Spare Tire for Henry J

[BigDave LM6174]

My Henry J needs a spare tire.  Since the car has wide whitewalls, should the spare be black wall or white wall too.?  I can't imagine it was a white wall due to cost, but maybe so.

[Fid]

I don't know for sure if it was a white or black wall tire. The 1953-54 Henry J owners manual shows a wide white wall in the tire well but it is an artist rendering and not a factory photo.

The shop manual shows one picture with a white wall
and one with a black wall.

The car with the black wall spare has bumper guards and brightwork around the rear window indicating a Deluxe model so that would not be the difference.

Both are artist drawings.  Maybe a white wall spare was an option.
I can tell you this - if your Henry J has a stationary (non-fold down) rear seat with a package shelf, there's one and only one tire that will fit the well and that's a 5.90.  If it has a fold-down rear without a package shelf then there are others that will fit in the spare tire well.

[rialto]

There may be exceptions but before the days of compact spare tires the factory would equip each new car with a set of five matching tires and wheels.  I believe the big three and the indepents all did this.  A spare tire in a truck was usually optional. Right after the war some new cars only got a fifth wheel without a tire due to shortages.                       

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

If you check the HJ items in the car section of KFOCI HANDBOOK Version 4.0  you will see that the optional whitewall tires were either a set of 4 or 5, as for a time during the 1951 model year, government restrictions prevented car makers from adding the spare tire as also noted in the items as appropriate.

Either  5.90 or 6.40 x 15 whitewalls were factory correct on only the K514 6 cylinders; you should have a matching spare of same size for whitewall (there was a time during the model year where no spares were allowed but go for it as a lot of dealers sold buyers spare tires on their own).  1952 Vagabond and later HJ's 5.90 x 15's for the whitewall size.  Standard size for all cars in blackwall was 5.90 x 15 and had blackwall spares subject to the 1951 model year period already noted.  Whitewalls were offered on the 4 cyl as an option except in the first part of the 1951 model year.  Same sizes for whitewalls apply to the 4 as the 6.

[BigDave LM6174]

I never received a handbook on CD, I only have the paper handbook I was given when I joined the club in 1987.  I understand new version of handbook out soon so not going to worry about finding 4.0 version.

Fid, thanks for info on spare tire size.  Just today I realized there is not much clearance under shelf.  My car is a 52 corsair deluxe, fixed rear seat with package shelf.

David

[r1lark]

Speaking of '50s/'60s cars in general.........usually the owners manual recommended a tire rotation sequence that included the spare, so the spare would be the same as the other four tires. Of course a lot of folks did not follow that rotation sequence and the spare ended up being just an old tire that would hold air. 

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Henry J automobiles were equipped with spare tires except for a time between March and July 1951 when a government regulation was in place banning spare tires going out with new production cars except under certain conditions.  The 5.90 whitewall and blackwall tires only went out in sets of 4, but the company also offered 6.40 x 15 on 1951 HJ's and these were available in sets of 4 or 5 (5 while supplied lasted according to the Confidential Bulletin on this).  Enterprising dealers usually sold the retail purchaser a locally-acquired spare tire from a tire dealer or his own stocks if he sold tires.

6.40 size tires offer limited clearance back there as it was designedfor the slightly smaller 5.90's.

[rialto]

Years ago I worked for an old tire dealer. He told me during the Korean war tires were hard to get and white walls were nearly impossible to get. New cars ordered with white walls would come with black,tough luck. People came to him to buy new white tires for thier new cars but he couldn't get any.

[Corsairdeluxe]

The 6.40 tire will inerfere with the clutch arm in a hard left turn. Check it out. Put the clutch to the floor,turn the wheel all the way over to the left. The pedal will probably not return.

[Fid]

Jim, I've heard that is the case with the 6.40 tires, however, I've had two sets on my '53 J now and never had that problem. I did have the issue when the car had some early 1970 issue steel belted (non-radial) tires on it. Every time I backed out of my driveway, I'd have to turn the wheel slightly to let the clutch out because it did rub as you say. Since I went with the 6.40s that's never happened. I know the '51 and '53 Js use a slightly different clutch pedal mechanism - perhaps that's the difference?  Anyway, I had to put new tires on it in 2011 and I once again went with 6.40s because you can get them with the correct width whitewall. The 5.90 has a skinny 2" white wall that yellows badly.  I do have a 5.90 in the spare slot and did receive a deduction at Auburn for this - fair deduction in my opinion and one I don't mind getting as I really like the looks of the 6.40s on the car better, but I do like to have a spare tire and the 5.90 is the only one that fits in there! Two points taken away when I have it judged and that's fine with me.