Manx Accesory Wide 5 Steel Rims

louisb · Post by **louisb** » Tue May 11, 2010 2:23 pm

I am trying to find the size of the wide 5 steel rims offered by Meyers for their buggies. I have found a few brochures that list 14x7 & 15x7. Is that correct? Anyone know what size rims are on Old Red?

Thanks,

--louis

ManxManiac · Post by **ManxManiac** » Tue May 11, 2010 4:26 pm

Our Manx (M1609C8S22) was built in April 68 & the builder installed the "Bruce Meyers recommended" 14" X 6" on the front & 15" X 8" on the rear & they are original "Jackman" brand wheels. They have held up real well all these years & I'm going to restore them soon.
Some folks do prefer to use a 15" X 7" on the rear.

louisb · Post by **louisb** » Tue May 11, 2010 6:07 pm

Cool thanks. I have a set of 15x6.5 wide smoothies I plan tol use in the rear and just picked up a set of Thing 14" smoothies for the front. I plan to send the 14"s out to get widened, 5.5 or 6.5 and change the offset. Now I need to decide between 70 and 75 series tires for the right vintage look.

Thanks,

--louis

ManxManiac · Post by **ManxManiac** » Tue May 11, 2010 9:51 pm

We use our buggy as a true "dualsport", on & off road, so I was fairly picky when I bought tires. The rear tires on Xena right now, are P235/70R15 Pirelli Scorpion AS & I run about 10 psi ALL the time, on & off road! They've worked real well in the last 10 years & they have a bit over 75,000 miles on them! About 4 years ago, I took a 4" grinder with a cut-off wheel on it & very carefully re-grooved them just a tiny bit! It really made a big difference!
Mounted on the 15 X 8 wheels, they started their career at about 28 1/2" in diameter, which worked real well on & off road with the 4.37 R&P & the almost stock 1600 cc engine.
Soon I'll be installing a reverse-rotation 6 cylinder Corvair engine that has about 2800cc's/164 cid & then I'll be installing a set of 31", maybe 32" tall tires, not sure of the tread design yet. Over the years, I've found that real aggressive treaded tires on the rear are not really necessary on a buggy.

I have several different sets of tires/wheels for the front. For the last several years I've been running a pair of BF Goodrich All Terrain Radials that are 27 X 8.5 X 14 on the 14 X 6 Jackmans. I also have a pair of chrome stock style (actually the Porsche style) 5.5" wide wheels with P205/65R15 tires. The last set is a pair of stock wheels with P195R15s mounted on them. They've all worked fairly well, but the BFGs have held up the best! ALL front tires run about 10 psi too!

Deciding on which tires & wheels to run on your buggy, is probably one of the most agonizing decisions you'll ever make.
Good Luck!!!

louisb · Post by **louisb** » Wed May 12, 2010 2:11 am

Thanks for the input. I have been kicking it around today and I think I have settled on a 195 or 205/70R14s front and 225 or 235/70R15s rear. I need to see how a 235/70 fits on a 6.5" rim before I decide. (Don't want the tire to look like its squeezed on the rim.) Engine will be a 100hp 1835 backed up by a stock geared 4.12 R&P tranny so I don't want to get to crazy with the tire height. The Manx will see mostly street use with lots of highway miles planned and the occasional dirt road on the way to the primitive camp site. The hard part is finding a tire that has the right vintage look and size.

Thanks,

--louis

jsturtlebuggy · Post by **jsturtlebuggy** » Wed May 12, 2010 5:04 am

The tires that are in my 1969 Manx catalog list for the front a Gates 7.35-14 used on a 6x15in wheel. They are 27in tall. This tire and wheel combo looks to be what is on Old Red. They are no longer made. The Mickey Thompson MiniMag E78-15 is the very close to the same style. They are a off road racing tire and a soft compound and wear fast on pavement.

For the rear tires offered were G70-15 and 10.00-15 Gates tires. The rear wheels were 8x15. The G70 was 27 1/2in tall and the 10.00 were about 28in tall. They both are no longer made. Mickey Thompson tires makes something close but is 30in tall and not as wide.

On Bruce's Kick Out the wheels are old Ansen wheels that are 7x15 front and 8.5x15 rears with BFG T/A radials fronts 215/60R15, rears 255/70R15 Front are approx. 26in tall, rears 29in tall.

If you have stock transmission gearing and a small engine using over 28in tire in the rear will not work well as it will be lugging the engine. Changing to close ratio 3th and 4th gears works great if you decide to run a larger than 28in tire.

louisb · Post by **louisb** » Wed May 12, 2010 11:40 am

Thanks for the info! From what you posted, and checking this handy chart , it looks like:

7.35-14 = 205/70R14

G70-15 = 225/70R15

So it looks like I was right on with my choices. My rear rims are only 15x6.5" which will work with the 225/70R15, or I could always sell those and have another set widened to 15x8.

Again, thanks,

--louis