What happened to Armstrong Tru Tracs?

[JJHACK]

If ever there was a tire made for the cruiser! My first jeep and cruiser back in the early 70's both had these tires. Every once in a while You see a Cruiser with the Trutracs or the larger version the Rhino's.
!
Sure miss those true tracks what a great tire for the cruiser

 

[Dusty 66]

I ran Tru Tracts on both my 71 and my 77 40s back in the 70s were the best then, Last set of Tru Tracks i put Ford 4X4 in the early 80s were getting hard to find then, only lasted about 18,000 miles bias ply don't ware like newer tires do.

Tru Tracks on My 71


I rather have BFG A/T KM2s or Bridstone A/T revo and don't look back my .02

 

[JJHACK]

I remember what must have been the last ditch effort to keep them alive, when they made them in radials for a few years. The radials although marked as the same size looked so much smaller to me.

 

[shelfboy1]

back in the day those were pretty good tires .

 

[rlong]

Nice tires, hard to balance sometimes, and wear unevenly, but I loved em.

Bob in CO

 

[taccruiser97]

I had 2 sets of Tru Tracs and 1 set of Armstrong Norsemen Radial tires. All were top notch tires, I wish they still made them.

What happened to Armstrong was in the mid to late 80s Armstrong was bought by Pirelli and subsequently killed off.

 

[65swb45]

I must be a hoarder because.........I still have a set of Tru Tracs in storage!

Here's a link to a pic of my '68 on Tru Tracs at TLCA's first Rubithon in 1989:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/tlca-discussion-forum/39484-1st-annual-rubithon-article.html

Lead shot, page 1, with Marlin riding shotgun in my rig.

 

[cruiser911]

When my dad first brought home the cruiser i have today it had tru tracks on it, thats ol' school!!! awesome

 

[msapers]

Here's some Tru_Tracs on my Dad's '75 back in the day...

And that's me inside.

 

[Stylin]

If ever there was a tire made for the cruiser! My first jeep and cruiser back in the early 70's both had these tires. Every once in a while You see a Cruiser with the Trutracs or the larger version the Rhino's.
!
Sure miss those true tracks what a great tire for the cruiser

Back in the day I made a lot of trips thru the Rubicon on TruTracs. Had a 1972 Bronco and put a 428c.i in it. I worked the Jeepers Jamboree Commity and set up camp at Buck Island Lake during the Jamboree with a jeep trailer loaded with various parts and some steel and had a 12V welder set-up,on my Bronco to repair vehicles. I lived in South Lake Tahoe then and went into the Rubicon almost every week-end and wore out a number of TruTracs. In the mid 1970's myself and four Jeeps hauled in 20,000 lbs of sack cement down Cadilliac Trail and built the dance foor and Coyote Bar in Rubicon Springs. We had help and food from the Jamboree commity. I believe most every vehicle was on TruTracs.

 

[65swb45]

Nice to see the 10-year-old links are still working.

 

[peesalot]

Your truck is on leaf springs, are you halucinating again ?

 

[65swb45]

Your truck is on leaf springs, are you halucinating again ?

Picture links John, picture links. See post #7 for a glimpse into a time before Pirate 4x4.

 

[Stylin]

Picture links John, picture links. See post #7 for a glimpse into a time before Pirate 4x4.

I sold my business of 40 years 14 years ago and now I use the internet to ammuse myself and the telephone to aswer callers. To each hes/her own.

 

[B y r o n]

I actually miss my old Winston Fun and Muds. I was sad to see Winston closing its' doors.

 

[Stylin]

I actually miss my old Winston Fun and Muds. I was sad to see Winston closing its' doors.

Winston had legal problems in the 1990's. Then in the late 1990's the owner died after being ejected from a Jeep and in the early 2000's Winston filed for bankruptcy.

 

[B y r o n]

Winston had legal problems in the 1990's. Then in the late 1990's the owner died after being ejected from a Jeep and in the early 2000's Winston filed for bankruptcy.

I never heard why they closed their doors, I just know that they were the only shop I knew that would actually true the tread of their tires once mounted. Not only that but they ran good on the road as well as handling the off road.

 

[Stylin]

I never heard why they closed their doors, I just know that they were the only shop I knew that would actually true the tread of their tires once mounted. Not only that but they ran good on the road as well as handling the off road.

After they folded up, Goodyear took over most all of their stores and sold them to independents that sold mostly Goodyear tires and made some of them company stores. Sam Winston was the origonal owner. His wife was driving their Jeep and reportedly made a quick turn which threw him out of the Jeep and he was killed. Even before that they were struggling as they had lawsuits claiming that they over charged customers for service work. They lost in court battles and law suits and had tremendous fines. He did build great tires though. Sad story.

 

[joestewart]

Still have Tru Tracs on my rig! Along with my Man-A-Fre coil spring shocks that I bought back in '79! Photo taken today.

If they ever produce the Tru Tracs again, I will be near first in line for a new set. My rig just does not look "right" with any other set of tires on it.

 

[65swb45]

Still have Tru Tracs on my rig! Along with my Man-A-Fre coil spring shocks that I bought back in '79! Photo taken today.

If they ever produce the Tru Tracs again, I will be near first in line for a new set. My rig just does not look "right" with any other set of tires on it.

View attachment 2771468

The TruTrac was the tall-skinny of its time, before anyone was willing to make a 33x9.5. IIRC, it had a 7” tread width, making it the easiest off road tire to steer with manual steering.