1969 Tire Wheel Replacement?

[hoppydawg]

I am planning on recovering my 1969 compact and it is in the boonies far from reliable service options. What size wheels/tires can I purchase that will let me bring her back home? I have a 150 mile drive each way and want some piece of mind, as I will be traveling myself.

[safetybruce]

hoppydawg...first thing I would suggest is, obviously, if you plan to take rims and wheels with you, to swap out, is make sure you have the right lug pattern, and a narrow tire. My biggest problems when swapping tires on my trailers was getting the new tires to fit up into the wheel well, and onto the lugs. I also take a couple cheap Wal-Mart 3 ton "floor jacks" and a couple 2-ton piston jacks with base boards for working on unlevel or soft ground. Second might be to see, if you don't already know how, how to do a re-pack of the bearings, If you get the tires off the ground when you are replacing them, and find the wheels spin fine, you might not even have to bother for a 150 mile tow. If you don't repack the bearings, and put your replacement tires on, please stop within the first 10 miles or so and put your hands down on the spindles...if one or both are real hot to the touch, you might need to repack the bearings on the hot spindle before continuing...after the first check, on my first run I check about every 50 miles for the next 150 miles. Finally if you are not sure about the tire size, ask the seller to copy down the size currently on the Compact...that should be a sure fit, and he/she can also confirm the lug pattern. Good luck with the retrieval...take it easy, and hopefully that little camper will follow you right home.

[safetybruce]

sorry hoppy...one more obvious...I took my Chevy Z-71 truck tire iron and happened to also drop the "little" tire iron from my '93 Geo Metro in as an afterthought when I went after my '61 Compact...the Chevy lug wrench was way too big, but that little Metro one fit just right...I carry a 4-way criss cross lug wrench, and actually carry a set of deep sockets and a torque bar that fits most lugs now...course that is because I am the author of the next thread down...expensive lesson learned...and I either did not seat the tapered end of the lugs in the holes properly, or did not tighten the lugs tight enough and was real lucky.

[hastashasta]

I think you should call someone near the trailer to go read or take the measurements for you like safetybruce said. From what I've read here, your rims could be 13", 14", or 15". My 1965 16-SC had 205/75R15s when I picked her up, but they were dry rotted. I had to find replacements in a small town on a Saturday morning. Fortunately I did find a local tire shop open, but their closest match were MasterTrack ST225/75R15s at about $55ea. The 205s were tough to get off and the 225s even tougher to get on due to the narrow clearance. So, if you can find something just a little narrower than 205 in your rim size, go for that.

Next, do everything else safetybruce said...jacks, grease, heat check...

[hoppydawg]

Thanks. I do recall that they were 13" tires.