[Aircobra101]

my car came with the clearly wrong huge 15x7 and gigantic rock crawler tyres
been all over the internet, the manual and the parts fiche, but can;t quite close the deal
so hoping for the expert advice
1. the advertising brochures show either the black or white 16 steelies or 15 white spokes
2. the service manual lists 2 sizes for a 79 and and 80
the 80 ( which I think is the stockman) has 5.5jjx15 and fr78 -15 ( tubeless) which I think is 195 x15 modern equivalent
3. the parts fiche lists all 3 wheels,
4.4 x16 - the "solid wheel", much like the LJ50. 6x16 4 ply tyres
same as above, but with bigger 5 slots, like the early sierras
5.5x15 8 spokes with 195sr15 or fr78x15

so that tells me that there was obviously a year dependency and perhaps some options - the 8 spoke being a candidate
now, I can only get the 6 ply bar treads ( the indian job) which reading this forum is a crap idea since the originals were 4 ply
will be doing mostly city slicker driving
does anyone know the truth?

[Gwagensteve]

I bet they’re not “gigantic rock crawler tyres”- I bet they’re 31” radial road tyres that fit well and work effectively with the gearing, but anyways....

I’m a bit confused about your goals. On the one hand you seem to want originality, on the other, something suitable for “city slicker driving”

These are contradictory.

The Fische is correct

FR78’s are no longer available. An early (1.0 litre or NT 1.3) white 8 spoke 15.5” rim with a ~215 75 15 all terrain tyre would be as close as you could have to a road friendly yet factory appearing solution.

Bar treads are appalling on road.

There are no suitable equivalents to a 6.00x16 bar tread available

[sideways]

The original tyres in Australia are 16x600 bartreads on 16x4.5 disc wheels with tubes in them.

I've been running 6 ply bartreads on my LJ80v for years. Whilst they're no where near as bad on the road as people make out they are very tiresome on the highway, the car wanders all over the place going 90+km/h. Traction in the wet isn't up to modern standards but it's not dangerous either, driving normally you wouldn't notice. Mine are virtually silent. Offroad they pull good traction but they tend to fold over on side angles and make everything feel more sketchy than it should.

There's nothing wrong with running 6 plys IMO.

Personally, I'd move away from bartreads. There's a few different options, it depends on what else you plan to mod. Bartreads are pretty big in diameter but for city driving I found 1st gear still far to low, with tyres any smaller you'd be taking off in 2nd all the time. For highway cruising it desperately needs a 5th gear, with smaller tyres it'd be even worse. Seeing as you're looking at road use and you've got diff problems I'd seriously looking into picking up a set of 4.11 diff gears from an SJ40 Sierra, they just bolt in. That will give you roughly 10% taller gearing.

Although they're still available, 16x600 is an obsolete size. 205r16 is the modern equivalent, they're a little taller and wider but fit fine on the stock wheels. They're readily available in several different patterns, the downside is they have quite high load ratings but in reality I don't think that will matter for your use.

215/75r15s will go on stock Sierra rims and work fine. A little on the small side. There's heaps available in this size.

16x600 = 28.6" diameter
FR78 = 27.4"
215/75r16 = 28"
205r16 = 29"
215r15 (215/80r15) =28.5" There's virtually nothing available in this size but it would be a great size if there was.

As a side effect of wheel choice, I went from FR78s on sunraysia style wheels to bartreads on stock LJ wheels and my brakes went from being fine to fading as soon as you touched the pedal. I couldn't stop using the brakes if I was going 60+km/h. A disc brake conversion fixed that but it shows the difference some ventilation makes.

[Eddy]

6.50 16 should be easy enough to get ... either highway, lugs or bartread.
7.00 16 also pretty fair

[vet 180]

sideways wrote:

215r15 (215/80r15) =28.5" There's virtually nothing available in this size but it would be a great size if there was.

You should be able to get Hankook atm's in this size

[Aircobra101]

thanks for the advice
plenty of choice on 205r16 on carsales
but what profile? 0?
the best price i get for the mrf bartread in mleb fitted is $170ea

[Gwagensteve]

205’s are going to ride like iron on an LJ