Let's talk front wheels/tires

Good afternoon,

I have a late 70's Massey industrial loader tractor with 15x8 (6 lug) front wheels and 11l15s tires. My spindles were bad so I sourced some replacements and now the inside of the tire on one side is slightly rubbing the steering cylinder tie rod end. The other side has minimal clearance. It looks like maybe the camber is ever so slightly different when they manufactured these spindles...not sure. Even with the old spindles, there wasn't a lot of clearance. It was very tough to find replacement spindles so I'm sorta stuck with it. Tractor drives and steers just fine and bushings/bearings are new and tight.

That being said, the tires have dry rot and the wheels have seen better days so I need to figure out a plan forward. Would really appreciate some advice

Here are the options that I'm thinking of:

1. Try to find some 15x8 6x6 wheels with less backspace and get new 11l15s. This should help with the clearance issue.

2. Buy same 15x8 wheels and drop to 9.5l15s which are slightly narrower.

3. Buy same 15x8 wheels and switch to a slightly narrower truck tire since Ill be doing more work in the woods next year. Seems like the multi rib tires wouldnt be the best choice for small scale logging and brush work.

Thanks in advance.

Drew

This post was edited by Drew.Styduhar on 06/06/2023 at 02:27 pm.

What size tire are you running? Sounds like its too
big. Lots of smaller tractors like that cant run any
bigger than 7.50-16 (Fords and International).
Maybe you need a 7.00 or 6.50- 15.

Would welding one of those bolt hole reinforcement rings on the inside of the old wheels give you enough clearance?

I agree on something other than tractor tires. Truck, or some kind of industrial tire.
What's wrong with the wheels?

They are 11L15 and was a factory option with this tractor...prob if it had the backhoe which mine doesnt.

Thats an interesting thought. Not sure what those are...where can to find them?? Thanks

The wheels are cracked where the factory welds are. Found this out after moving dirt/rock all weekend.

How much back space does the current wheels have
My Fords run 4 5/8 inch back space wheels
At that back space with 8x15 s 11L15 s rub the spindles but 9.5L15 are a good fit with 1/4-1/2 clearance
I m running 9.5L15 four rib on 8 inch rims on my small loader tractor
I m running 11L15 four rib on 10 inch rims on my 6610
Both 8 and 10 inch rims have 4 5/8 back space

Look here
reinforcement rings

Truck type used tires would be fine with me. Tho I would want wide tires on a loader so Im not sure my choices would actually help......

Rims with a different center offset to allow more clearance will put slightly more pressure on your front wheel bearings but should be fine would be my other equally
appealing choice.

One of those.

I would not want to go to skinnier tires on a tractor with a loader, sooner the other way.

Paul

If the wheels are cracked by the welds. I would go a couple routes. One being to just grind some out and reweld with 7018 or to get new centers and cut the old ones out. Heywheel has a couple different centers available. One just fits in and welds. the other looks just like you had a new wheel when pressed in. I have used both. The pressed in one needs some real pressure to put in. I had a telehandler setting on the center while I drove it down with a sledge hammer. I then centered it to what I needed and welded it in. I believe I just welded it in spaced between the old center pieces left welded to the old rim. Another option would be to put on Skid steer wheels if they woulf fit the bolt holes. With the new centers you could adjust the offset s bit to give more clearance on the spindles.

Drew,. Make sure you get rims for a
tractor, not wagon rims. Tractor rims
have a far heavier center in them. If you
use this in muddy conditions, I'd get some
11Lx15 3 or 4 rib 12 ply tires. Yes I
know they will be a bear to mount. Good
luck with the old gal.

IH tractors have a similar backspacing requirement to keep the tires from rubbing on the knees of the wide front end.

There's a company that knows all about it and will ensure you have the correct rims for your tractor. I just can't remember the name. I was thinking Gensco but they're the ones that sell aircraft tires. Another I thought of was Wold Wheel but that's not right either, though they might be able to supply you with what you need.

I found these guys a while back when I was looking for some 11.00 16s. The tires are recapped LT radials and they will turn a nail and they are fairly tough. The ones I bought are not that old so I
don't know how their rubber ages but they are good tires.

https://www.tirerecappers.com/product-category/farm-construction-tires/


If I were you I'd buy new/used 8 rims and put their 31X10.5X15 tire on it. It's a bit narrower than the 11.00 tractor tire if you are that close that its just rubbing. If you had said you couldn't
tighten the bolts on the tire without pushing in the side wall you would need a narrower tire. A 1/4 to a 1/2 inch makes all the difference in the world.

First thing i would look as is.... will a taller 16 rim fix the problem, all things being equal? Being the rims will be slightly higher up, will this give you the needed clearance,, remember that is will be only 1/2 taller on top and bottom but due to angle of spindle this might be all you need.

ALSO. 16inch front tractor tires are most common, and 16 hd used truck tires are literally everywhere for almost free.

I appreciate all of the suggestions & info. Thanks to all!

Drew

(quoted from post at 09:16:47 06/07/23) ALSO. 16inch front tractor tires are most common, and 16 hd used truck tires are literally everywhere for almost free.

Click to expand...

Used to be but not so much anymore. Most HD pickup trucks these days come with 17's 18's or 20's. Availability of good used 16's has really gone downhill in the last 5 years, and anything much older than 5 years is dry rotted. Forget 20 year old tires, they're practically dust.

Hi again,

I was looking for new wheels and getting very confused about what to buy as a replacement. My factory parts manual shows the 15x8 wheel as part #843327M2 but when I search on the internet I see a variety of backspace/offset options where this part number is "interchangeable"

Here's what I measured:

- 4-5/8" to 4-11/16" from rear wheel lip to rear mounting face. Not quite 4-3/4 like I thought it would be.

- ~4-5/16" from front lip to rear mounting face.

- Hub thickness was checked with caliper as .330" or so and aligns measurements above as the difference between the two?

- Seems like the wheel offset would be the first measurement minus the second measurement where....

4-5/8" - 4-5/16" = 5/16 = .325

So I guess the offset is somewhere around 5/16?

I see listings with the following;

(1) 1/4" offset and 4-3/4" backspacing
(2) 1-1/8 offset and no other info
(3) 1-1/8 offset and 5-5/8 backspace
(4) 1-1/8 offset and 4-3/4 backspace

My gut feeling is the 1/4" offset #1 is correct...not sure what to make of the others...especially #4. What a headache...

Drew
.

This post was edited by Drew.Styduhar on 06/09/2023 at 01:03 pm.

(quoted from post at 17:05:48 06/06/23)
How much back space does the current wheels have
My Fords run 4 5/8 inch back space wheels
At that back space with 8x15 s 11L15 s rub the spindles but 9.5L15 are a good fit with 1/4-1/2 clearance
I m running 9.5L15 four rib on 8 inch rims on my small loader tractor
I m running 11L15 four rib on 10 inch rims on my 6610
Both 8 and 10 inch rims have 4 5/8 back space

Click to expand...

Do you have a part number or link to where I could find those wheels you mentioned with the 4-5/8 backspace??

Thanks,

Drew

The company I got mine from was Hey Machinery Co, better known as Hey Wheel
They are located in Baldwin City, Kansas

They are what they call a drop center wheel
I called them, don t remember what off set the wheel has but I told them they couldn t have more than 4 3/4 back space and closer to 4 5/8 would be better