Sears Suburbans

Rustyoldjunk

Rustologist/Punishment Glutton
Senior Member
Member
Here are some Suburbans that I have been working on here and there.
The 68 in the front in the first picture is a Suburban 12. I have had it for a while.
It has a OH160 16hp engine in it and upgraded front spindles,tie rods and drag links. It also has later wide front wheels. The rear wheels are the fairly hard to find factory extra wide wheels with the factory 10 23 Sears tires.
The other 68 I got more recently. It is all stock with the exception of a Kohler carb on it now. I need to replace the ignition switch on it.
The 66 in the the second picture is a first year Roper Suburban 12. It was not even a roller when I hauled it home.
The 66 Suburbans have some of the 59-65 David Bradley Suburban holdovers that were gone after 66.
This one had steering issues. So I replaced the whole front frame,front axle,spindles and,steering with a frontend from a 73 ST12 Suburban.
Lots of upgrades by doing this.
Then I bolted a 14hp OH 140 engine on it.
The front tires are 5.70-8 Goodyear tires. They are 18 inches tall,a couple inches taller than most of our 8 inch front tires.
I found them on a pile at a tire shop and bought them,brought them home and put them on a narrow pair of front wheels.
All three are works in progress (along with a dozen other works in progress).
The 66 I still need to get wired up to run. The two 68's run good.
Then theres a original 66 in the back of a shed that I need to get to that is not pictured here,that I'm also slowly working on.
 

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Tahoe the early spindles are shorter with a larger bolt in the end of the spindle to hold the wheel on.
The later spindles are longer and use a spindle nut and a smaller end bolt to hold the wheel on,but you already knew that.
I like the longer spindles because I can use other brand wheels,with longer hubs, with them if I want to. I sometimes like to use Wheel Horse front and rear wheels because the offset is wider.
 
I know about end bolts, but didn't realize they had different size spindles, good info to know.
My son found out about the reverse thread on the left side with his 64 725....even after I told him, to be 15 yrs old. LOL. I ended up welding the bolt back together.
 
I'm looking for 16x5.00-8 will those 5.70-8 tires work for the front ow what size would work?
These are taller. Yours are 16 inches tall these are 18.
You could use a common 16 6.50 8 tire or you could go to your local tires or check with online tire suppliers or ebay. Miller tire would have the size that you are looking for,I would think.
 
I have have a pair of 4.00-8 tri ribs on a Simplicity 725. I put them on it close to 20 years ago. Of all the different sizes and types of tires that I have ran over the years these are among my very favorites.
Also another thing to note.
The old tires had a different way of giving tire height.
Here is a picture from one of the Goodyear's on the front of one of my 66 Suburbans. 5.70/5.00-8
The tire is 5.70 wide and the side walls are 5.00 and they fit a 8 inch wheel.
Newer tires will give you the total claimed tire height. Such as 6.50/16-8.
The middle number tells you that the tire is 16 inches tall.
On older tires like my 5.70/5.00-8 the side wall is 5 inches tall. 5 inches above the wheel,5 inches below the wheel plus a 8 inch tall wheel for a total height of 18 inches.
 

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