I am wondering where you guys buy tires? Either in the US or Canada as I am close enough to the border to go even as far as Seattle.
I could also have them shipped in.

 

Probably won't find any 7.00 x 17. Replacements are 7.50 x 17, which I like better anyhow. Just google 7.50 x 17. If you want traction for the rear it will be Tournel brand and they don't really have a vintage appearance. Hiways are something like STS brand. You will find them on the internet.

 

You can get 7.00-17” bias ply car type tires if you don’t want the greater load capacity of a truck type tire. Below is the Universal Vintage Tire page for it.

https://www.universaltire.com/firest...blackwall.html

If you want a truck tire you are limited to either the 7.50-17” STA brand road tread or Tornel brand traction tread. Like Gary said, the traction tread isn’t really like what I call a traditional tread pattern. Below is the page for the STA road tread. The Tornel is said to be out of production, and not in the catalog, but they are commonly still found on eBay, just not right now. Stu

https://www.universaltire.com/truck-...transport.html

 

After some searching with my friend I believe I have Firestone RH-5 rims. After a lot more searching I found this write up https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...nting.1083358/
After looking at that I think the idea of serious travel with this set up is, . . . um . . . nuts. And by travel I mean cross country, like Australia (because that is the plan)
So first off is there a place that still does these tire changes?
Second is there a more modern truck rim (say a 16") that would work? I would love to keep this all stock but if you are on some far off stretch of back road and have a blow out with these tires and rims you are hooped.

 

First, what truck do you have, model and year? Since you are posting on the 1947 and under Ford forum I know for a fact that no truck that is covered by this forum came with 17” widow maker Firestone RH-5° rims. Most likely you have the Firestone RH rims that are a completely different animal.

Second, I’m right now swallowing my need to say what I really think of that LeoH guy who posted the HAMB demo. Some guys here know that I also offer wheel input on the Studebaker forums. Studebakers are a challenge because they have hub piloted widow makers for which there are no simple modern bolt on replacements. I wasted a lot of time trying to help LeoH. Needless to say, no longer. Stu

Edit: I went back and now recall that your truck is the Merc tonner. Your rims are as I said Firestone RH style that are still considered safe to use if undamaged and handled properly, aired in a cage, etc. No 16” modern replacement wheel exists. But I believe I can talk you through having your wheel center discs remounted into new tubeless 19.5” outer rims that would allow you to safely undertake the trip you mentioned. Come back if you want me to describe this.

 

Another route is to buy a set of five michelin 7.50 x 17s. I have mounted and demounted at least 40 17" truck tires on your style wheels. Four of them just last year at 64 years old on my hands and knees using two levers. The only hard part is removing the original rusted on, rock hard tire in the first place. The original tonner tire tool has just the right tip for prying off the ring. Nothing else works like it. Once the old tire has been wrestled off, fixing an ordinary flat just means lifting the tire on and off the wheel. I mention the michelin because it is a load range E and is a very heavy duty radial. They are very expensive at over 300 bucks. That way you carry a spare as normal, and in the unlikely event of a second flat, just do what they do in the outback, fix it. Truck still stock, and I'm sure that any garage in that country will fix it for you. Most all of the modern toyota landcruisers I see photos of in other countries have been using a multi piece wheel right up to the present. I have a set from Canada on my '79 FJ 55. PS, that michelin is really tall and really skinny for excellent steering and higher gearing. Not available in traction but I'm sure I have seen them listed recently.

 

Your idea is similar to mine, but cheaper up front. I’ll add that those radial 7.50R17s would need radial tubes as well. My 19.5” idea is similar because an 8R19.5” tire is virtually the same size as a 7.50-17” bias ply or 7.50R17” radial. Both about 34” tall.

Going to the 8R19.5” would eliminate risk of a tube going down. Squirt in the green slime stuff and keep going. The center discs of the tonner 17” wheels measure 16.531” in outside diameter according to Firestone. The inside diameter of a 19.5” along its drop center measures 16.90”. American Wheel Specialist in Kennewick, WA, has done similar custom builds by shimming the center discs into the new rims to make up for the slight difference in each’s diameter. I bought a set of their custom 19.5s years ago that were made by refitting 17” lock ring centers into new 19.5” tubeless rims. Stu

 

Sounds like either way is viable with the exception that I spent a couple minutes searching the net for the 7.50 x 17" michelins and don't see them listed anymore. I did see a post that they were still making them at their German plant and the major michelin dealers should be stocking 6 each, but that post was something like 2007.

 

I will come down and help you do this any time you need to in the next year! Just to learn how.

 

Deal! I actually have 2 of the above michelins brand new with the labels on them. I want to mount them up for the tonner pu I plan on building after the woodie is completed. I found them on Bellingham CL and the seller, a logger had gotten an old motorhome in lieu of a paycheck when his boss couldn't pay him. In it were six of these tires, brand new. Unfortunately he had gotten rid of four over the years, but these were a great score. Come on down in the spring when it warms up a bit!

 

Ok let me know via a PM. I only need a days notice to get off work.

The idea of tubeless is not a bad one but I think (If memory serves about the stories told to me by my friends father) that tube tires give you more options when it comes to back roads "emergency" repairs. Tubeless tires that are impossible to fix can still be used in "emergency" situations with tubes.
I have some super tubes on my motorcycle that are almost flat proof. Hard to install but great if you are 100 miles from nowhere.
Are any tubes, like this available for our 17"?

 

A good point. Any of the .5 tires (16.5, 19.5) fall off the bead when they go flat and can be a pain, correction, almost always are a pain to air up. At the very least you have to jack it off the ground. I'm sure you could tube them though.
I still think it's not a bad idea. Can you buy just the 19.5 hoops to make your own wheels?

 

Here is another idea from Stu in another post about wheels. Thought to put it here so others know as well.
"Okay, strap in. Here's another option this old parts man will suggest. But be careful, somebody might offer you darksider cookies with the parts.

Your 46 tonner is similar in most ways to our 48-52s. Your tonner front beam axle is listed in the Green Bible as part number 7RC 3010-B. The 48-52 Chassis Catalog shows the front beam axle used under 48-52 half and 3/4 ton models (F-1/2/3) is also 7RC 3010-B. You could befriend somebody with a 48-52 who is doing a Mustang II conversion and mount their whole original assembly under your truck. This gets you either 5 x 5.5" pattern half ton or 8 x 6.5" 3/4 ton hubs and wheels. Common F-150 or F-250 wheels and tubeless tires are easy to find.

As for the rear axle, you could do the same. Would bolt right in. You'd have to watch for a compatible parking brake from a half ton or 48-51 F-2/3. The drawback to one of these is axle final drive ratio that would match or be similar to what you have now (4.86/1). One step closer to the darkside would lead you to a 1972 or earlier F-150/F-250 rear axle that would yield a better road ratio. Again, bolts right in. Same hub bolt pattern as the donor front. Do you like cookies? Stu"
It came from this thread: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...6-1-5-ton.html

 

As a dedicated stocker I disavow having once voiced such sacrilege. Stu

 

When asked by an interviewer if he was a Mod or a Rocker, John Lennon once replied "I'm a Mocker". Now we hear what we always knew to be a fact. Stu is a 'Stocker'....... A dyed in the wool, full floating axle, marmon herrington, timken, dana, budd, firestone, armstrong, multi-piece, inner tube, drum brake Stocker.