3Pooches version 3.5

That's a cool build for those. I like what they did. I prefer the LMTV over the five-ton. LMTV does pretty good off-road, too. The Army was kind enough to send me to an extreme-environment driving course and we drove those. I was impressed with what it did considering the size, etc.

 

When are we hitting a trail?

 

Tomorrow.

 

I'll be roosting in your backyard.

 

Dog is going stir crazy with all this rain

 

See you there!

poor pupper! Hope you guys are staying safe out there with the landslides and such

 

We are. Thanks!!!

 

I was thinking about this a few minutes ago. You said they could never get the tires to balance correctly? Is that vibration while driving? Or on the machine?

I'm asking because there's something I've noticed a lot of tire joints have forgotten. On the sidewall of a brand new tire should be a small red circle. Lining that up with the valve stem helps a ton with balancing.

 

Oh. Hello.

 

So Costco, Discount Tire tried the standard balancing with no positive results. Toyota dealer was able try the standard approach with same results. So they did the road force balance test, rotated 180*, and still were not able to balance. They tried again and rotated another 90* with same results. There is no consistency with the sometimes pretty violent shaking of the steering wheel. I swear you could scramble eggs at times.

So he challenged me on the wheels being bad. Me: If the wheels were bad there would be some consistency and a rotational increase with increased speed. And it would be the same all the time. That isn't happening. Do you want to put the KO2's on the aftermarket at your expense to find out? Do you to dismount the tires and check the balance on the wheels? No.

"Well maybe it's suspension." Maybe, but probably not. When the dealership couldn't resolve it, they put the best (lowest RFB score) on the front and it was better. Then the KO2's on stock rims were put back on and there was absolutely no wobble through 75 mph.

RFB: Well I can't speak to that because we don't have that equipment and haven't been trained on it.

At that point I was told to take it up with BFG. Twice they told me they could nothing because they don't retail tires. It had to be done though the place of purchase.

I couldn't deal with it anymore so the KO2's went on and I ignored it from early July until about two weeks before Christmas. I think the next time I have to do this, it will be through my dealership or a shop that deals with off road vehicles. I'll just have to pay a little more. Which is why I opted for the new set of tires and selling the "old" KO2's, which are still pretty good. They have about 10k in road trip miles and maybe another 5-6k of local miles.

That being said, the Tire Shop manager is a good guy. He's had a few T4R's and a Toyota truck before that that were all off road vehicles. He looked over mine and liked it and we even talked about him riding shot gun on a trip if he could do that with a young growing family. He's not a bad guy, he's just following policy and training.

 

If the option was only 265 70 and no skinnies, I would have went 285...

 

Talk to me about this thing and how much it costs

 

$300 at the Harbor of Freight. I had to pre-order, but you may get lucky. Last I checked, Waynesboro had them in stock.

 

thats an awesome price. Let me know how it works out

 

That would have put me .8" wider than my tires are now. With the 9" wheels I was rubbing all over the place, so the CMC was done. I didn't want to have to worry about more cutting and pounding right now. I have enough to do.

 

Oh. Okay. You should see if they'll pro-rated the old tires toward a replacement.

 

The "old" KO2's? Nothing wrong with them. I just thought that instead of putting a new spare on with the "old" tires, get a fresh start and sell the others. The Duelers are going away in this deal. And I'm pretty confident I can get back waht I'm paying out with some left over selling the old KO2's and stock set up.

 

My attempt at being a smart ass did not work. Fail.