AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

Don't worry, there are no 35's in my future. At least, not on this truck.

That's good to hear guys, thanks. Too bad I got this set used so I don't have the rebalance perk. I'll just have to head down and see what it costs to balance them, and then make the call at that time if I want to go with some new ones or with the ST MAXX's.

I like 16's. Actually, I like 15's. Small wheel, big tire == muy bueno taco.

Oh geeze, not you too on my thead!

This is the thing for me...I still use mine as my DD, so an all-around tire isn't as much a trade-off for me as it would be for Mike. Or, rather, it's a trade-off that would be "more beneficial, more of the time." ...at least for now. They don't have a significantly different tread pattern than the Duratracs, which I've liked.

Almost makes me wonder if I should just suck it up and go with the 285/75R16 Duratracs, which are 33.1 tall by 11.2" wide. I sure wish I could try all these on the new wheels for rubbing before buying!

 

I like the 255s mostly. I do think that they are a perfect size for the truck. I just like the fatter size better haha rides nicer.

You'd rub with 285s but it wouldn't be the end if the world. Would be less than with my 33x12.5r15s on 2.25" back spacing haha

 

Don't worry, I'm not advocating that you get 35's. You thought your gas mileage was bad now...

With our wet/slushy/snowy roads, I would think a little better road traction would be worth the tradeoff for deep mud traction. I can't say that the KM2's do a whole lot better in snow than a good AT.

I used to air down the KM2's to low pressures and thought that they were spreading out, giving me a larger footprint in the snow, sand, etc. This is somewhat of an apple to oranges comparison, but then I got the MTR's in load range D and took them down to 4-5 psi, and it blew the KM2's out of the water. Way more sidewall flex, much more flotation.

Now that's probably in large part due to 35" vs. 33", but even visually comparing them I could see that the lighter load range spread out a whole lot more. The load range E just seems stiff, on road as well as off road, for our light(ish) trucks.

 

I know for me the c rating makes the ride way more plush. Not that you can't get that from the 255s either but at that point I'm aired down too low I'd Crack a wheel on a hard hit.

That's about it though. Everything else is a difference due to size and volume of air that I'm comparing too.

 

Yeah see that's mostly a size/shape/volume difference then a side wall difference in terms of performance for more float and such.

But will agree about the stiff feeling.

 

For flotation on snow and sand, width is huge. You can't compare a 10" wide tire to a 12.5" wide tire for flotation performance.

The advantage of the skinnies is they don't float, they dig. It seems like on a rig that needs to be able to float, 255 mm wide tires would be the wrong choice regardless of how stiff the sidewall is.

Personally, I avoid 'snow wheeling' as much as possible so I am not all that interested in flotation. And in dry conditions, flotation becomes annoying anyway as wide tires seem imprecise to me. I know sometimes snow can't be avoided, like when we encounter it on pavement, but that is generally not a situation around here and the ability to float on top of it is not what I need in that situation.

It will be interesting when I put on my next set as I have chosen to run a slightly wider (10.5" to 11.2") tire from what I'm used to. And the sidewall will be stiffer (C compared to E).

 

makes sense really.

Still like the flexy Cs better than the Es though.

And didn't your new truck come with p tires? not even LT? so yes..it could be a factor on the plush ride. I mean come on. You know how big a difference a few PSI can make on the ride. Side walls aren't all that different.

 

Yeah, I guess my point was that for a given tire size, the lighter load range will flex more when aired down compared to a stiffer sidewall, giving a larger footprint and therefore better flotation.

Really depends on your expected use though. Snow being one of my favorite things to go wheeling in, I like maximum surface area. Not necessarily the best choice for a DD though.

 

Man i wish you had stuck around for the rest of the trip...I wanted to do Goose in the snow. I was alone on that thought...

 

Yeah definitely bummed I had to leave. I'll be out that way again someday soon though

Course, while you guys were getting snowed on, this is what I was doing in sunny northern ID:

 

well that looks cool.

 

4 psi! Are you running beadlockers?

 

Nope, but in deep snow the likelihood of popping the bead off the rim is pretty low. You'd be surprised how hard you have to hit something to get the tire to roll off the bead.

The guys at Snowtrek.org recommend going down as low as 2 psi for deep snow traction, but without beadlocked wheels I keep it around 5 just to be on the safe side.

P.S. sorry for jacking a whole page of your thread Dan @turbodb

 

Ah I guess I didn’t really think about it in snow, I was thinking out wheeling. I know even with beaslockers 6psi is really low when your crawling.

 

Finally, the Pinch Weld Mod
December 4, 2017.

Having recently installed bigger-than-stock tires, it was of course clear that I needed to do something to get them to fit up front, even before I get my new wheels installed...

I mean, they didn't rub when driving on perfectly level ground which was nice, but pair a turn with some articulation of the front suspension and I had a bit of rubbing (just discernible on the bottom of the plastic) in the rear of the wheel well (like everyone).

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The "normal" solution is to cut out the rear of the fender liner and bash down the pinch weld, giving another 1-inch or so clearance for the tire. I was going to do just that with a twist - instead of cutting out the plastic fender liner, I'd reshape it once the pinch weld was gone, so that it'd continue to protect the wheel well.
At least, that's the hope.

First things first - I had to take off the fender flare and plastic liner - always a bit of a pain due to the plastic grommets. This time, 1 of the 16 or grommets actually came out unscathed - a rousing success if I ever saw one!

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Next, it was time to take a look at the pinch weld and come up with a plan. I'd grind down the first four inches of the weld from the tab near the center of this picture, and then bend the rest of the weld towards the engine compartment.

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The grinding went smoothly, and while I had the grinder out, I cut the pinch weld where I'd bend it inward.

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A crescent wrench works well to start the pinch weld bend, and then it's hammer-bashing time. I've only ever bashed one other thing on the truck (to make room in the engine compartment for my compressor), so this bashing was very uncomfortable for me.

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In the end though, it came out just fine, but of course in the process of grinding and bashing and bending metal, much of the paint came off. So, I cleaned it off with some alcohol and hit it with a couple coats of Rustoleum Undercoating to button it all back up.

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Having not thought ahead, I ordered some grommets and proceeded to wait two weeks to re-install until they arrived from China. I saved a few cents but would recommend purchasing the OEM part - 90189-06028 instead, both timing-wise, and because the ones that I got were slightly shorter than OEM.

With the grommets in hand, I reinstalled the fender liners and got to work with the heat gun on the liner. This worked amazingly well - in that it heated and made the plastic pliable without melting it - and in conjunction with a welding glove to protect my hand, I was able to form the liner around the modified pinch weld - saving 1-1½ inches in the process!

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From there, I buttoned everything back up with new stainless-steel washers and #12 flat-head screws (vs. the hex-head OEM screws) to reduce the profile of the wheel well even further, and then hit them with a bit of black paint so they'd blend in.

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It's too late now but they sell those clips at NAPA for like $4 for a pack of six and they're an exact match. Nice job, looks good.

 

I wish I could pull my flares and not have some ugly holes looking back.

 

Dang, I looked at O'Reilly and they didn't have any; should have checked Napa as well. Thanks for the future tip.

Are there different holes on the 01-04's? (just found a pic - holy smokes! I knew the flares were different but there are so many holes. Dang.)

 

Now you see my pain...

 

You want those flares anyway. You saw Frank and Derp in the mud. With your soon-to-be-wider-tires, those flares are going to make your life so much easier.