Has anyone used the military 37X12.50 HMMWV take off tires? I'm finding both the BF Goodrich Baja TAs and Goodyear MTs for sale with 95% tread for a pretty decent price compared to most tires typically available at the tire store. Anyone used these tires and have anything good or bad to say about them?
Military surplus 37X12.50r16.5 tires
- Thread starter trbon8r
- Start date
tarditi
Explorer
I had community tire retreads on my H1 with no problems - the site is no longer up, but I was getting them for about $200/tire.
This seems to be a decent source: http://www.militaryoffroadtires.net/
This seems to be a decent source: http://www.militaryoffroadtires.net/
I use them.
The good: Fairly cheap for that size tire, and if you're running 16.5 rims one of the few games in town as far as tires go. Choices for 16.5s seem to be getting slimmer all the time. These, or some variety, are still pretty accessable via the surplus channel. Rugged tire, as you would expect a military tire to be. Tread longevity is up in the air, but the carcass seems stout.
The bad: Stiff. Don't ride that great. HEAVY. As in they weigh a metric ***k ton compared to most tires. If you run them on the HMMV rims, with the internal beadlock, look for close to 200lbs each. Trying to mount one yourself without "cheating" is a real nut-buster.
Unless you have civilian 16.5 rims that you just can't live without, or really want the HMMV beadlocks, I don't know that I'd go for these. For me I wanted the beadlocks and the ability to fairly easily swap rubber in the field without having to carry extra tools or rims.
The good: Fairly cheap for that size tire, and if you're running 16.5 rims one of the few games in town as far as tires go. Choices for 16.5s seem to be getting slimmer all the time. These, or some variety, are still pretty accessable via the surplus channel. Rugged tire, as you would expect a military tire to be. Tread longevity is up in the air, but the carcass seems stout.
The bad: Stiff. Don't ride that great. HEAVY. As in they weigh a metric ***k ton compared to most tires. If you run them on the HMMV rims, with the internal beadlock, look for close to 200lbs each. Trying to mount one yourself without "cheating" is a real nut-buster.
Unless you have civilian 16.5 rims that you just can't live without, or really want the HMMV beadlocks, I don't know that I'd go for these. For me I wanted the beadlocks and the ability to fairly easily swap rubber in the field without having to carry extra tools or rims.
Thanks. These tires are awfully tempting for those of us that could benefit from the savings that translate into money we can use to get other items on our trucks up to speed. New tires are just crazy expensive these days, especially in the 35" and up sizes. If I decide to go with a 37" tire, this sounds like a decent option.
Smithy
Observer
I have the MTRs on my rig, but it has taken quite a bit of work to make them tolerable on the highway.
Vibrations drive me crazy. They seem to do well with about 10oz of balance media in each tire. You may have to add or subtract an ounce or two to get it right. I grooved the tread to make them more flexible, ride quieter, and grip better offroad. Then added some siping. It took the better part of an afternoon to do all 5 tires and has made a world of difference.
BTW, they only measure 35" tall anyway, not a true 37" tire. For the money I wont complain.
Vibrations drive me crazy. They seem to do well with about 10oz of balance media in each tire. You may have to add or subtract an ounce or two to get it right. I grooved the tread to make them more flexible, ride quieter, and grip better offroad. Then added some siping. It took the better part of an afternoon to do all 5 tires and has made a world of difference.
BTW, they only measure 35" tall anyway, not a true 37" tire. For the money I wont complain.
doug720
Expedition Leader
Check out this site for surplus tires - www.100dollarman.com/tires.html
I went with a set of the Goodyear MTR HMMWV tires. Got a set with 90% tread and a 70% spare for $575. Hard to beat that. I'm going to throw them on a set of Pro Comp steel wheels. I hope they balance up ok. Are the MIL tires my first choice? No they aren't, but paying 1/3 the cost of what a new tire costs allows me to address other areas on the truck with the money I saved. The tires can't be that bad or else the government that has endless piles of our money to spend wouldn't choose them as the tire our soldiers go to war with.
Feltz Tire in Wisconsin. They advertise on Ebay. I will report back what the tires look like when they come in.
The one thing I have found out in researching the Mil Surp tires is the misperception that they are significantly heavier than any other 37X12.50 tire. At 82 pounds they are about the same weight as an equivalent size Swamper and just a little heavier than a BFG MT at 74 pounds. Not enough difference in weight to even worry about. The specs can be found right here from the Goodyear website.
http://www.goodyear.com/cfmx/web/gov/pdf/military_tire_brochure.pdf
The one thing I have found out in researching the Mil Surp tires is the misperception that they are significantly heavier than any other 37X12.50 tire. At 82 pounds they are about the same weight as an equivalent size Swamper and just a little heavier than a BFG MT at 74 pounds. Not enough difference in weight to even worry about. The specs can be found right here from the Goodyear website.
http://www.goodyear.com/cfmx/web/gov/pdf/military_tire_brochure.pdf
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I've bought 10 total from trail ready. The first batch were supposed to be 85-90%, can't remember exactly, and they were spot on. I ordered the 2nd batch the same way (paying extra) and I'd be surprised if they measured out at 70%. A little disappointed the 2nd time around, and the 2nd batch (tires/rims) cost me $1,000 more than the first batch 4 yrs earlier. Probably about a 75% increase
That is really frustrating when you pay for something and don't get what you are expecting. The tires I received from Feltz were as described. Lots of tread, no dry rot, and I had to look a couple times before I was able to pick out which one was the 70% tire. I'm very happy with my purchase. Now I just need to decide on which wheels to use........
chaos616
Adventurer
I get mine from Trail Worthy Fab, and the first order was as advertised. $150 per tire, 75% and better, cool with me. Also got H1 24 bolt paired beadlocks with their PVC insert, works great. Second time i ordered i got another rim so i have 6 of them (they are pretty cheap really) and 4 more tires. Got 90% better tread on all 4. I have only run the BFG baja, and it seems to work well for me, is real close to 37" too. The combo is around 180 lbs though, its heavy. My truck is 8500 lbs and i can air down to about 15 psi which is half my sidewall height, great for snow and sand. Keep them a bit higher for rocks. Also for milage the first set got about 25k and sill had a little tread left but changed them out for an off road rally. (to be fair 1 bulged and then subsequently blew up sitting in my driveway, kinda awesome, kinda scary).
The 1 crappy part about military tires is they use the stickiest nastiest grease you can imagine in the tires for the run flats. To use beads or other media to balance you have to not only scrap out the grease but spend time washing them out so they are clean. I did on the first set, spent about 6 hours washing with green scrub pads and a ton of dawn dish soap, balanced out pretty good. The second set i just threw them on and 1 was way way out of balance, brought it to the local tire shop, 8 oz. later drove it 1000 miles and it was smoother than the rest of the tires, cost me 10 bucks to balance.
They can be a great deal just make sure you get some with some tread.
The 1 crappy part about military tires is they use the stickiest nastiest grease you can imagine in the tires for the run flats. To use beads or other media to balance you have to not only scrap out the grease but spend time washing them out so they are clean. I did on the first set, spent about 6 hours washing with green scrub pads and a ton of dawn dish soap, balanced out pretty good. The second set i just threw them on and 1 was way way out of balance, brought it to the local tire shop, 8 oz. later drove it 1000 miles and it was smoother than the rest of the tires, cost me 10 bucks to balance.
They can be a great deal just make sure you get some with some tread.
paranoid56
Adventurer
super heavy, but nice and cheap 
i use the PVC inserts to help with the weight.
i use the PVC inserts to help with the weight.
red EOD veteran
Adventurer
I run the 37"s on my 82 k20, it's the offroad toy. Traction has been great so far on rocks, sand, and some mud. I run 25-30psi on the road and down to 12psi offroad. Had 1 tire throw a chunk very quickly on the pavement (bad tire) that was replaced no questions asked. Holds air so it became my spare for now. 4 of the tires have balanced well, one is way off with balance. Still have the runflats installed and running the 24 bolt wheels.
