Help on choosing tires

[holley2346]

Well sadly, the time has come.

Although my crushers are brand new and I love them.... they are only 33" and that's just not cutting it for me anymore.

I now have ~8 inches of lift on the front and ~10 inches on the back.

I still have a 3" body lift that is not installed, if the need arises for some extra clearance.

So I'm left with a couple of questions before I make a purchase for the next bog coming up in a few weeks.

These will be on the road for the most part, I'm mostly going for looks (since participating always costs me lots of $$)

I wanted some WIDE tires, but then I'd have to get new wheels... and the funds just aren't there.

If you have ANY recommendations for something not on the list, feel free to voice your opinion..... keep in mind that price is a huge factor.

Thanks! :)

It's going on,

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/4529801421_c8551628f7.jpg

[duncanstives]

I can't say I like the idea of spending that much for huge tires you're not gonna use but to each his own. Just remember gearing and any steering mods that will be required with tires that size.

As for choosing one: If they are for looks go with the one you like the looks of best. Personally I think TSLs or boggers look cool and perform great but they suck on the road so I am not sure I would choose them.

BTW if you have any kind of locking mechanism in the diff you will likely break axles even on the road.

[holley2346]

I can't say I like the idea of spending that much for huge tires you're not gonna use but to each his own. Just remember gearing and any steering mods that will be required with tires that size.

As for choosing one: If they are for looks go with the one you like the looks of best. Personally I think TSLs or boggers look cool and perform great but they suck on the road so I am not sure I would choose them.

BTW if you have any kind of locking mechanism in the diff you will likely break axles even on the road.

I was worried that my minispool would start breaking those shafts with the larger tires..... I was planning on switching back to spider gears. I am going to be getting a new steering pump and steering box, which will hopefully deal with the steering *my existing box is a little leaky anyways. On the calculators it only shows a ~200 rpm difference @ 55 so I'm not planning on regearing since the 3.54's in the back are brand new.

Thanks! :)

[vintagetrks]

I voted for the 39's. Go big or go home. LOL :thumbsup:

[jeepjerry]

If you dont plan on re-gearing from 3.54s, you should forget about the body lift and run 35"s....maybe 36" at most if your engine runs strong enough. The truck would be the biggest slug ever on the road with 3.54"s and 38-39" tires. My old truck had 4.56" gears and 38" hawgs and i could have used 4.88s or 5.13s.

[RTFM]

But why bother re-gearing?
He said he did not have the cash and it's for his idea of beauty only - not function.

These will be on the road for the most part, I'm mostly going for looks

So vintagetrks nailed it.

[jeepjerry]

How well will 3.54 gears turn 39" tires for street driving? 35"s on those gears are sluggish.

It would sure look good getting passed by 3cyl geos on the highway.

[holley2346]

I'm going to buy everything this afternoon. The real hold up on the gearing is that I don't want to spend 400 on two new sets of gears when I can get a 14 bolt for 300 with higher gearing. I will stick with my d44 until I come across a good deal on a 14 bolt (very hard to grab around here). This isn't a racing truck and will definitely get up and go as it stands now. I can't see it having any problems going 55 down the road. And granny first in 4lo will do more than I need with 39s.

Thanks for the votes and replies :)

[duncanstives]

Not sure what t-case you have but I would not run it in 4lo on the road.

That said a manual transmission with 3.54 gears might be ok on road... It seems like if your not getting the torque you want just put it in a lower gear... Only issue might be that off the line even the lowest gear might be a bit wimpy but once you are up to speed I am guessing it will be ok for a road truck.

Hopefully one of these days you can grab a 14 bolt and d60 and have some actual fun with the truck :D
Like I said... Big lifted trucks that can't really wheel are not my cup of tea but to each his own... Just make sure you have a DD since this thing is not gonna be very practical as a grocery getter... LOL.

[holley2346]

Not sure what t-case you have but I would not run it in 4lo on the road.

That said a manual transmission with 3.54 gears might be ok on road... It seems like if your not getting the torque you want just put it in a lower gear... Only issue might be that off the line even the lowest gear might be a bit wimpy but once you are up to speed I am guessing it will be ok for a road truck.

Hopefully one of these days you can grab a 14 bolt and d60 and have some actual fun with the truck :D
Like I said... Big lifted trucks that can't really wheel are not my cup of tea but to each his own... Just make sure you have a DD since this thing is not gonna be very practical as a grocery getter... LOL.

I meant 4lo in first while wheeling only :). And first gear is so low that I honestly dont use it on the street with my 33's so I'm thinking it'll be great with 39s. We will see how it goes :)

I'm ordering this afternoon so vote please! :)

[jeeping1974]

I don't want to spend 400 on two new sets of gears when I can get a 14 bolt for 300 with higher gearing.

Where are you looking for gears? $200 for a gear set for a D44 is a little high. BJ's sells them for $135 a set. And $300 for a 14B? I would hope that it comes complete with disc brakes at least.

[holley2346]

Where are you looking for gears? $200 for a gear set for a D44 is a little high. BJ's sells them for $135 a set. And $300 for a 14B? I would hope that it comes complete with disc brakes at least.
I'd have to buy new carriers as id be going from 3.54 gears..... or at least that's my understanding. And from what I've seen online the 14b's are in the 300-400 range.

[Josh D]

If it were my truck, I'd go with 36X12.5 TSL's and trim to fit, no additional lift.

[holley2346]

Well aparently Interco has shut down one of their plants and these tires are HARD to get....

Nevertheless, I just had my order processed for some 38.5x15-15r TSL/Boggers and some nice new offset wheels! :thumbsup:

Tuesday when they come in I will be :drivin::fsj:

And hopefully my axle shafts will last a few months at least so I won't be. :banghead:


Thanks everyone for your input! :)

Bj's offroad is a great company BTW.... the local tire store was going to charge me 2,000 for some 38.5x11-15r standard tsl's. I spent much less than that and added wheels! :D

[cable97526]

IMHO Those are all crap.

[holley2346]

IMHO Those are all crap.

Care to go into further detail?

[pineymike]

I'll always pick HAWGS! noisy,bold&bad best lookin' tire ever!

[jeeping1974]

I'd have to buy new carriers as id be going from 3.54 gears..... or at least that's my understanding. And from what I've seen online the 14b's are in the 300-400 range.

You can get a set of gears (4.10 - 4.56), carriers, and install kits off of ebay for both axles though about $300 if not less. It beats paying $300-$400 for one axle and then need to swap out the front to either an 8 lug setup and swap gears or find a match geared front end that will bolt in.

Also, why go with Boggers over the TSLs and Iroks? Boggers are going to be loud on the road.

[holley2346]

You can get a set of gears (4.10 - 4.56), carriers, and install kits off of ebay for both axles though about $300 if not less. It beats paying $300-$400 for one axle and then need to swap out the front to either an 8 lug setup and swap gears or find a match geared front end that will bolt in.

Also, why go with Boggers over the TSLs and Iroks? Boggers are going to be loud on the road.
Well I wanted IROKS, but after sitting on the phone for about an hour it was apparent that my choices were limited. As stated previously, Interco shut down one of their plants and there are literally hundreds of orders waiting for tires because of the small amount. I was really set on the IROKS, but the only reasonably priced tire above a 35 that was available at all was the tires that I purchased. And when I purchased them they said their supplier was limited on those as well. It's not a DD, just a weekend rig so hopefully I'll be able to put up with it. I'll check ebay for the gears/carriers.... thanks for the info. :)

edit: They DID however have the exact size I wanted in IROKS, but they were radials and were going to be a few hundred dollars more.

[mrs]

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs442.ash1/24409_384299516924_750351924_4053132_1133734_n.jpg
I run 39.5x 16.5.x16 Pitbull Rockers and love them they are very strong, an I needed that since I have a heavy girl. In the pic, fronts are at 8psi and rears are 5psi

[cable97526]

Care to go into further detail?

Ok so to start, I own and run a custom 4x4 shop here in Oregon to boot a lot of my friends work for Les Schwab, Tire Factory, and Kendalls here in Oregon so I have a decent idea about tires IMHO. So heres a short quick breakdown of what I have seen here.

Boggers = Great in a straight line, NO sidehill stability, NO tread life, Horrible ride, weak sidewall, slightly better sidewall with a bias, BUT worse on the road

Pitbull Rocker= Great in a straight line, great on side hills, OK tread life, OK ride, OK sidewall, Ugliest tire made though.

Bias Irok= Good in a straight line, better sidehill stability, bad tread life, horrible ride, ok sidewall.

Bias Groundhogs= OK in a straight line, Horrible Sidehill stability, bad wear, horrible ride, noisy

BFG MT KM2 Great in a straight line, great sidehill, great tread life, ok ride, weak sidewall

TOYO MT Great in a straight line, great sidehill, Excellent tread life, Excellent ride, Quiet, good sidewall. My personal recommendation.

BFG Krawler, Great in a straight line, OK sidehill stability, ok tread life (if in standard compound) ok ride, better sidewall. Another personal reccomendation.

I can list others that I used but it would take pages to recite what I have seen and used, these are the more common ones.

[zachandandy]

Wow toyo mt's are $622 each at 40" size and only come in 20" and larger rim size. This is an fsj not an f350 lifted 16" with 8 chrome shocks and no front driveshaft. I'll take my $300 iroks and buy another set when they wear out.

[CutterN55]

BFG M/T's. I like 'em for all but sand. You can get the original type from Costco for a good deal. You should be able to throw some used Chevy wheels on there for a wider rim on a budget IIRC.

[cable97526]

Wow toyo mt's are $622 each at 40" size and only come in 20" and larger rim size. This is an fsj not an f350 lifted 16" with 8 chrome shocks and no front driveshaft. I'll take my $300 iroks and buy another set when they wear out.

Wow:eek: I'm not sure where you get your info from but it is incorrect. The tires I have on my J truck at this time are Toyo 40"x15.50R16 that are $382 a piece. Now think of it this way you would spend $300 a tire on Iroks that last 10,000 miles with a NICE driver instead of the Toyo which are a little more but last more than 30,000 miles??? Please help me understand your logic on this one. The tires on my Yukon have almost 41,000 on them and are well over 30% tread left.

[zachandandy]

I admit I only looked at 4 wheel parts, and they don't carry larger than a 37" for any rim smaller than 20". I'll take your word for the offroad ability with the toyos as I've never run them. IMHO they just don't have the look of an aggressive off road tire.( I like the look of the pitbulls). I've gotten at least 20000 miles out of all three setsof iroks I've owned.

[Sambo]

I'll always pick HAWGS! noisy,bold&bad best lookin' tire ever! yeah you already have the "ol skool" look why not stay with that.besides those will last ALOT long on the road than the other selections you have!trust me i know.i ran a set of hawgs for about 6 yrs on my rig.my swampers have 3-4 and already down the about half tread...

btw petersons did a mud tire test a while back.had all the new meats out for a run.rockers,boggers,iroks,etc.then someone showed up with hawgs and ran the best over the "new meats"! gotta love it!!

[AlsChopShop]

you really think toyo MT's have better straight line and side hill ability than iroks? :lol:

look at compound. iroks are sticky compared to the rock hard toyos. plus the iroks have much bigger tread voids to bite with. i have friends that run both, and while the toyos are a great multi use tire (once you air down to the single digits), it in no way has the abilities off-road that the irok does.

if its a multi use rig (see's a ton of pavement) and you don't want to sacrifice on-road driveability, then by all means the toyos are great. but you can also get the cooper STT which is nearly identical for much less of a price (les schwab gouges pretty bad), though i don't know if they go quite as big as the toyos.


Al

[AMC-J/20]

Noisy shouldn't be a factor in off road tires PERIOD !

Now that being said, I run the Loudest tires i can find on all my truck's :D

I love that Howling Hum of aggressive tires :thumbsup:

:D "if they ain't howling I'm getting stuck" :thumbsup: Is how i buy truck tires ;)

Now I didn't see an option for the TSL radial's ? I put a set of TSL radial 33x10.50R15LT's on my 95 F-150 with 351W truck was only driven on the pavement only seen mud 3 times i got 43,000 miles out of them tires . . .

I ran them at the Max psi 50 and they where mounted on the Correct width rim to they wore evenly and rotated them every oil change ;)

Biasply tires will wear faster then radial's in the same tread sure . . . that is very true so keep that in mind :cool:

Just don't get BFG AT's they the worst tires i have ever seen i got stuck on wet grass all the time plugged up and sank in the mud only place they performed good was on the dry pavement, in sand or through snow . . .

I'll never buy another EVER ! ! ! No howl i got stuck end of story they must Howl or i won't put them on my Rig even if its a highway Rig i still Run Mudder's :thumbsup:

Mike

[holley2346]

Well my tires/wheels should arrive by next weekend (which is the next mud bog). So I'll be able to report back on their performance on hills, DEEP mud, and the road as well.


Thanks all for your input. :thumbsup:

[cable97526]

you really think toyo MT's have better straight line and side hill ability than iroks? :lol:

look at compound. iroks are sticky compared to the rock hard toyos. plus the iroks have much bigger tread voids to bite with. i have friends that run both, and while the toyos are a great multi use tire (once you air down to the single digits), it in no way has the abilities off-road that the irok does.

if its a multi use rig (see's a ton of pavement) and you don't want to sacrifice on-road driveability, then by all means the toyos are great. but you can also get the cooper STT which is nearly identical for much less of a price (les schwab gouges pretty bad), though i don't know if they go quite as big as the toyos.


Al
I would of thought seeing how your in Oregon you would have been in the nasty wet red clay, But hey maybe your in the drier area (don't know where that is around here:huh:) I would also like to know how Compound makes a difference in the slick?? Were not in Moab here so how does compound have ANYTHING to do with it? but I have a run both and if you seriously think there is that much of a difference in tread pattern width then to each his own. In the real world there is only about a 1/4 of inch in difference and a healthy 401 and a 200 shot of spray more than cleans out my Toyo's in anything without a problem, in the clay around here tread spacing doesn't matter because even 40' boggers load up and become gumballs, you have to have horsepower to spin em clean. Compound doesn't make a SH&*LOAD of difference when your in the slick.

[zachandandy]

Got it now, if the only wheeling you plan to do is mud, and you have double the horsepower of the average fsj, run rock hard tires because they last longer.

[68glad]

I would of thought seeing how your in Oregon you would have been in the nasty wet red clay, But hey maybe your in the drier area (don't know where that is around here:huh:) but I have a run both and if you seriously think there is that much of a difference in tread pattern width then to each his own. In the real world there is only about a 1/4 of inch in difference and a healthy 401 and a 200 shot of spray more than cleans out my Toyo's in anything without a problem, in the clay around here tread spacing doesn't matter because even 40' boggers load up and become gumballs, you have to have horsepower to spin em clean. Compound doesn't make a SH&*LOAD of difference when your in the slick.

Who's running NOS?? Sure ain't most of us. In the slick stuff I'd take the tire with the bigger void between lugs. Seems pretty simple. Toyos will definately wear better on the highway though.

[cable97526]

Who's running NOS?? Sure ain't most of us. In the slick stuff I'd take the tire with the bigger void between lugs. Seems pretty simple. Toyos will definately wear better on the highway though.

You are all very right on a lot of different areas, the only thing I was suggesting was that IROK's and Toyo's don't have much in the way of difference in block tread width which means they clean out about the same. I also don't understand why people think there ROCK hard when there really not. There were a lot of instances where people at Les Schwab put to hard of a compound on a lot of rigs that really didn't need it. I actually remember them putting a set of E rated 35's on a guys wrangler and I can agree that they are ROCK hard, but the D rated tires on my J truck flex and give nicely under the 5200+ pound load. There is also the fact that I can drive COMMON freeway speeds on my Toyo's other than with a BIAS ply tire because MOST of us use are FSJ for an ALL PURPOSE RIG.

[TheJeeper]

Well my tires/wheels should arrive by next weekend (which is the next mud bog). So I'll be able to report back on their performance on hills, DEEP mud, and the road as well.


Thanks all for your input. :thumbsup:

You'll pop an axleshaft, hub, or something similar before you get any testing done. This has to be one of the worst setups, ever. You expect to pull 39s with 3.54 gears? Wow. And stock 44s with 39s is doable with a stock 360, but definitely NOT a built one with a granny 4-speed. I foresee breakage.

[holley2346]

You'll pop an axleshaft, hub, or something similar before you get any testing done. This has to be one of the worst setups, ever. You expect to pull 39s with 3.54 gears? Wow. And stock 44s with 39s is doable with a stock 360, but definitely NOT a built one with a granny 4-speed. I foresee breakage.

Oh breakage will be coming soon. :thumbsup:


No worries..... I will be upgrading to 14b/d60 hopefully soon.

In all seriousness, I'm going to try and take it easy and not let the temptation come over me to start climbing or go through anything at the bog saturday.


By the way, the tires are coming in today... I'll post up some pictures tonight. :)

[TheJeeper]

Oh breakage will be coming soon. :thumbsup:


No worries..... I will be upgrading to 14b/d60 hopefully soon.

In all seriousness, I'm going to try and take it easy and not let the temptation come over me to start climbing or go through anything at the bog saturday.


By the way, the tires are coming in today... I'll post up some pictures tonight. :)

Good. Toss some 4.88s in 'em and you'll have a good set of axles.

[zachandandy]

IMHO the 3.54 will help keep the 44's together. I ran 37" iroks for a year on the stock axles without breaking them. My 44hd has held up to 42" iroks for over a year. Be smart with the skinny pedal and the 44's will be ok.

[holley2346]

Well I got my tires, BJ's offroad is great.

Good deal and free shipping on some amazing tires.

Here's the pics. :)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4565039116_44da062251.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4564404771_b7ffa26231.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4068/4565035574_8fa9e4b670.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/4564407195_8393321d3c.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4028/4565036548_4d301e500b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4564406703_8ceeea17a7.jpg

[dank idea]

Who cares if you break..That thing looks sick!:thumbsup: Btw i run 36" tsl's welded amc20 in the rear d44 front and love em' (light right foot though);)

[AlsChopShop]

I would of thought seeing how your in Oregon you would have been in the nasty wet red clay, But hey maybe your in the drier area (don't know where that is around here:huh:) I would also like to know how Compound makes a difference in the slick?? Were not in Moab here so how does compound have ANYTHING to do with it? but I have a run both and if you seriously think there is that much of a difference in tread pattern width then to each his own. In the real world there is only about a 1/4 of inch in difference and a healthy 401 and a 200 shot of spray more than cleans out my Toyo's in anything without a problem, in the clay around here tread spacing doesn't matter because even 40' boggers load up and become gumballs, you have to have horsepower to spin em clean. Compound doesn't make a SH&*LOAD of difference when your in the slick.i am in the portland area, and mostly wheel at browns camp. there are plenty of wet rocks out there that really need some sticky compound to get some bite. if you think toyo's have the same tread voids as an irok you are sorely mistaken. irok's have HUGE tread voids, more void than tread actually. the toyos have very tight tread blocks, because they are meant for the road.

the last run i made up at browns was in the wet stuff. at the bottom of canopener (which my group redesigned, by the way) it is full of the gooey clay that clogs up most anything. my buddy in his trekker had 35" toyos, locked front and rear, and couldn't get them to clean out or get any bite on the bottom section of trail. after many attempts, his clogged up toyos had to back down.

here's me spotting him up the trail:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/ocdropzone/4wheeling%20trips/trekkeroncanopener2.jpg

next up comes another toyota with TSL's. they were 38's, but he literally walked up everything with no problems. the TSL's didn't fill up with gunk. now, irocks have larger voids than TSL's, so how do you think they'd do there?

i'm happy you love your toyo's, sounds like they work great for you. but for the original poster, they are not a good choice for him.

Al

[cable97526]

i am in the portland area, and mostly wheel at browns camp. there are plenty of wet rocks out there that really need some sticky compound to get some bite. if you think toyo's have the same tread voids as an irok you are sorely mistaken. irok's have HUGE tread voids, more void than tread actually. the toyos have very tight tread blocks, because they are meant for the road.

the last run i made up at browns was in the wet stuff. at the bottom of canopener (which my group redesigned, by the way) it is full of the gooey clay that clogs up most anything. my buddy in his trekker had 35" toyos, locked front and rear, and couldn't get them to clean out or get any bite on the bottom section of trail. after many attempts, his clogged up toyos had to back down.

here's me spotting him up the trail:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/ocdropzone/4wheeling%20trips/trekkeroncanopener2.jpg

next up comes another toyota with TSL's. they were 38's, but he literally walked up everything with no problems. the TSL's didn't fill up with gunk. now, irocks have larger voids than TSL's, so how do you think they'd do there?

i'm happy you love your toyo's, sounds like they work great for you. but for the original poster, they are not a good choice for him.

Al
And again I have to say that I have BOTH sets of tires, if you look through my build picks you will see one set of them for mock up on my jeep truck. When you grow larger in size in Toyo tires so do the voids to an extent, 35's do have fairly small voids where 40's do not. The original poster already bought what he thought would work best, and in the end he has some of the best straight line tires out there, but if it ever has to be driven ANY kind of distance to the trail then I will be loving life while he listens to tire bounce and growl. Also in the begining if ANYONE would have read his post it says very clearly "These will be on the road for the most part, I'm mostly going for looks" I'm really not sure where everyone that has countered my post's has there heads at this point?

[zachandandy]

I think the look he was going for is an agressive one. The toyos that you love look like every other mt out there, which is far from any of the tires in the poll. Btw I haven't ever seen toyos in any comp be it mud racing or rock crawling.

[cable97526]

I think the look he was going for is an agressive one. The toyos that you love look like every other mt out there, which is far from any of the tires in the poll.

So your saying that a BFG MT, Nitto MT and a Toyo MT Look alike? :thumbsup: props to you for updating me.

[zachandandy]

As do pro comp mt, bridgestone mt, even hitec retread mt. Interco makes tires that are truly unique. Boggers, iroks, tsls all can be easily recognized by tread alone. Nitto mud grapplers are unique, pitbull tires are unique, obviously that's the look the op went for. And again on functionality, standard, street friendly mt's are a compromise, that's why you won't see them winning any comps.

[overland_YJ]

to the OP...that thing looks "sick"! enjoy those tires, cant beat them in the mud and they sound awesome on the street.

cheers

[cable97526]

As do pro comp mt, bridgestone mt, even hitec retread mt. Interco makes tires that are truly unique. Boggers, iroks, tsls all can be easily recognized by tread alone. Nitto mud grapplers are unique, pitbull tires are unique, obviously that's the look the op went for. And again on functionality, standard, street friendly mt's are a compromise, that's why you won't see them winning any comps.

I wouldn't expect to win any comps with hardly any mud tire, but I also haven't seen boggers win anything that has to do with rocks? maybe mud but how long has it been since people were using them on the rocks? 5-6 years maybe more? The only comp they win is in pure mud racing.

[zachandandy]

I agree that boggers are a mud tire, although they seem to fair well in general events like TTC. Iroks on the other hand win many rock competitions. Point is purpose built tires will outperform general purpose tires every time.

[AlsChopShop]

And again I have to say that I have BOTH sets of tires, if you look through my build picks you will see one set of them for mock up on my jeep truck. When you grow larger in size in Toyo tires so do the voids to an extent, 35's do have fairly small voids where 40's do not. The original poster already bought what he thought would work best, and in the end he has some of the best straight line tires out there, but if it ever has to be driven ANY kind of distance to the trail then I will be loving life while he listens to tire bounce and growl. Also in the begining if ANYONE would have read his post it says very clearly "These will be on the road for the most part, I'm mostly going for looks" I'm really not sure where everyone that has countered my post's has there heads at this point?

if you want to be more specific, look at his comment that price was a huge factor. those toyos you love literally break the bank, and then some. IMO it is the most overly priced tire in the on-road market.... and i laugh everytime i see a lifted F250/350 with them wrapped around 18" chrome rims. man, les schwab saw them coming, bent them over and got out the wire brush! but back to his point about the price.... the cheapest tire he had listed was the bias TSL, plus it fits the bill with a more aggressive tire in looks (like you mentioned), and even a better tire off-road. tri-fecta!

Al

[orangecherokee]

I'll always pick HAWGS! noisy,bold&bad best lookin' tire ever!

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee46/orangecherokee/Random/5als84.gif

[REDONE]

How did that happen?!?!? How do you revive an old thread without posting in it!?!?

[hookedup50]

someone voted