New owner of a Finnish Bofors 40mm

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Jon,

Good for you! The Bofors is of course an iconic piece of artillery.

Re. 7.00-20 tyres: I looked into this for my 20-cwt trailer and they are still being made to cater for the vintage truck and trailer market. They may not be available off the shelf and will come at a cost, but they are out there.

Now, how about you showing us some pictures?

[David Herbert]

Surely the 7.00-20 size was renamed 7.50-20 so GMC CCKW tyres would fit. These are readily available as they are still being manufactured as NDCC (bar grip !). Even if the sizes are different they are very close.

David

[Grant Bowker]

Coker Tire lists 700-20 as available in highway tread pattern. https://www.cokertire.com/tires/fire...ad-761401.html Not all trailed equipment got cross country tires. They didn't need driving traction and highway tires used less rubber.
If Coker has them the other usual suspects will too - Universal, Wallace Wade, Summit - whoever offers the best total deal on tir, tube, flap, shipping, etc.

[rob love]

Although I know it never happens here on MLU, but I'll sidetrack for a minute to say that I believe Wallace Wade Tires is no more. Wallace passed a couple years ago and a google search shows the company is no more and the warehouse is for sale. Derk Derin and myself both have humorous memories of dealing with Wallace at some of the MVPA conventions. He was a tire man to the end.

[Grant Bowker]

Thanks for the update - one less distributor. It was from WW that the Hammond crew sourced our buy of 10.50x16 tires and that did work out well.

[rob love]

You mentioned Summit who are my go to guys for the vintage tires these days. They offer free shipping to the border, which works out well. At least it will when the border opens. Their price is $367 Canadian shipped.
https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/cok-77240

The farm implement tires, if cheaper, might well be the way to go since you are unlikely to be towing this configuration down the highway. I can't speak to the relative lifespan(weathercracking) of an implement tire vs a highway tire though.

[Grant Bowker]

With absolutely no actual data to go on, I suspect the rubber on a "working" farm tire might be better formulated to resist UV and weather than a "collector" tire.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by David Herbert

Surely the 7.00-20 size was renamed 7.50-20 so GMC CCKW tyres would fit. These are readily available as they are still being manufactured as NDCC (bar grip !). Even if the sizes are different they are very close.

[ mode on ]

No, 7.00-20 was not renamed to 7.50-20. The 7.50-20 is a different tyre with a section width being .5" larger. The section height should also be somewhat lager as that is dictated by the section width. But the 7.50-20 tyre having a wheel diameter of 20" will fit on the Bofors gun rims as they have a comparable - if not identical - rim width (bead) as the wheels used on GMCs.

So yes, "Even if the sizes are different they are very close"

[ mode off ]

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[David Herbert]

I knew that !

However I thought that it was like the change in the UK from 13.50-20 to 14.00-20 and 10.50-20 to 11.00-20 where for a while the tyres were marked with both sizes. Possibly the term re-designation would have been better ?

In any case tyre sizes are not that precise, particularly the width measurements and do vary a surprising amount between manufacturers.

David

[Peter Duggan]

Guys,

I live in the same county as Jon, and just had to go and visit when I heard about his latest acquisition. Maintaining the correct social distancing, I was able to catch up with all the latest and check out his new piece. For an infantryman, Jon has a definite soft spot for artillery.
I also know how much we enjoy pictures, so here's my contribution.

Peter


IMG_2218.jpg

[Jon Bradshaw]

Thanks Peter for the pic.

Everyone else thank you for the interest. The wheel sub thread was interesting.

The pile of tools that came with it was also excellent, the shell removing tools are key as once they are in the loader they don't come out easy without it.

Here are the anticipated photos. I can put up more but for now these and the one from Peter should suffice.

As you can see there is very little rust and aside from the "modern" parts attached and the bad black and green paint scheme it looks like a vintage from the blitz.

[Jon Bradshaw]

So the followup on the tire discussion, the implement tires are roughly $120 CAD each and then roughly $30 for each tube. $150 x 4 is not too bad. Once I get the rims cleaned and painted they can be put on with all the care and attention needed an old split rim wheel.
The implement tire as mentioned is not a high speed wheel but this will likely never go anywhere on the roads unless on another trailer. Low speed for a parade or anything like that will be fine.
Bumping around out in a field is what they are made for and the quality of the farm tires is usually very good.

To start a new discussion- what is the most likely tractor for these? CMP? APT? Half track? or a form of gun tractor?