Series Land rover Chassis?

**Lotz-A-Landies** · 3rd December 2014, 11:10 AM

The original tyre on the UK produced 1948 Land Rover right through to 1950 were Dunlop Track Grip T28. (see image) They were in fact moulded by Dunlop in Australia and were still being made in Malaysia in recent years.

Australian content rules meant that most Aussie Rovers were fitted with 6.00 16 Olympic bar treads. In the 86" and later the Grenville books often mention Dun bar and Oly APL (all purpose lug) these were special orders by S2 we get Dun RTM (road track major) and Hardie Bar. RTM and APL were the standard equipment tyre for most of S2a and SIII.

The standard size fitting on SWB remained 6.00 16 although some entries in the Grenville books mention 6.50 16 and 107/109 S1 frequently had 7.00 16.

R8667212 is listed as 7.00 tyres the next tyre mention is 36660438 again 7.00 with a few more 1953 having 7.00.

7.50 16 tyres require a 5.5" rim which were not available till about 1957. Military Land Rovers S2/S2a in Australia all had 5.5" rims with 7.50 16 tyres.

**JDNSW** · 3rd December 2014, 02:04 PM

All the Series 1s I drove in a vacation job in 1959 had 7.00x16 Road-Trak. The Series 1 I bought in 1962 had the same.

John

**S3ute** · 3rd December 2014, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by S3ute

Hello from Brisbane.

All of our (i.e. the extended family) S1s (80", 86", 88") came new fitted with 6.00 X 16" bar treads. The last one we still had running around the farm was only ever shod with bar treads until it was sold in 1979.

At the time I thought that was all they ever had.

I also had an idea that a lot of the military 88"s around Singleton had 7.50 X 16" bar treads as standard fitment. Might be poor memory there.

Cheers,

Thinking further,

I bought a low mileage1968 88" from CSIRO in Canberra back in 1975 and it also had 6.00 X 16" bar tread tyres fitted when I picked it up. I was led to believe they were still the original tyres that came on delivery.

On the other hand our 1972 109" came fitted with either 7.50 X 16" Roadtrack Majors or Hi-Milers.

Cheers,

**JDNSW** · 3rd December 2014, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by S3ute

Thinking further,

I bought a low mileage1968 88" from CSIRO in Canberra back in 1975 and it also had 6.00 X 16" bar tread tyres fitted when I picked it up. I was led to believe they were still the original tyres that came on delivery.

On the other hand our 1972 109" came fitted with either 7.50 X 16" Roadtrack Majors or Hi-Milers.

Cheers,

By the mid sixties, my experience (mostly if not all 109s) was that new ones had RTMs. But I don't think this applied to Series 1s. It looks as if the consensus is that most Series 1s came with 6.00 x 16 bar treads, but there were options even right from the start.

By the mid sixties there were getting to be enough sealed roads that drivers were becoming aware of the shortcomings of bar treads on wet bitumen. That said, I was fitting new bar treads to my 2a as late as about 2000 (now Steeltreks).

John

John

**4x4 MORE** · 6th December 2014, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Not only that, but tyres also varied between markets - for example, with tariff savings to be made by increasing Australian content of those sold in Australia, most Series 1 delivered in Australia did not have the tyres specified in the handbook printed in England, as these were not necessarily made in Australia. And there were always options.

In 1948 bar treads were most common as these had been the standard Jeep tyres during the war. But by 1958, while there were still some fitted with these, other types (and sizes) had become common. And as I commented earlier, very few today have original tyre types. At the time I bought my first Series 1 in 1962, I don't think I had ever even seen one with either bar tread tyres or the standard 6.00x16 size. And that was only four years after they were being sold.

John

cheers mate

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