Good 37in WIDE tires?

[duncanstives]

I noticed today that I can walk on a hill my jeep slides down while in park or with the brakes on... Clearly I did not spend all this money on the jeep only to have WALKING be a superior mode of locomotion... Thus I need to dramatically lower my jeeps ground pressure.... In general lower ground pressure is good and expirmentation shows me it is REALLY helpful on the terrain around here (EVERY surface this time of year is covered in slippery grime at best and at worst 3-5 inches of goopy clay). Humans exert about 9-10 psi on average while walking... I would like to get my jeep down to around 12-13 and hopefully make up the difference with a heathy v8 and a liberal does of throttle :fsj: .

So I am looking to upgrade from my current 33in TSLs to some 36/37s... The catch is I also want them to be 15.5in wide for lower ground pressure... I don't wanna go bigger than 37s for fear of damaging my fragile dana 44hd front (the extra width will make it even harder on the axle given the weight increase) and I don't really wanna go smaller than 36... I LOVE the way the TSLs work but I am not seeing them in 37x15.5...

Can anyone recommend a good tire that comes in that size? Wheel size is not an issue... I am running 16.5 now but I want new wheels anyway.

Oh yeah I would also like to see pics of rigs running wide tires with low backspacing... I wanna see what mine will look like with the tires sticking out super far (I prefer this for stability but I'm not sure I will like the look)

Thanks.

[Dr.E]

Can you air down? Increasing the contact area that way?
H1 rims are 16.5.

[bowtieman55]

I doubt you'll find a 36"-37"x15.50" tire in the 16.5" rim range. The only WIDE tires I've seen are for 17" and 20" wheels.

Used to be the Mickey Thompson Baja Belted was the tire of choice for really wide widths.

[duncanstives]

Can you air down? Increasing the contact area that way?
H1 rims are 16.5.

That was the expirmentation I did: Aired down to 5 or 6psi works MUCH better... With really wide tires and being aired down I can only assume it would be even better. That said TSLs on 16.5s come off the bed pretty easy... I don't have beadlocks and can't afford them right now (too many other things in the Jeep pipeline)

[duncanstives]

I doubt you'll find a 36"-37"x15.50" tire in the 16.5" rim range. The only WIDE tires I've seen are for 17" and 20" wheels.

Used to be the Mickey Thompson Baja Belted was the tire of choice for really wide widths.

Wouldn't mind running a 17in rim... 20s seem a little exessive for anything under 40in but then again if they were aluminum it would probably give my tire/wheel combo less total weight helping save the axle. I would still have a decent 7-8in of sidewall...

[Gearhead 1990]

A 35x15.50 swamper tsl sx measures pretty wide. We have had them on 14 inch wide wheels before and they are WIDE! But the downside to this is they barely measure 33"

Don't have any pictures though. but can possibly get a couple tomorrow if you want. One of my buddys has some on 14" wide wheels on his toyota

[Gearhead 1990]

Ok I found a couple pics on his myspace. This is my buddy Davy's truck.

Tires are 35x15.50x15 Swamper TSL SX on 15x14 steel wheels

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6130/64935434.jpg

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/5620/40475440.jpg

[AlsChopShop]

if you are sliding i would think you want to INCREASE your ground pressure so you can have more bite, not decrease.

i'd look at pizza cutters....

Al

[orangebike]

mud...means you want as skinny as you can go....snow/rocks makes you want them wide:drivin: Im running a 13.5 bogger...i think they are perfect.....most mud i hit are mud holes...so boggers dig forever...and do great in the snow becuz of the width

only front vew i have....
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt24/orange-bike/81%20chief/2.jpg

[jeeping1974]

35x15.0r16.5 - http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ICT-SAM-33/

36x12.5r16.5 - http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ICT-SAM-28/

[duncanstives]

if you are sliding i would think you want to INCREASE your ground pressure so you can have more bite, not decrease.

i'd look at pizza cutters....

Al

This topic seems to come up for debate once in awhile and I was not sure who was correct so I performed two expirments:
First I took a rectancular piece of rubber potting compond (dried obviously) and messured the amount of force it took to push it accross a flat suface on its widest edge. Then I took the same messurement using its narrowest edge (same amount of weight... Different contact patch). It took less than 1/5th the force to move it on its narrowest edge meaning that in terms of traction less did NOT equal more... More equaled more.
Of course mud might be a different story so I tried climbing a hill with my TSLs at 35 PSI and took note of how much throttle and effort it took to climb the hill... Then I aired them down to 5 to 6 psi and tried again offset about about 1 foot to minimize the possibility that the the first climb and displaced the mud and made it easier. This test was obvioulsy not scientific but the 5-6PSI run was DRAMATICALLY easier... Enough I think to rule out and minor unaccounted for variables.
These tests led me to conclude that lower ground pressure was better for what I am doing.

[duncanstives]

35x15.0r16.5 - http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ICT-SAM-33/

36x12.5r16.5 - http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ICT-SAM-28/

The 36s are a the same width as my current tires and the 35s are not quite as big as I wanted... I did find some 35in boggers that are 35x16x15 but actual OD messures 35.2... Getting pretty close and I hear good stuff about boggers... Maybe I will just go with them.

EDIT: Model is B-105 and they are EXSPENSIVE!!!!

$430 each the first place I looked (search engine result... Truckaddons.com)... Ebays got em for about $325. Anyone know someplace cheaper?

[cable97526]

Due yourself a favor and get rid of the 16.5 wheels. The reason 16.5 were cycled out is they dont have a bead lip to help hold the bead during low pressure use, while your standard 16" does. FYI the larger the wheel the tighter the bead to an extent because of less sidewall flex, and the circumference getting larger. I would recommend the Toyo 38X15.5R16 to you, I run them on all my rigs and the basically can be run with the valve cores out on goopy stuff or in the sand like we do here. Ohh and don't worry about 37" breaking your axles just remember that you can break an anvil even with a small hammer.

[duncanstives]

Due yourself a favor and get rid of the 16.5 wheels. The reason 16.5 were cycled out is they dont have a bead lip to help hold the bead during low pressure use, while your standard 16" does. FYI the larger the wheel the tighter the bead to an extent because of less sidewall flex, and the circumference getting larger. I would recommend the Toyo 38X15.5R16 to you, I run them on all my rigs and the basically can be run with the valve cores out on goopy stuff or in the sand like we do here. Ohh and don't worry about 37" breaking your axles just remember that you can break an anvil even with a small hammer.

Yeah the bead lip thing is pretty much the reason I mentioned I wanted new wheels as well... That and I want lower BS (be nice to get that at work also... hahaha).
With regards to 38s: I am also worried about gearing... Just got all set up for 4.10 and don't really wanna go higher right now (carrier break and all that). I think 38s might make things sluggish... Not to mention I would be pushing the limits of non-hydro-assisted steering.... None the less can you provide me more info on this tire? I went to the Toyo site but I did not find their mud terrain stuff... What does the tread look like? How much are they?

[Gearhead 1990]

http://www.ntwonline.com/OPEN_COUNTRY_MT_-_TOYO_TIRES_P7069C36.cfm

Looks like $330 each

[duncanstives]

Ok I found a couple pics on his myspace. This is my buddy Davy's truck.

Tires are 35x15.50x15 Swamper TSL SX on 15x14 steel wheels

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6130/64935434.jpg

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/5620/40475440.jpg

This truck looks bad***! Any videos of it wheeling? Apparently I love the look...

[Gearhead 1990]

Sorry, no videos :( But it is FAST! It has a pretty radical 327 small block chevy that screams!

[duncanstives]

I guess they're all gonna be that exspensive... I think I will go with the B-105 boggers as they are a bit bigger in diameter than the TSL SX and the same width... Also although I have not tried them something tells me that the boggers are going to be unstoppable.

Would love to see more rigs with those wide tires... Especially if its an FSJ :D

[jeepjerry]

Ive got 33x15.50/15 swamper sx's on my xj but havent wheeled it much yet. They are on 10" wide rims.

Ive heard boggers arent good for holding you from sliding sideways on hills. A guy i wheeled with has 35x14.50 boggers and he wants something else now.

[duncanstives]

Yeah... I keep on hearing this and I am sure its true... But my rig is high enough that I try to hit hills pretty much straight on... Also heard they were bad for climbing out of ruts which is more of an issue fro me but I am betting that the insane ability to dig in mud and catch all the little irregularities in the surface of rocks (no slick rock here... Pretty much limestone... Usually more jagged with loose rocks and broken edges) will outweigh that... I actually really like the terrain here... To me slickrock is SO much about light weight/high traction and mud is just ALL about power... Here we have both things combined in such a way as to require that driver know how to drive in all sorts of terrain and that the rig is somewhat versitile... Of course we don't really have any sand or high speed stuff which sucks but you can't have everything.

[toyjeep]

I have read that the Pitbull 39.5X1650-16.5LT/D ROCKERS measure close to 37" AIRED UP. I love my 42's, they measure about 40" with 15 psi, less with less.

If you think that the 16.5 bead is an issue, get some H1's. With pressed centers you CAN'T get more than 3.5" BS. Seems you want wide, there ya go!

[msh227]

TOYO Open Country 37X14.50

[glady8r]

I like the toyos mts so far 38 14.50 16 measured like 37

[Stuka]

I am coming in late here, but wider tires are going to make it worse. With a lower ground pressure, you will do better in sand and deep mud, but worse on any terrain that has loose materials on it. Most (good) tire reviews will say the same thing.

A higher ground pressure will cause more friction, and reduce the "marble effect" of driving on loose materials up hills and the like.

If you are on slick rock, and you want lighter weight, trade in your FSJ for something much smaller and lighter. Because wider tires will not change the mass of the vehicle.

But I am going to guess the hill you slid down was that infamous KY slime. In which case, that all comes down to vehicle weight, no ground pressure. Gravity will win every time if you have more mass than the amount of traction you have can hold.