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Tractor tires on stock 13"s?


Rnasty
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I have about 3 sets of stock steel wheels. One for summer, one for winter, and I want to put some dedicated small tractor tires on the 3rd one for exploring the ATV trails. Anyone have experience doing this? I know is probably have to do fender trimming ,but the car (84GL) there going on is already a trail only rig so saw modding is fine.

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13" tractor tires don't exist,at they didn't when I ran some.You will need some 14" rims off a 6 lug mazda or something and drill holes in steel rims for them to fit or redrill your hubs for 6 lug(6x5.5).The tire size you are looking for is 6-14 which is about a 27" tire.Offroad the traction is unmatched but you do not have the HP to spin them and make the mud fly.On my 83 gl that had tractor tires on it, pressing the gas just made it go faster in the deep mud.It was unstoppable in mud,but on the snow the tires were too aggressive/narrow and they would just dig down until you high centered.For snow your gonna want something like a 235/75/15 in an allterrain also about 27" but that also requires new rims.

 

I ran street tires to get there and then I changed out tires.

trucket.jpg~original

 

an older pic showing the tires on the car.

overallveiw.jpg~original

 

front.jpg~original

 

When I got the car the front end was smashed so I tried to pull it out with my truck,didn't even feel the slack in the coming out until it ripped the front off the car.So I found an old bed frame and used it to make a core support to mount the radiator. Eventually I put something across the bottom of the radiator.Then I used some cheap off road lights I had for some headlights...

 

Eventually, I got tired changing out the tires and instead opted for a lift and bigger tires year round.

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Was thinking about a 6 lug redrill, have some nice Isuzu rims and a ugly set of a Mazda truck.Both 15s just wanted to use up my 13s if possible but meh more spares. Not to worried about snow, have a few good snowmachines and we haven't got much for snow last few years. You suggested side by side tracks in a different post I believe, would probably do just that if I really wanted to drive it in deep snow.

 

Any experience in sand and water with that wagon? Would tractor tires be worth it over just some good mud tires considering my ea81 wagon doesn't have the HP?

 

The wagon

post-63798-0-58294600-1476679922_thumb.jpeg

 

Currently has no radiator and a bad starter. Thinking about mounting a new radiator where the spare tire would go.

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The tractor tires work great but they have issues with tree roots.

Sand-see snow.

Horizontal radiators have been done before,Just have a radiator shop change the filler tube and possibly the outlets  to better suit your layout.Mounting can be however simple or complex you want it to be,some people have made tilting setups that use hydraulic hood or tailgate supports to lift the radiator up while other have been perfectly content to just mount it solid.

 

Your tire choice depends on your preferences.If you live out in the woods where you can just start the car and your at the area you want to explore then tractor tires.If you have any amount of pavement driving to do then run some 235/75/15 mud tires.Changing tires and keeping the other set in the car is a major PITA,especially after a day of wheeling when its raining or snowing and your cold,tired,wet,and dirty and just want to go home.

Edited by Uberoo
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Darn there's lots of sandy places I was hoping to explore. The best mudding around here is in in around the sand, other than that it's mostly swamp. If tree roots are a problem too tractor tires don't seem to good for around here. Then agine any yota or jeep with super swappers is gonna make it about 10 feet before there done, so mud tires aren't that great aswell. guess I'm up the creak thanks for the advice anyway.

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subarus /= toyotas. a good set of mud tires on a subaru will do wonders because subarus are so light and in stockish form their bellys are flat like a sled. A subaru wagon like yours only weighs 2500-2700 lbs, remove the carpet,headliner,rear seats,and a few other things and they are very light. Toyotas on the other hand are alot closer to 4K+ lbs,it takes alot bigger tires to get them to float on stuff.The hatch in my sig was running 31x10.5x15  mud tires and the tires were too wide for it.It would just spin on mud without really grabbing traction, in the snow it was amazing because it floated on top of the snow and only sunk in a half an inch.However you will need a ej22 or ej25 to make the power needed to spin the tires,that or massive weight reduction,or both.You don't need the hood,tailgate,doors,glass,front fenders,etc for a trail rig... :)

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Found some ATV rims at the landfill. There completly flat so I think I can redrill them to fit, welding some reinforcements wouldn't be hard but they look strong. Will defiantly have to lighten the car up and get some strong UTV tubes. If it works alright I'll get some new tires or if it dosnt work at all, I'll just do 15"s and good tires. Biggest tires if found that will fore sure fit on the rim are these https://www.amazon.com/Kenda-K299-Bear-Claw-27x11-00R12/dp/B005D2COSQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1476861649&sr=1-3&th=1

 

Might not be the best way to get my wagon on the trails but I'm gonna try it.

 

 

post-63798-0-01919900-1476936034_thumb.jpeg

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ATV tires/rims are usually only good for ~400 lbs per tire,so anything from the car that you can afford to lose, see that its lost.

remove: swaybars,hood,fenders,doors,hatch,glass,rear seats,AC,headliner, carpet,windshield wipers,rear speakers,etc.You can also go bit OCD and remove unused wiring and brackets from the car.The roof can be cut off after the C pillar.

 

I mentioned swaybars first because 1. they limit suspension travel, and 2. they are largely irrelevant even on a street car. So remove them and their brackets for a ~10 lb weight reduction.

 

It also stands to reason that if the driver has bit of extra weight to spare they could also lose some weight.

 

In the engine bay replace any bad hoses,then wrap all of the coolant hoses with electrical tape to help shield them from the UV radiation so they last longer.

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