Aeroplane tyres

[andy_d110]

Have read from a few sources that it used to be a popular to fit aircraft tyres to widened series rims for beach work...

Had anyone had first had experience of how they actually went? Found some for sale with Fokker 34" x 10.75" mounted on widened series rims. I'm interested in them as we do a bit of beach driving North of Perth and these would be something different.

The old 2 litre might have trouble turning them though!

Cheers,

Andy.

[Bigbjorn]

There used to be a couple of guys on Stradbroke Island who used what they called "bomber tyres" on Series III's on very fat rims. I forget the ply ratings but they were considerable. They could run on almost no air pressure whatsoever. I think a tyre service in Merrylands used to sell these and other odd stuff.

[Blknight.aus]

the tyres on one of our trailers at work is an old aircraft nose wheel..

you cant tell its got no airpressure in it till its got about 3t over the top of it, ply rating is something like 28 from memory.

Ive driven a yota on AC tyres great on sand and the beach but no use anywhere else.

[MR LR]

What about sprint (speedway) car tyres? We have them on a boom with them on it, floats over anything!

[Dorian]

As a kid, early 70's, I did some fishing trips up Teewah beach north of Noosa and a few to Fraser with my father and uncles, a couple of them had access to old tyres from the Canberra bombers. Would stop and change over from road tyres just before the beach.
Not a lot of difference on the hard sand but in the soft sand above the high tide and over the dunes the aircraft tyres would do it so much more easily. But I have a distinct memory of a couple cornering issues with these tyres, probably low pressure. Two of the cars where older series II and one was a land cruiser all SWB.

[Ancient Mariner]

Used to run 900x13" sand tyres many years ago on 10"rims at 8 PSI you could wander around in 2WD where you would normaly bog in 4WD:o I think this rim needs a bit off a wire brush:) (armstrong steering required)

[andy_d110]

So they sound like the ducks nuts. I like the idea of using the old school tricks and techniques, people used to be a lot more inventive compared to the youf of today!

Now to see if they fit under the 86"...

Thanks for all the replies.

[lewy]

we used to fit them to the front of 2wd backhoes,best thing ever.

[JFD]

Dowlings tyres at Merrylands sold Fokker nose tyres on widened 16 inch Morris commercial rims to suit what ever stud pattern you wanted in the late 60's for about $75 a wheel and tyre .The tyres were regrooved and I think you needed a two piece rim to fit the tyres,they also ran a row of self tapper screws around the rim into the tyre bead as the tyres didn't grip the rims to well and would slip and tear out the valve,sort of a cheap beadlock.

[gromit]

If you watch the Leyland Brothers West to East crossing (Wheels Across a Wilderness) the SWB Land Rover used 900x16 aircraft tyres.
Just had a quick look through the book of the trip (Where Dead Men Lie) and haven't found details of the rims used.


Colin

[Slunnie]

If you watch the Leyland Brothers West to East crossing (Wheels Across a Wilderness) the SWB Land Rover used 900x16 aircraft tyres.
Just had a quick look through the book of the trip (Where Dead Men Lie) and havn't found details of the rims used.


Colin

They're the only ones I've seen doing it. Impressive, but they blew a diff or an axle.

[gromit]

They're the only ones I've seen doing it. Impressive, but they blew a diff or an axle.

From memory they blew many diffs but I can't remember whether they were all on the same vehicle.
The aircraft tyres were bald before they got to the East coast.

The LWB used Michelin Sahara tyres.

Just skimmed the book and found a comment about being on their 5th diff !

Colin

[Sitec]

Not sure of the story behind the 101, but these are Avon Flotation tyres, found on things like Supacat's etc.. I ran a set on a buggy in the UK for a while.. Worked well on sand...

[Sitec]

Or perhaps this is the look you are aiming for..... :D

[numpty]

From memory they blew many diffs but I can't remember whether they were all on the same vehicle.
The aircraft tyres were bald before they got to the East coast.

The LWB used Michelin Sahara tyres.

Just skimmed the book and found a comment about being on their 5th diff !

Colin

Funny, I've not long ago finished reading this book again. All the diffs blown were on the 107.

[harry]

I think you can forget about aircraft tyres nowadays, the aircraft have moved on in tyres, nothing now would be usable on car wheels
They are so strong as now the tyres sit under 100 ton aircraft, so lots of plies and I doubt if there are any that fit a 15 or 16 inch rim

[PhilipA]

When I was in Saudi Arabia in 1982-85 , Aircraft tyres were an option on new Nissan Patrols.
I presume they were for oil exploration companies or suchlike, as I recall stories of how diabolical they were on road.

They also had a specific wheel to go with it, AFAIR 15 inch.
Regards Philip A

[Dougal]

I think you can forget about aircraft tyres nowadays, the aircraft have moved on in tyres, nothing now would be usable on car wheels
They are so strong as now the tyres sit under 100 ton aircraft, so lots of plies and I doubt if there are any that fit a 15 or 16 inch rim

Aircraft come in all sorts of sizes. Not all are 100 ton.

[JDNSW]

When I was working in the Simpson in the mid 1960s we were initially equipped with aircraft tyres or similar (9.00 x 13). However, during the operation radial tyres became available, although very expensive, and we found that these were just as effective on the sand, and far better on hard surfaces. (one truck mounted drilling rig came off sand onto a wet claypan at excessive speed, lost it, and rolled 270 degrees for example).

This may explain why these very wide tyres seem to have disappeared from view.

John

[harry]

Aircraft come in all sorts of sizes. Not all are 100 ton.
true, but they are heavy aircraft when the rim size gets to be 15 or 16 inch, or fast military jets.
these aircraft have very high landing speeds so the tyres have high pressures and many plies, this makes them almost impossible to fit to a standard type auto rim as the bead is so strong that it will not stretch over the wheel rim, that is why almost all aircraft have split wheels.
the side walls are very strong due to the many plies and most normal four wheel drives wouldn't find any advantage as the strength of the sidewall is such that the tyre will not bag out with reduced pressures.
also the tread pattern is designed for straight running on non driven wheels, so the tread is almost always straight ribs, with no tread pattern for traction.
yes there are some historic diamond pattern tyres out there, but even they have very little tread depth, as now they are manufactured by people for the historic and classic aircraft types, so second hand ones would be useless, new, very expensive.
there are people in aus selling tyres for the ag and mining industry, but these are generally tyres used on towed machinery or very heavy machinery that does not need a driving traction pattern due to their weight.
I do have a pair of 10 inch aircraft wheels and tyres if someone wants to put them on a trailer, but no use on a boat trailer, magnesium wheels disappear in salt water, we had an aircraft drop thru the crust at lake eyre some years ago, in two days the wheels were almost gone!

[moparrangie]

Series 1 56. My old man and uncle had this for years. It spent lots of time on the coast in east gippsland in Vic.
They put in a slant 6 to help things along

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[Don 130]

I think Len Beadell used aircraft tyres on his Land Rovers during his desert surveying work.
Don.

[pop058]

These were fitted to a Series 1

[rovercare]

Series 1 56. My old man and uncle had this for years. It spent lots of time on the coast in east gippsland in Vic.
They put in a slant 6 to help things along

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

Back many many years ago when you were allowed to have fun in Victoria:(

[mark_coffey]

I have the remains of a 58 S1 lwb station wagon which had most of the rear and front guards cut out to fit a set of 14"wide tyres on that come from one of the Mt Gunson mines exploration land rovers. It wasn't a successful venture as the vehicle would float and could not tow the boat trailer to a depth to launch the boat.


The rims and tyres were sold to someone down Adelaide way

[Xtreme]

My first trip to Fraser Island in 1970 was in a SWB S2A with widened 15" FJ Holden rims (same PCD as Series Landies) fitted with road tyres from John Fairfax's Rolls Royce. Drove from Sydney and back plus all over Fraser without a problem.

Many of the rutile mining companies were using aircraft tyresduring the 60's and 70's. Another one of the advantages of the aircraft tyres was the rounded shoulder and lack of tread which meant that they were less prone to digging into the sand - refer to the photo in post #21 above.

[JDNSW]

I think Len Beadell used aircraft tyres on his Land Rovers during his desert surveying work.
Don.

I don't think so, but I can't lay my hands on the books right at this moment.

Perhaps one reason for aeroplane tyres having disappeared from the scene may be that the planes that used an appropriate size are no longer in common use - I think perhaps of types such as the Avro Anson, DH Heron, even Lockheed Hudson which were in common use into the fifties, aircraft near or not too far above the upper limit of "light aircraft" (12,500lbs) but designed to operate on grass - modern aircraft in this category are mostly designed to operate on sealed runways and use smaller but higher pressure tyres.

John

[Johnno1969]

They put in a slant 6 to help things along

Ah, the slant. Most beautiful of engines.

I would love to see a Landy with a running slant in it....

[JDNSW]

I don't think so, but I can't lay my hands on the books right at this moment.
.....
John

Found the books - no aeroplane tyres in sight, but at least one picture showing n 80" with oversize tyres (9.00x16?) but definitely not aeroplane tyres. All the pictures I could find quickly showed conventional tyres, mostly conventional road tread, and look to be either 6.00x16 or 7.50x16.

John

[russellrovers]

These were fitted to a Series 1
those tyres belong to me and are for sale regards jim

[Utemad]

In the 80s we had a Nissan Patrol G60 which we used to take to Moreton Island. Dad fitted it with tyres looked like aircraft tyres but they were fitted to 15in rims. Probably 15x7. About 31in tall.
Dad said they came off a machine they bought from Saudi Arabia or similar.

[scarry]

FWIW,late 60's,early 70's,there were quite a few vehicles running aircraft tyres on Fraser island.Including VW beach buggies.

Dunno where they came from or the sizes.

What i do know is the fishing was fantastic in those days..:)

[pop058]

those tyres belong to me and are for sale regards jim

Thanks Jim, I took the pics when Dave and I visited you last year but did not want to identify them or you without your blessing.

I hoped you would drop in and clarify things :)

[russellrovers]

Thanks Jim, I took the pics when Dave and I visited you last year but did not want to identify them or you without your blessing.

I hoped you would drop in and clarify things :)thats ok dave decided to put them on market jim