RE: [ihc] Slight lift to older Travelall

["John M. Adams" <jma@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

John, Your help is appreciated, whether I get better help later or
not. But I'll just comment on the narrow tire concept. I don't have
as much direct experience as you. I've just heard more than one old
timer say that for many types of conditions, especially ice, the
narrow tire is best. I never really took it to heart until I heard
Dr. Bill Wattenberg (out in CA) explain why. He said that it was due
to the increased PSI in the footprint of the tire. If you have the
same weight sitting on a smaller space, you get more force/traction
exerted there. I imagine there is a point of diminishing returns in
the formula somewhere (I wouldn't put bicycle tires on my rig, for
instance), but given the choice between a 10 to 12 inch tire and an
8 to 9 inch, I'll take the narrower profile. Enough experienced
drivers have told me so, and it just makes sense to me.
Thanks, -John A.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Hofstetter [mailto:hofs@domain.elided]
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 6:03 PM
To: John M. Adams; ihc@domain.elided
Subject: Re: [ihc] Slight lift to older Travelall

Hmm, I wonder if you're going to get some responses about taller
narrower tires for snow. Not from me, because I know that the
narrower tires are, in general, better in the snow. The best snow
tires I've ever owned were funny looking narrow, oh, so narrow,
Michelins on my 1210. I was leading a lot of expeditions at that time
and some of them were in the snow, and the guys behind me kept
admiring my skinny French tires.

Along that same line, my Dad in the 30's drove over mountain roads to
his job at a big gold mine near here. His Model A with the skinny 19
inch tires always got him there, often with guys who had abandoned
their stuck vehicles and needed a ride to work.

Tom and others will know more than I, but I think the little bit of
angle increase that you'd get from longer shackles would be
acceptable. I had terrible angles on that 1210, but if I kept the
U-joints lubricated, they'd last a reasonable number of miles.
Remember that your lift is going to be only half of the increased
length of the new shackles.

Not to mention what it will do to your personal frame.  You could
have the springs re-arched.  Or new springs made. I haven't looked
but I don't think lift kits including springs are available any more.
Don't know that, just think it.

You're going to get some better help, but your narrow tire concept set me
off.

John
--
John Hofstetter
www.goldrush.com/~hofs
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