Life with Duratrac's.

Thanks! Looks good so far!

I'm doing load range C still.

 

Thanks for the update. I'm currently only at about 18K miles on mine. Per the 20K mile service, tires are at 16/32nds. I adjusted my psi to 37 fronts and 35 rear down from 40/40. They seem to be wearing great though they seem to be louder than usual like others have reported (compared to K02's). Aside from asphalt, they have only been in dirt roads, gravel, and sand and performed well. They do pick up a lot of little rocks though and had to manually clean them out.

 

After the re-re-rebalance, and the clip on weights, I've been able to drive just over 300 miles so far. Most of that has been on concrete interstate roadways. Concrete is hard and seems to amplify balance problems if there is any. From the credit where credit is due dept......These guys got it right. The Duratracs are quieter than they were previously. There was some vibration I attributed to "just the way it is with an aggressive off road tire"......GONE! Apparently what I thought was a decent balance job from the beginning wasn't all I thought it was. Happy went to happier!

Hopefully, early next week I can give a good report on their OFF ROAD performance. We have a group headed to Badlands ORP in Attica Indiana on the 14th. Unfortunately, we also have 4" to 6" of rain in the forecast for Sat/Sun/Mon (13/14/15)

 

We went wheelin' over the past weekend. I'll post up some pictures soon. It was in sand and pea gravel much of the time. First time I used my CO2 inflation rig. Worked to perfection! Aired down to 18PSI. Would have gone lower if I knew at the time the CO2 tank would work as well as it did. Aired up to 34 psi for the trip home. That took less than 15 minutes without taking the tank out of the bed of the truck! Tires performed admirably. We did some rock climbing in a few spots. Sharp rocks at that. Cannot find one single mark on the tires after close inspection. 3 hours @ 70+ mph each way. Newest balance job is about as close rto perfect as it gets. Very happy. Averaged over 22 mpg for the trip, INCULDING the 7 hours we spend in the sand and rocks.

 

Duratracs do pretty decent in sand too! Here's a picture from our recent visit to Badlands ORP in Attica Indiana. This shot is in "The Dunes"....An abandon sand and gravel pit. Mostly coarse sand and pea gravel. Some of the hills are all loose sand. I aired down to 18psi before we started the day. Great floatation that way.

 

Back again! Drawing close to 30,000 miles. Wear is minimal....measured just over 4/32nds wear at this point. A few weeks ago, I noticed the front tires looked a bit low. I found valve caps missing. After asking around @ work, several others reported low tires and apparent tampering. They were down to 24psi and 22psi. I'd also noticed a definite drop off in gas mileage right before seeing the low tires. Aired 'em back to 36psi and all is good! Still scratching my head on this one....

We went on a road trip recently. A little over 400 miles, all on interstate, cruise set @ 75 most of the way. I got just over 22mpg! Happy with that. No change in handling, wet or dry. No increase in noise level. And nothing but gold stars for off road performance. Last year, when these tires were brand new, we went to Black Mountain Off Road Adventure area for a day. Looks like we'll be returning on October 21/22/23 with a bigger group this year. I now own a CO2 tire inflation set up, as well as an ARB tire deflator. I'll be trying the Duratracs @ 16psi on the rocks this year.

After a problem with poor quality "sticky weights" that kept slinging off, I had the tires rebalanced with clinch on weights. (Road force balanced) This is by far the best the Duratracs have ridden since new. A few days ago, I made a 90 mile blast down the interstate @ 85MPH, tucked in behind a semi. It was concrete roadway, so hard riding surface. I'm happy to report this was VERY smooth sailing!

So....GREAT performance, both on and off road, Excellent wear characteristics, great gas mileage, and not the first sign of cuts or scrapes in tread or sidewalls. Could not ask for any better results.

 

I think most shops would just stick on the weights without cleaning the underside of the wheels were they would stick on. Could be why they were coming off. I've never had one come off. I drove about 2K miles with my Duratracs to a couple of states and no problem with vibes and most of the highway speeds was between 75-85 and as the speed limit was 80. I've even done a few 100+ (no one was around for miles) short burst just to test.

 

Wheels were cleaned and the spots where weights were applied were even sanded lightly prior to applying them. The problem was the adhesive was breaking down in summer heat. As soon as temps hit 94 degrees, they would start falling off. Tire shop that applied them said they were being recalled by manufacturer.

 

Good to know that I can get 30K+ on these tires.

 

I've got 30K and they're just beginning to show signs of wear. They'll go 60K or 70K or more before they get close to wear bars. Sipes still have plenty of good life left. Just keep 'em rotated, and check balance every now and then. Align the truck well also.

 

I'm just about at to hit 20K on the tires and still looks good. I rotate every 5K and alignment is still good. If I get 40K, i'd be happy.

 

Good chance I'll be changing tires around mid Feb. That gives me a decent tire take off to sell, rather than running them until cord is showing. As much as I already understand it to be a bad move, I'm looking at moving to a bigger tire. (265/75/16C up to 285/75/16E)

 

Just so you know, it wasn't so much the hit on mpg with 285's on my 2011, it was that it was setting off the VSC at the slightest turn. I can't even make a U-Turn with it going off. Resetting didn't help. I had to do the ABS/VSC switch mod but I would have liked to retained the safety features of it during regular daily use.

 

Hey folks, Just wondering if anyone on here has gone with the passenger grade Duratracs? I'm going to be driving 95% paved roads and am looking to get the 265/70 17 on the truck. It's about a $45 price difference to the C grade LT tires and I'll be buying 5.... I'm a cheap bastard.

 

I wouldn't call the load range C tires "passenger grade". I would call them appropriately rated for the weight and payload of a Tacoma They are lighter than load range E, ride much better, and elongate much better when offroad. I was very suspicious of the sidewall strength of the Duratrac Cs (sidewalls of all Duratracs actually). But since then I have spent a lot of time in a buddy's Jeep that is running Duratrac Cs in some really nasty rocky country and I have had my Taco with Duratrac Cs in a few ugly tire eating places and no longer worry too much. The only problem either of us had was a broken root punctured his sidewall. A couple of plugs and it lasted four more days on some very nasty trails. Other tires have stronger sidewalls for sure but unless you are a hardcore wheeler that spends a lot of time in fractured granite go with the Cs and enjoy.

 

I believe what he is referring to is the Duratracs that have come out with a passenger load rating, aka less than load C.

To answer the question, it depends on what the other 5% of driving is. Forest service roads? Would easily work. Something that may jeopardize the sidewalls? Go with C-load.

 

Ah, didn't catch that. I don't know eff all about those. Didn't even know they made such a thing. Sorry.

 

"P rated".... I'm golden with the C rated, but I'm not sure I'd put P rated on a pick up truck.

 

I've had P-rated Nitto Terra Grappler tires. They make them in LT as well. On-road grip was great - dry/wet on asphalt. No slipping on light snow and good on dirt roads. I had them for 20k miles before I sold them and they got another 30K out of them. P rated are great if you're mostly on road. I'd buy them again.

 

I guess it all has to do with how you use a truck. I tow a camper and do quite a bit of off roading in the rocks with mine. I'm sketchy with C rated sometimes....