Width of a factory 15" rim / wheel

[nathanwind]

Aaron:

Thanks for the additional pics...I see with the rhd 2a you even had those small tires on the 16s.

Hey, if you ever make it up to the Lake George NY area from CT shoot me a note.

[yorker]

235 75 15s used to be a pretty standard 1/2 ton truck size, they were also a popular sizer on 88's in the 1980's and early 1990's. They aren't very tall and skinny though. BFG used to make 33-9.50 15s that worked well on Land Rover's 15" rims. They also made 30 9.50 15s, that were a popular upgrade from 235-75 15's.

The size of tires on these trucks used to be dictated by the load they were expected to carry- not asthetics. As a result 88's often had 6.00-6.50 16s, which were ~28-29" tall. 109's had 7.50 16s- ~31" tall, and 109 1 tons had 9.00 16s, ~34-35" tall.

Nowadays everyone seems to opt for the 31" and taller skinny tireson 88s, but if you look at original pictures from the 1960's and 1970's they generally ran much smaller tires. So with 30x9.5-15's or 235-75-15s/ 225-75 16's, you may look a little short and fat by today's standards but they will work just fine. 31 10.50s are the more or less flotation tire size for 235 75 15's-They work ok but look kind of balloony which was the whole point of that size...

I think one of the original sizes that came on LR 15" rims was H78 15, at any rate I know I have seen a lot of H78 15 tires on LR's in the past , it is an obsolete size now:

http://www.turbinecar.com/tires.htm

[cousindave]

I'm running 33X9.50X15 BFG Mud Terrains t

[nathanwind]

Dave:

Interesting...any issues with the 33s? Any chance you've got a pic?

Had my dad head over to the Series to get the current size from my tires...I was convinced they were 215s or 225s. Turns out they actually are 235/75-15s. Look way small as can be seen in my earlier pics. So 30x9.5-15 or 33x9.5-15 may definitely be they way to go (as many suggested). But would like to see the 33s in action...

[yorker]

Dave:

Interesting...any issues with the 33s? Any chance you've got a pic?

Had my dad head over to the Series to get the current size from my tires...I was convinced they were 215s or 225s. Turns out they actually are 235/75-15s. Look way small as can be seen in my earlier pics. So 30x9.5-15 or 33x9.5-15 may definitely be they way to go (as many suggested). But would like to see the 33s in action...

I am not dave but I ran BFG/ATs in 33 9.50 15s from ~98-'04 or so. They wore very well but were terrible in clay/mud so I ended up replacing them when someone gave me set of 16" rims with tires on them. I gave the 33.9.50 15s to my brother who used them on his FJ40 and then later moved them to his FJ80.

Here they are ont he FJ40 as compared to the 7.50 16s on my green 88:




On my LR they fit fine, I needed to adjust the steering stops a bit. My original motivation for buying them was that they were roughly the same diameter as 7.50 16s, BUT by buying the BFG 33 9.50 15s, I was able to use my original 15" rims, thus I saved $400 or so on new rims.

Also they are load range C which I think is far better suited to an 88.

[nathanwind]

Huge help, you guys are great - hopefully this thread with pics will help someone else in the future as well. I'll keep you all posted and will put pics up once I decide which size to go...but right now I think it's down to 30x9.5-15s or 33x9.5-15s.

Also, if any of you are in the upstate NY region at all I'm there winter/summer (with the Series), and in Washington DC the rest of the year fall/spring (with the Defender 110).

[yorker]

Yep I am upstate (~ Albany area) all year around as a rule.

[nathanwind]

Bump on this thread, mainly because I have one last question. I'm 99% sold on the 30x9.5-15s in the BFG All-Terrain T/A KOs, mainly because it will be a little larger tire, allow me to keep the 15" rims, and no stop-adjustments needed.

Here's the question: anyone have pics of this size on a Series that they can post up?

[nathanwind]

For anyone following this thread - or anyone with these questions in the future - I finally went with the 30x9.5-15 BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO's...and I'm VERY happy with them. Slightly larger (by 1.5" diameter) than the crappy radial 235/75-15's I had on there and much more suited to the Series.

No real performance decrease, though while it may be slightly slower off the line I really can't tell much of a difference. I did seem to gain a little on the top end however, as I was cruising home about 65-67mph with no problems (with no overdrive, but a fairly new tranny). This size is very well suited for this 88, whereas I think the 33's may have definitely been too large. A 31x9.5 may have been "perfect", but that is not a readily available size so 30x9.5 was a close second. Overall, again very pleased with the size selection - and glad I did not go with a new 235/75-15, though it is close in size it is definitely smaller than the 30x9.5's.

Pics attached showing before-after shots. Excuse the crappy iPhone camera, it's all I had with me.

[nathanwind]

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