Mounting Tubeless Tires on Steel Civilian Rim 16"

Just ordered a set of 16" Steel Civilian Rims from KaiserWillys. I know that all of the original tires that were mounted on these rims required tubes. Can you mount a tubeless tire on them?

 

Yes but you will still need to use tubes.

 

Considering those old steel wheels are two pieces riveted together, I wouldn't even think about running without tubes and liners.

 

LOL I've seen this "trick" used on an 6 yard underground scoop tram tire... BOOOM. Every one thought the guys in the local industrial shop were nuts.

Brought back some good memories, thanks

 

Been running tubeless on my 64 for 3 years, no problem yet. Guess they might explode
one day when I've really got it eared back..[45mph]

 

I have tubeless radials mounted on my original KH 16" rims plus one repop from KaiserWillys. Installed and sealed just fine.

 

My thought is that the wheels just might not be perfectly airtight due to the rivet holes in the rims. It's possible there could be a very tiny hole that air could leak out of.

 

And frequently with rust issues a large leak. It's not the tires that are the issues, it's the wheels as noted.

 

Nice one Howard.

I think several people have spread a layer of silicone over the rivets. The lack of the saftey bead around the rim area might be a concern to me, depending on what you do with your Jeep.

 

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!

 

Thats a thought, but I ain't seen any ice bergs down here in 70 years. The road dept. must remove them
at night.
I do have one that loses 4 lbs every two weeks, might be a pin hole in tire or rim..

 

Something to remember here, sometime in the early 60s rims were "modernized" to run tubeless tires. The change in rims necessitated a "safety bead' which is a raised rib or bead just inboard of the outer seat (both inner and outer sides of the rim) which is designed to hold the mounted bead of the tire in place. The loud pop we hear when mounting tires is the rubber bead snapping over this raised rib. Among other things, this also does a pretty good job of holding the tire on the rim even when driven flat for short distances. This feature also nearly requires the use of a tire changer to break the beads down when dismounting tires. You can look at the rim from the outside and see if there is a safety bead made into the rim.
With the early rims, a couple well placed hits of a tire iron and mallet was all it took to break the beads down. I would recommend running tubes with rims that don't have the safety beads incorporated.
-Donny

 

Seems to me, back in the sixties, they told us never to use a radial and a tube together, too much internal friction. What changed?

 

Technology, materials, experience, knowledge.
You can also put powdered lubricant in there to minimize friction.
The 60's was 50 years ago. A lot has changed since then

 

Yep. Seen a lot of changes in my time... and been agin every one of 'em!

 

And yet here you are on a computer, on the Internet, on a website.
Must not be agin all of the changes .

 

Actually, they made radial tubes for radial tires. I don't remember what was different about them.

 

Didn't the military rims (5.00x16) have a safety bead? I've busted several NDCCs off military rims on my A1 by hand and it definitely makes you break a sweat.

I plan on using my extra set of mil rims to mount up and run some 215-85-16s and just use the NDCCs for July 4 and a few other occasions.

I had a rim mounted up with a 215 and it holds air just fine.