Found this wheel sticking up out of the ground while at work. Pulled it out the rest of the way with an excavator. I’m guessing it was a truck maybe from the 70s?
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Any guesses on how old this is ?
- Thread starter 2013ecof150
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52nd week of 04?
I would guess 4th week of 1952?
Don't think tires had date codes in the 70's, at least not commonly readable ones.
Asphalt roller for the win!
The last time I saw a tire in that size and and nylon cords was in the 1960's.
It was probably 80 feet off the road at the edge of the wood line where they stopped clearing. I picked it up dropped it a few times with the machine to knock the dirt off it before taking pics. I would be surprised if it’s been there for over 50 years
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Before Y2K, if tires bad date codes, they were 3 digits. So if a tire said 325 it would be the 32nd week of '75? '85? '95? Who knows
I think you got it, a compactor or roller tire. No idea in the age though.
Does it still have air in it? 
Thats what I thought too
That's it!!
It goes on a machine like this.
That also means that the normal government rules on serial numbers never applied. So the serial number photographed could mean anything. I've seen serial numbers where the letters mean a month/year, and maybe that applies here.
Further, this is a Uniroyal. U. S. Royal Tire Company changed its name to Uniroyal in 1961. It sold its European operations to Continental Tire in 1979. It merged with BF Goodrich in 1985. That merged company was bought by Michelin in 1990.
So the brand still exists today, but under different owners depending on where you are.
The question is, when did Uniroyal make these kind of tires? It had to be after 1961 and my best guess is that they no longer made tires like this in 1985 when they merged with Goodrich.
BTW, you can buy tires like that one (Different brand) today - $200.
If I remember correctly my 73 GMC pickup I bought back in the day had 8.75x16.5 uniroyals on it and that was a 3/4 truck.
Chuckled when I saw this reply. If you know, you know - thought the exact same thing the second I saw the tire...
Wonder how an asphalt roller tire and rim ended up in a field? Very high speed compaction pass?
Actually, my guess is that it probably fell off a flat deck trailer.
Actually, my guess is that it probably fell off a flat deck trailer.
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Nylon was invented back in 1937, In 1946 Michelin came out with the first nylon tire.. My guess that soon after Michelin came out with the nylon tires, all other companies followed suit. I suspect these tires are somewhere between 1950-1960
