Lowly Wheel & Tire Musings:
I've spent the better part of a year researching the wheels and tires I intend to swap out Lowly's present shoes with. Here is my criteria:
Two-piece rims for being able two change a tire in the field.
"Super single" replacement of the rear dualie tires/wheels.
Front and rear tires tracking in line with each other.
Any wheel can be mounted on any of the truck's hubs (no specific front/rear).
Larger diameter tire with substantial tread.
I started the process by measuring the width of Lowly's axles (see post #173 on this thread). These measurements dictate that for the replacement wheels to track in-line with each other from front to back that the wheel's centers (mounting flanges) needed to be approximately 4 inches off of the wheel's centerline. The front wheel would be mounted with this flange towards the outside of the truck and the rear wheel mounted with a flipped orientation.
I then began wading into the debates between 22.5" diameter wheels (global standard commercial truck wheel size) vs 20" diameter (US military truck wheel size). 22.5" wheels use tires that are common around the world, however with the wider tire I intend to run, these wide 22.5" tires aren't as common as a standard commercial truck tire. 20" wheels use tires that are not common globally but are readily available in wide width here in the US as military surplus tires. I ended up settling on 20" diameter even though I intend to use this truck outside of North America. I know I can source the tires I want to use from suppliers here in the US, even if it means having to ship them overseas. I can't say the same for the type of tire I would want to run on a 22.5" diameter wheel. "Better the devil I know than then devil I don't"
If you happen to decide that 22.5" diameter 1-piece wheels will work for your application, check out
www.expeditions-lkw.de as they have wheels in the bolt pattern for these types of trucks.
With the decision to go with a wide 20" wheel and therefore a wide 20" tire I started down the trail of sourcing tires. I settled on Michelin XZL+ 395/85R20 tires due to their size (width and diameter), tread pattern, capacity and foreseeable availability at very reasonable prices. There are quite a few military surplus tire re-sellers but I strongly recommend
www.feltztire.com for their competitive pricing, adequate selection and very helpful customer service (thanks Dustin!).
Off I went trying to source 2-piece 20" wheels with Lowly's bolt pattern (8 lugs on 275mm bolt circle diameter, 221mm pilot hole diameter) that also fit the tires I wanted. I didn't find much at first and even went so far as to consider fabricating my own using water jetted centers and blank rims from
www.heywheel.com. Not enough confidence in the robustness of a home-made wheel so off I go down another rabbit hole. Come to find out that Chevrolet Kodiak/GMC Topkick trucks use this same bolt pattern and 2-piece wheels can be sourced from both military surplus and custom wheel manufacturers; this looks promising. . . . . .
***START CAVEAT*** Military surplus 2-piece wheels and custom wheel manufacturers who are selling their wheels to the Chevrolet Kodiak/GMC Topkick crowd are likely selling wheels with bead flanges that are not tall enough for proper factory recommended mounting of 395/85R20 tires! ***END CAVEAT***
I was just about to pull the trigger on a set of wheels from a reputable military surplus seller in the eastern portion of the USA whose own glamour shots of their wheels show them mounted to the exact tires I intend to use. Thankfully I came across EXPO's DarkBladeRunner who had gone even farther down this same rabbit hole on his build and was kind enough to lead me back out. He pointed out that the glamour shots found on the surplus seller's website clearly show excess bead face on the tire when mounted to their 2-piece wheels; there is not a tall enough bead flange on these particular rims. Can the 395/85R20 tires mount up to these rims? Probably, but the mismatched bead/flange heights don't inspire confidence, especially in an aired-down, off-road situation.
Two piece wheels with a 20" diameter are very common thanks to US military MRAP trucks. They even come in the aluminum variety (yeah weight savings!). Better yet, these MRAP wheels are built with the proper height bead flange for mounting up to the 395/85R20 tires I want. However, they do not come with the same bolt pattern as found on Lowly the Lorry. If I were to use these MRAP wheels, the mounting center flange would have to be modified or replaced.
Enter
www.stazworks.com who I'd come across previously in my investigations but filed away as too custom. DarkBladeRunner recommended I contact John at Stazworks as modifying MRAP wheels with alternative offset spacing and lug mounting patterns is his bread-n-butter. John took the time to deal with my inquiries and we settled on the proper wheel design for my particular application. With his location near Feltz Tire he also is willing to pick up, mount my tires and ship the entire lot in one shipment.
Big shout out to Stazworks, Feltz Tire and DarkBladeRunner for providing the advice, service and experience necessary to achieve all of my wheel/tire criteria. This was a large piece of the puzzle I had to sort out in order to continue on with the build of Lowly.
Stay tuned.
- Sheik
