Radials on a 37. Yes or No??

I've been running radials on a 42 front suspension for the past 30 years. The only problem I had with them was: they wouldn't stay on the tracks. Ir was a common practice to drive on the railroad tracks, by lowering the air pressure to 15 lbs on the Bias tires and run down the rails. but the radials keep falling off.
 
A old friend of my pops had a model a that only had wheels (rims) up front (no tires), he used it to pull us on the iced lake with a rope and tube. He had a few "junkers" to mess with. it was a winter setup.
 
I think the friction problem between tubeless tires and a tube is from the ribs that run at an angle on the inside of the sidewall on tubeless tires. I have had trouble with those in the past, but never understood how a 'radial tube' solves this. Thicker?? I too have considered radials on my truck based woodie. I do like a fairly tall, narrow tire. A lot of dually pickups came with 225 85r 16s and I wonder about those. Thanks for posting this thread. It has been informative.
 
V8 Bob said:
The safety bead was introduced in 1940, long before tubeless or radial tires, and will help keep the tire on the wheel, by design. Tubes, however, hold air, nothing more, and will not help the tire stay on the wheel. The only reasons to use tubes are tube-type tires, or wheels that are leak prone, like some wires.
Upgrading to newer wheels is a good idea, but tubeless radials can run very well and safe on older wheels that are in good shape. :)
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Are you sure of this? I don't recall seeing them on any wheels made before sometime in the early 60's.
 
About 10 or 15 years ago the was a lot of talk here about using wheels that were designed for radials. Also the suspension was supposed to be"radial tuned" what ever that was. There was talk of the metal around the lugs failing from fatigue because of flexing causing thd wheel to fall off. Is all that "fake news" now?
 
Running Cooper steel belted radial blackwalls on my 40 wagon on F100 5.5" wide wheels. Stock hub caps even fit as long as you get 66 or earlier F100 wheels. Tires are only $97 a piece. They look and perform great. No Diamondbacks or Cokers for me! Rip off prices.
 
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I just switched out the brand bias ply Firestone Deluxe Champions on my '34 truck this weekend.
I switched to Excelsior radials and cannot believe the difference.
I might switch to the larger 750 16's on the rear but I am very happy.
If you drive your car treat yourself to some radials.
 

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GB SISSON said:
I think the friction problem between tubeless tires and a tube is from the ribs that run at an angle on the inside of the sidewall on tubeless tires. I have had trouble with those in the past, but never understood how a 'radial tube' solves this. Thicker?? I too have considered radials on my truck based woodie. I do like a fairly tall, narrow tire. A lot of dually pickups came with 225 85r 16s and I wonder about those. Thanks for posting this thread. It has been informative.
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I like the square commercial tires, they look close to bias. Last 2 panel trucks ('54 F100 and '56 Chevy) both had/have 215/85 lt16's on them (the F100 had 16x5 wheels and the Chevy has 16x6).


My '47 had really square radials on stock 16x4.5 wheels for years, the '41 pickup has radials not really square so they look so so. After the A is done I'm thinking of bias looking radials, because most regular radials look bulbous and balloony (ie crappy). My '47 had 235/75 r15 wide whites on stock 15x5.5 wheels when i bought it and it looked bad......the 16's with diamondback tires look way better.
 
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