Picture of Gehl 2500 I just finished restoring

I picked up this 1977 Gehl 2500 a few months ago. Ended up using a Small Engine Warehouse Honda 24hp replacement engine in it. It seems as though there is no replacements available for the tires on the 13" rims. Has anyone come up with a solution to this? I thought about using Ford Ranger 14" steel rims and running "real" Skid Steer tires on it. In the FSM they say "if using Flotation tires the Loader must be equipped with Hydraulic Relief Valves to take the pressure off the lower ports of the Hydrostatic Drives while driving forward". Mine does not have these valves. By Flotation tires do they mean "real" Skid Steer Tires? Has anyone found a rim that will work on these for 14" tires? It is a common bolt pattern and many vehicles ran this bolt pattern. 5 on 4.5". The current rims have a 3" backspacing but it looks like up to a 4" backspacing would work. The tires I want need to fit on a 6" to 8" wide rim. That is one problem with the first set of Ranger rims I found as they are only 5" wide. I think the fancier ones may be 6" though. I'll ask Tazza to post a picture of my completed project... With the old tires of course! Thanks Mike

How tall are the tires. Bobcat 553 used a 27 by 8.5 wide (also available in a 27 by 10" ) std skidsteer tread.
Both are for 15" rims, which would be easy to find in your bolt circle.
Ken

skidsteer.ca said:

How tall are the tires. Bobcat 553 used a 27 by 8.5 wide (also available in a 27 by 10" ) std skidsteer tread.
Both are for 15" rims, which would be easy to find in your bolt circle.
Ken

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Thanks Skidsteerca. Sorry it took me awhile to reply. My tires are 25.5". Do you suppose the 27's work work? The backspacing on the rims is what I'm worried about. With the wheels and rims I have... I only have 1.5" between the rubber and the side of the Skid Steer. And those rims only have 3" backspacing. Titan makes a 25" high tire that goes on a 14" rim. I thought maybe an older Ford Ranger rim might work but the three sets I've looked at have too much backspacing. Thanks for your help. Mike

Gehl-2500 said:

Thanks Skidsteerca. Sorry it took me awhile to reply. My tires are 25.5". Do you suppose the 27's work work? The backspacing on the rims is what I'm worried about. With the wheels and rims I have... I only have 1.5" between the rubber and the side of the Skid Steer. And those rims only have 3" backspacing. Titan makes a 25" high tire that goes on a 14" rim. I thought maybe an older Ford Ranger rim might work but the three sets I've looked at have too much backspacing. Thanks for your help. Mike

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You should be able to get a white spoke wheel in the offset you need from most wheel suppliers.
Do you know if the 25.5" tall tire is the height the machine was designed for?
When you loader arms are fully lowered does the entire floor of your bucket sit flat on the ground? That is a indication the machine is the correct height off the ground.
I'm not sure what Gehl is doing with those extra reliefs when running floatation tires. Regardless of what tire (within reason) that is on the machine it should still have the ability to make 3000 psi (example only) in the drive circuit.
Ken

skidsteer.ca said:

You should be able to get a white spoke wheel in the offset you need from most wheel suppliers.
Do you know if the 25.5" tall tire is the height the machine was designed for?
When you loader arms are fully lowered does the entire floor of your bucket sit flat on the ground? That is a indication the machine is the correct height off the ground.
I'm not sure what Gehl is doing with those extra reliefs when running floatation tires. Regardless of what tire (within reason) that is on the machine it should still have the ability to make 3000 psi (example only) in the drive circuit.
Ken

Click to expand...

Yes, those tires are what came stock. in fact I think these are the original tires. It only has 314 hours on the hourmeter. It sat idle in a field for almost 20 years. I'll contact some other wheel suppliers. Someone told me Summit may have racing rims that have very little backspacing. Thanks for the reply. Mike