Massey Harris 44 tyres

[Donkeyhead]

I need to find a pair of rear tyres for my Massey Harris 44, currently it has 13.5-28 on one side and 14-28 on the other, both are badly cracked, the 14-28 is almost too wide and only just clears the mudguard so ideally I'd be hunting for something in the 13.5-28 size. Does anyone have a pair of matching tyres, I'm in northern Victoria near Echuca.
Thanks
Mike

[chappy]

hi all we have just put a pair of 13-6-28 on ours but have been told that 14-6-28 might be better for hight 13-50-28 is what was on it
Ron

[Donkeyhead]

Hi Ron, I talked to a tyre shop yesterday the helpful owner gave me the dimensions of the new tyres available and he suggested the 14.9-28 as being the closest replacement, but while they are similar in diameter to the old tyres they are definitely going to be too wide for my 44K, but according to the measurements he gave me the 13.6-28 is about 4" (100mm) smaller in diameter on a 13" rim so I'm curious to hear how your new tyres look on the tractor, what brand are they and if you don't mind me asking how much did they cost?

According to my photocopied Owners Book for the MH44 I bought from America, and the Red Tractor Book owned by a mate here in Oz they were supposedly a 13-30 rear wheel on the MH44 standard tractors, but mine is a 28" and it looks like yours is the same, I wonder why the difference from the original specification, are your rims 13"?
Thanks
Mike

[cobbadog]

The bigger tyre would be great, if it fits on a 13" wide rime properly, for doing treks as it will give you a slightly higher top speed or the ability to reduce the revs a bit to keep at the nominated top speed. Smaller tyre will give you better torque for ploughing or sled pulls. The possibility of different tyre sizes from the book to actual on the tractor here is, just maybe, the tractor arrive here without wheels and tyres and were supplied and fitted here in Oz.

[Donkeyhead]

Were any of these Massey Harris tractors built in Oz, or just imported, because I had a funny one yesterday when I refitted the reconditioned head to the old girl and found the head tightening sequence in the MH 44 Owners Book I have showed a completely different set up and number of head studs to my tractor.
Mike

[Davidsyme]

These tractors were imported, if it has cast wheels they were possibly made by McKays Sunshine.
David.

[Donkeyhead]

Hi David, this one has cast wheels, perhaps 28" tyres were more easily available in 1949 in Oz when my tractor was sold, than the 30" wheels the Owners Book from America says it should have?.
Mike

[chappy]

Hi Mike, the tyres we got are second hand but goo tread $ 300 the pair new $600 the pair in Wangaratta one rim has bolts through all 3 parts the other has bolts going through the middle and one side then otheres  going the other way so are offset

Ron

[Thomas Tisch]

Hi there,

according to my Information 12.75x28 became 14x28 became 16,9x28
13.5x28 became 15x28 became 18.4x28
Therefore it does surprise me that the 14x28 on your tractor should be bigger than the 13.5x28

Cheers,

Thomas Tisch

[Donkeyhead]

Hi Chappy, How do those 13.6-28 tyres look on your tractor, the measurements I was given suggest they are about 4" smaller in diameter so the tractor will now sit lower on the back by 2", but I guess you wouldn't really notice that?

$600 the pair for new tyres is a good price, but $300 for decent secondhand is even better, I was quoted $430 plus GST each for new 14.9-28 tyres by a tyre shop west of me    though my tractor will only do 4 or 5 hours a year so I can't justify spending big money on new rear tyres, though I assume I'll need to replace even the rough front 7.60-16 tyres as they are cracked and patched too if I'm to get Vintage Club registration plates for occasional road use.

My plan is to use the MH44 to pull a tandem trailer with one of my small Caterpillar crawlers on it to the local rallies, Echuca is only 12 k's north of me and Lockington is about 12 k's west, there a little used back roads most the way from my place to those rallies and if I went quietly I reckon I could do it safely.

I got the reconditioned head fitted 2 days ago and still the engine is not running right, it will quit firing on one cylinder quite regularly and I suspect the distributor shaft has too much wear in it, I measured 10 thou slop in the shaft with my dial gauge yesterday so all 4 distributor cam lobes give me a different gap measurement each time I measure them, I'm no Mechanic so it is proving a interesting challenge to get her squared away. Do you know of a source for a decent Autolite distributor, mine is a 1AD 4020A.
Thanks
Mike

[chappy]

Hi Mike, don't know what it looks like with tyres on as still in parts, finally undercoated, for parts used auto surrplus and steiner in usa.

Ron

[cobbadog]

I may be wrong but in the past I 'THINK' that the way to work out a tyre size from the numbers was that the first number is the height of the profile of the tyre, eg; 14.9 x28 would be a total overall height of 57.8" od. = 14.9 x 2 + 28.

[Donkeyhead]

Hi Chappy, Can you do me a favor please and measure the height of those 13.6 tyres and the internal rim width of your rear wheels, where the tyre bead sits, I'm curious to know how high those tyres stand, I need to make a decision on my rear tyres very soon.
Thanks
Mike