Airing down fully loaded for camping

Hi all got a camping trip coming up. We will be camping for a week with my family and be fully loaded with gear. We will be headed up a pretty steep rough road lot of boulders and lose rock. Probably take about five hours to get up the road. I generally don't bother airing down but was thinking that it could make the trip a little more comfortable. I have falken wildpeak 265/75r16 SL 4 ply that I run around 34lbs. I guess my question is do you air down with a lot of weight in the truck or do i need the pressure for the added weight?

 

I go down to 25 on the same tires for forest roads. Makes a huge difference for comfort and less worry about punctures. I'm only a 2WD though, but it helps with traction for sure as well.

 

Lifted or stock. Tire size. I like how it looks

 

It looks like you had a fire around the fire pit. I don't own a portable air compressor so would need to pick one up. Was thinking

$98 viair 88p portable compressor kit (12V, 120 psi, forup to 33" tires)

viair 88p or mv-50 just wondering if it would be worth it.

 

I've than the exact tires down to the size and load rating down to 10 PSI (Accidentally) and never de-beaded or anything. Probably not the best idea, but I typically aim for 15-20 PSI aired down depending where I'm going. 20 if I just got off the road and am heading up to higher/colder elevation.

I run maybe 350-400 lbs of gear in the bed and have never thought about running higher pressures, though I don't see that being a huge issue.

 

Added weight equals more ground pressure eqyals more square inches of contact patch. Airing down to 25 psi or so is my recommendation. That would give you an equivalent contact patch of a stock unloaded truck airing down to maybe 15 psi.

 

It has Bilstein 5100's at the 1" notch in the front and a 1" block in the back as well as Spidertrax swheel spacers. Its 2WD, not like I'm wheeling hard or anything. Weight of gear seems fine when fully loaded with camping gear. Sits about level. It's well under that vehicle max weight when loaded with gear and 2 adults. Unloaded it has a rake of 3/4 inch, not too bad. I like the level look. 265/75/16 Falken WP

 

I have the 88p it works fine. Gets hot after 2 tires, but doesn't take that long to cool. From 25psi back up to 35/37 takes about 2 or 3 minutes per tire at most. Just run your engine while connected to the battery pumping the tires up.

 

I had an MV-50 for years. Once I had my Tacoma it was mounted under the hood in the engine bay. I could air up 3 tires from 15psi to 35 psi before it shut itself off due to heat. Those were 265/75r16. It probably would have been able to do all 4 if not for the engine bay heat.

Fully loaded, and i'm sure i'm way heavier loaded than you, I don't want to go below 20, just based on what the tire starts looking like. I usually do 22-25 or so in the rear. Little lower in front.

 

Yes it would be worth it

 

Good info in this thread. I'm getting a set of SL load tires installed today (Cooper AT3 4S) only because I was FULLY loaded with camping gear + wife + 2 kids last weekend, aired down to about 18-20 psi on the trail and think I punctured a sidewall on my GY Duratracs...only noticed after I drove about 20 mins on the pavement and one of my tire's sidewall split open. After reading the comments, sounds like I may have been aired down too low for my load. Also +1 on the Viair 88. Struggles on the 4th tire in Big Bear (Elv 7000'), but easily airs up 4 tires at lower elevations.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I think i will try 25 out.

 

I don’t air down unless it for at least a couple days worth of driving on 100% offroad like my last time in eastern Oregon, otherwise I don’t think it’s worth the hassle for a few hours or miles driving offroad. Besides, its nice to drive on by without stopping next to all the weekend warriors filling up or airing down their shiny new jeeps and Landcruisers at the edge of the pavement for a few miles of driving on dirt roads that don’t even need 4wd. That’s typical in some of the popular places in So Cal, so I usually try to avoid them and go to more remote places when possible.

But to answer the OP’s question, yeah, 25psi should do you well and you can even take it for short distances on pavement with that if necessary. Have fun on your trip!