tires

[john2189]

How many cubs out there still have the original rear tires? I have two 49s and they both have the same good year rear tires, same tread and size. They still have very good tread, but both have some weather cracks.. Just curious

[ScottyD'sdad]

Tread rarely wears, on the tires, unless used on the road, a lot. My neighbor replaces tires, every 5 or 6 years, due to farming many parcels, within 10 miles of so. Side walls dry out and crack, on most cub tires, when the tread looks barely used. Probably not many originals, left, unless they were stored under "ideal conditions", whatever that means.
Ed

[AL Farmall Boy]

How can one "date" the tires?

[ScottyD'sdad]

How can one "date" the tires?

Don't know, I preferred dating girls!
Actuaslly, early cub rears, had continuous cleats, not seperate cleats.
Ed

[Brendan In NC]

My 1964 Cub does, B.F Goodrich Silvertown Turf Tires on the Front that looks like there about to poof into a cloud of dust But! on the Rear are some Decent original Firestone R-3 Turf Tires in good shape

[AL Farmall Boy]

Yeah, I've heard people talk about there being a date on tires somewhere but I've yet to see that or find out what to look for.

[Pickerincal]

Those funny numbers that are on the side wall that aren't the tire size or make much sense, You can google it. I had to do this last year because a guy sold me tires that couldn't be balanced. Turned out they had been rejects and had been floating around from tire store to tire store for about a year and a half..

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

I worked on a cub several years ago that still had one of the original style tires on it. On hard ground, such as driveway etc. it felt like it was jumping from cleat to cleat, like lugs on a steel wheel. figured it was aired up to high and checked it. No air in it at all, tire was just that stiff. Adding air did not help.

[smallfarm]

My guess is there may be more original tires around than some may think.

My dad's TO20 has one rear tire that my grandfather put on about 1960. Just broke it off this winter. The tube was rubbed thin on the rusty rim and went flat every day. Cleaned up the rim new tube -- tire went back on the rim.
Had a car tire go flat about 10 years ago. It had a red inner tube (WWII vintage)
Back in the 60's I rode my dad's bicycle with wood rims and tires that were glued to the rims. Didn't get too far but they were put on in the 30's
Have three Monkey Wards tires on one car. don't know how old they are.
OLD tires can last a long time if kept off the wet ground -- kept from flat tire cracking -- away from solvents -- out of the sun. Don't expect that from the new ones. Some of them (CHINA) smell funny compared to what I remember Akron Ohio smelling like back in the day.

[Arthur Dent]

I have not had any luck googling the date code on my rear tires. The only thing that comes up is my previous post asking about this very subject.

[Don McCombs]

Try this.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... 28233034:s

[Rick Spivey]

Not sure about agriculture tires, but car tires only carried a week, and last digit of the year up to the late 90's or early 2000. Then they started lasting longer than 10 years, and the DOT had to add another digit. So a tire made in week 42 of 1977 would have had 427 in the DOT sequence, but once we couldn't figure out if that was '77 or '87 or '97, they added a digit, so under the new code it would be 4277. Again, don't know if Ag tires subscribe to DOT rules or not.

[Arthur Dent]

Hmmm, that's a shame then. So my rear tires read:

BF GOODRICH SILVERTOWN
POWER GRIP
8.3 - 24 ON 7" RIM 8-24
OB8 3Y598

If the last digits of the last line can be assumed to be a date code which follows the described system, then these tires were made during the 59th week of ***8.
Since the tractor is a 1960, I don't have too hard a time believing the tires were made in 1958, or possibly replacements made during the next decade or two.
But I have a little trouble with that 59th week bit.

[Don McCombs]

http://farmindustrynews.com/date-stamped-tires

[Scrivet]

.......
But I have a little trouble with that 59th week bit.

People used to work longer hours back then!

The other things you list are raised numbers and letters. Date codes and such are usually (?) sunk/stamped/recessed/cut into the sidewall. Sometimes in a small indented or outlined area. Is your suspected date code raised or set in?

It is also possible they didn't follow the rules.