1936 ford spare tire size question

L

lodown2003

Member
anyone know what the correct tire size is for the spare tire ring and cover. the wheel is 16 by 5 inch. i bought a coker tire through summitt racing, but the sidewall is way to tall to fit inside the ring. tire size i bought was a 6.00x 16. any help would be great, thanks , ken.
 
I have a Firestone 600x16 on the back of my 1936 Sedan. Cover and ring fit fine. It is tight getting the ring on but is right. Are you sure you have the right cover and ring?
 
This is way beyond my expertise but I think I remember that the tire size was different between the standard and deluxe models. Someone should be able to comment on this (or check the restoration guidelines from the Early fFord V8 Club).

Charlie Stephens
 
Charlie Stephens said:
This is way beyond my expertise but I think I remember that the tire size was different between the standard and deluxe models. Someone should be able to comment on this (or check the restoration guidelines from the Early fFord V8 Club).

Charlie Stephens
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Not sure about 1936, but in 1937 the 85hp came with 6.00 X 16 and the 60hp came with 5.50 X 16. And the 60hp was almost always a Standard. TM
 
Possibly your problem is in the wheel.I think the wheel should be 16 by 4.A wider wheel would make it difficult. Cheers Geoff NZ
 
I'm not sure what your expectations are. The ring does not fully cover the bottom of the tire. With a 16" tire expect about a 9 inch gap at the bottom.

Here's a pic of mine with the filler (fiberglass) panel inserted.
 

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The correct size of tire for a '36 tire cover is 600 x 16 on a 4 or 4.5 inch wheel.
The stock 36-39 wheels with a 16" tire fit just fine, as does the '40 and later 4.5" wheels.
Contrary to what has been written in many publications, the standard '36 Ford did reputedly come with 550 x 16 tires on a 3.5 inch wheel and the "Standard Tire cover", i.e. August cover, will only fit a 550 x 16 tire on a 3.5" wheel.
As I have stated in many other treads about this topic, the printed info about the August cover tire size is incorrect, a 600 x 16 tire on a 4" wheel will fit the August cover..
It just could be that Ford specified the 550 x 16 on the 3.5 wheel, their thinking being unknown, however, in the real world the consumer opted for a 600 x 16 because the 550's were not a mainstream size of tire..
 
My father, a Ford dealer in the 30 and 40s, said that many of the metal covers were discarded after the unpleasant experiance of trying to replace a cover in 10 to 20 degree weather due to them being hard to put on even in favorable conditions. Many were relplaced with oiled cloth aftermarket covers popular at the time.
 
My spare tire is a 6:00 x16 Allstate original tire and it fits the cover and ring fine.
 
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Although it takes a larger size than your Ford, my 48 Zephyr which takes 7:00-15 tires, could not fit a Coker Firestone replacement tire. It seems that the replacement tires in my size were fatter from side to side by about 1/2" and I had to raise the trunk floor (plywood with a hatch) about 3/4 " in order to get the spare to fit and close the hatch. It is possible that your repo tires may have the same problem.
 
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