I bought a new spare tire cover and trunk mat for my son's '74 Dart Sport. While getting the trunk cleaned up and ready for a car show last week, I thought I would drop a spare tire into the well to provide some support (didn't want the cooler and folding chairs to cave in the flimsy pressed board cover). Even though the tire was one originally on the car, before replacing with larger ones, it was too "thick" and the cover didn't lie flat in the trunk floor.

What size tires were used for spares in these cars and fit properly in the spare well?

Jerry

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There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity.
Ignorance is not knowing any better.
Stupidity is knowing, yet doing it anyway.

Hey, guess what? My 250,000 mile Duster still has the original spare! Goodyear Power Cushion 6.95 X 14, which I believe is equivalent to a D78-14, which is what? ...a 185/75/14 in modern metric terms if I remember correctly. Of course, a '74 could be different. Either way, the '75 service manual sez a 4.5" rim (I'm assuming that's what your spare wheel is) should have the 6.95 X 14 or the D78-14.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

Thanks, Dennis. I need to pull the rubber off one of the LBP 15" wheels to see what the rim width actually is. They came on the '76 Duster I used for swapping out the running gear. I'll probably have to do a little measuring to determine a tire profile that will fit in the well and also has close to the same tire height, in case of a flat.

_________________
There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity.
Ignorance is not knowing any better.
Stupidity is knowing, yet doing it anyway.

I can tell you this, too. I just remembered that I've got a 185/75R14 spare in my Valiant (on a 4.5" rim) and it doesn't lay flat! I doubt you're going to find anything to fit the 15" (probably 5.5 or 6"wide) rim that does. My recommendation is find a 4.5" wheel and put a 185 or 175 tire on it for the spare... after all, it is just a spare, in case of emergency.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

I just solved that problem yesterday in my 64.............

I built up the floor of the truck with some styrofoam sheets, then have the panel and trunk mat over that..........


Or use a VW tire (155 /80 15 or 165/80 15) tire on a 15x4.5" rim..........

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Am I going to be able to find a 5 on 4.5" LBP skinny wheel like that?

Jerry

_________________
There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity.
Ignorance is not knowing any better.
Stupidity is knowing, yet doing it anyway.

Try summit, you can search on sizes. Whatever is cheapest around that width (5" maybe)

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

How many do you want?

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

15" rims??????

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Why does it need to be a 15"? I have plenty of 14" x 4.5" small and large bolt pattern wheels flopping around as I'm sure others do. 14" would do just fine for a spare, just look at the "space saver" tiny spares that are in use today!

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

The idea is to get a narrow tire that will fit into the wheel well so that the panel is flat against the floor.

The only tire that I could think of that's narrow enough and has the right diameter is a VW sized (155or165)/80 15 tire.............. as the narrowest 14's I've seen are 185s

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Actually the space saver spare isn't a bad idea................

A RWD car with the 5 x4.5" bolt pattern. Might even be able to get one with about a 25" diameter too..........

And cheap from a junk-yard

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Something like this

Ebay 4630734455

(no knowledge of seller good or bad....)

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

http://www.coopertire.com/html/products ... dsetter_se

Here's a 175/75R14... Should be pretty close to the original spare size - 6.95" = 176.53mm

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!