing . I remember bias tire and would still use them except for the price of them nowadays

 

Haha nice video, really cool to see those old jeeps, and I bet they all had bias ply tires!

 

16" wheel was a factory option. Would help with height and clearance.

 

Note most of them also had perfectly smooth areas where the center section of tread should be.

I took my stock 91 Suzuki Samurai down a lot of that. The only thing I had swapped was it had 225/75/15 AT tires on it instead of its bridgestone road tires it came with. I have yet to ever really see the need for anything larger than 31 inch tires for any practical off roading. I generally run smaller. I do get it that some people make extreme vehicles and do extreme stuff, just talking normal off road situations here.

 

Bought these a while back... Mounted and waiting for me to get the jeep back together. Mine are the 7x15/8. They are on stock 5.5" wheels. Measure 32" or a little more.

hercules hdt bias lug...
http://www.herculestire.com/tire-gallery/commercial/specialty/

A set of 5 mounted were somewhere around 800 with tax... Smyth Tire in Chico, Ca. Loosing track of exact expenses to the dollar... I suppose it's the way it goes. Still keeping it reasonable.

There is a compare side by side to my cooper ATs which are 30x10.5x15 and about half tread.

d

 

Yes I've seen those before I like the A/T's that Hercules puts out. I contacted the company, but they don't sell to the public they did give me the names of two distributors in my area and both didn't seem to interested in getting me the tires. One actually said they only deal in farm equipment tires from Hercules. After doing a little research and reading some advice from the post I decided to go with some Firestone Destination A/T's 215/75/15. They run about 27-28" overall, but originally the tires that came stock for my year was only 26.8". The 10" drums on all four wheels plus the Ross steering system convened me that any oversize tires might not be a good choice for my jeep. Thanks for all the info and post!

 

I have the Destinations on my J20, and I like them. Good choice!

 

Wow what year is your Jeep? Mine came stock with 6.50r16LT's which are about 30 inches tall. That is a big difference

 

Yes, I have nearly stock vehicles, but I really like something closer to 30"

 

My M38a1 has a new set of 700/16 ND on it. It has been some time ago that i drove a vehical with bias tires and if it wasnt a military Jeep i wouldnt have gone with bias but it drives great and rides good for what it is. I need tires for a cj2a and have a set of 235/15 all season that i will use for now. When i get some extra cash i will by some new bias tires for it.

 

For any amount of off road use I much prefer bias 6 ply rated tires.

Bias ply tires have much tougher side walls than do radials.
I have had blunt 1" diameter sticks poke right through the radial sidewalls.
Needless to say that tires with large sidewall punctures must be scrapped.

I also find that the steel belted radials will readily de-laminate if used off road or on gravel roads.
I've had tread delamination occur inside the steel belted radial tires several times.
Whenever a tire delaminates it becomes very dangerous.
You simply can't see it until the dangerous tread bubble forms.

IMHO nylon or polyester belted tires are a must for those who drop their tire pressure.
Nylon or Polyester belts will flex much better on rocks or stumps and do so without tire damage.

The standard CJ suspension is so stiff that hiway ride quality becomes a mute point.

 

I found the information from a Kaiser specification and performance data sheet. The 26.8 overall size was standard however I believe larger tires were optional.

 

I did not think of that - my Jeep is an export model that was ordered with the "argi-Jeep" package which included a PTO and some stuff like. I bet the tires were swapped also - it came with the 16 inch rims

 

Standard CJ wheel and tire size is relative to the vintage.
Prior to 1963 the 4.5" x 16" wheel and the 6.00 x 16 NDT was always standard on all CJ's.

 

So was the 15" optional?


Sent from my iPhone

 

Prior to 1963 there were 4 different wheel sizes available for use on Willys CJ's.
Three being optional special equipment.

Willys part # 640800 Rim and Disc 16" X 4.5" E for use with 6.00" X 16" tires was standard on models
CJ-2A, CJ-3A, CJ-3B, CJ-5 and CJ-6 through 1963.
This does not include models CJ-5A and CJ-6A.
Even though this part number is correct for both; the CJ-2A and the post 1952 wheels were built with different discs.
The discs built after 1952 have a notable crease near the perimeter whereas the CJ-2A disc is not creased.
From what I have seen all CJ-3A's seem to also be creaseless like the CJ-2A disc.
More research needs to be looked into here.

Willys part # 642053 Rim and Disc 15" X 4.5" E. for use with 7.00 x 15" tires was optional on models
CJ-2A, CJ-3A, CJ-3B, CJ-5, CJ-6, 4 X 4 SW and 4X2 SW with 226.
This wheel was standard equipment only on model FC -150.

Willys part # 648914 Rim and Disc 13" X 5.5" (split rim) for use with 9.00 X 13" tires became optional in 1958
on models CJ-3B CJ-5 and CJ-6 only.

Willys part # 643665 Rim and Disc 16" x 5.0" for use with 7.00" X 16" tires was standard equipment on early Willys pick ups and FC-170 trucks.
This same wheel is the is M38-A1 military standard.
This wheel became a heavy duty option for models CJ-3B, CJ-5 and CJ-6 sometime before 1960.

 

Wow some very detailed information.

 

Very dedicated restoration people here and some other sites.
Check the http://www.earlycj5.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?23-Early-Jeep-Restoration-and-Research
section here for more information.
Definition -- restore, restoration to return to original condition and features
-- rebuild, clean up repair and alter