Trailhunter Riding Rough

That’s cool. Yes I use that calculator religiously. My pavement PSI for both OEM and these tires is 30. For the E loads it needed to be about 37 to maintain load equivalency. I think it feels best at 29 on the pavement. If I’m on a long country road I’ll air down to 25 or so and see how it feels. In fact, I’m going to go back to the road that rattled me to death a week ago and see what it’s like at that psi. The good news is that it seems to be a psi issue whereas before I think the unsprung weight with an unloaded truck was just not riding ideally. I still wonder how so many people are running 33-35 inch E load super heavy setups with no complaints but it’s probably their rig weight that helps or the type of roads they frequent or what they feel is acceptable in terms of ride.

 

Kinda crazy huh how much some unsprung weight changes the suspension! Glad you figured it out and are happy now. Those wheels and tires look great too!

 

Thanks!

 

Had Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac RT in LT265/70R18E on my Trailhunter and rode way too rough even at the minimum recommended for LT tires 35 psig, spent all my time driving looking closely at the road for bumps/cracks/potholes to avoid due to the big impact shocks transmitted to the vehicle. I switched to the same tire but in SL and the ride comfort is great, now when driving I'm looking at traffic ahead rather than worrying about where the next bump in the road is. I don't know what the biggest contributor to this greatly improved ride is of only 30 psig in the tire now, softer tread and sidewalls in SL vs E and/or the 11 lbs reduction in tire weight per corner but whatever it cost me to change almost brand new tires is irrelevant to the fact that I now am comfortable and enjoy the vehicle as I knew that I couldn't have lived with the Load Range E tires until they wore out.

 

Preach brother! My experience exactly!!!! I’m loving my tires now. I’m actually looking forward to driving and the lighter, faster, more nimble feel instead of bracing for impact. It’s definitely still firm but it’s not harsh and I’ve just gotten used to it—it’s a freaking truck—but it’s not knocking me around like the Es. I could have gotten an even lighter SL (Mickey Thompson) but I need some level of tire durability. The Falkens give me that. I will also say that I can absolutely rip on mountain roads and small roads and the truck handles like a dream with the unsprung weight drop back to near-OEM.

In the future I’m going to experiment with C load Falkens without the duraspec or maybe C load Toyos, but for now I’m good. For sure C is my max load range from now on.

 

My truck is performing amazingly. I have now tested it off-road about 5 times since I change out the tires.

https://youtu.be/8Jxzjn-pQ9g

 

We have the same jacket. Great minds.

 

LOL nice

 

What tires are you running right now (size), and what PSI did you settle on?

 

I kept the 285/70/17 SL Falken AT4Ws — they honestly feel great anywhere from 30-35. I think they needed to break in or maybe my ass broke in. I keep them around 32 for daily. For going fast on rough roads if I just drop them to 28 or so they are butter. For super rough slow going rocky terrain 23 is great.

 

My 265/70/18 load E KO3’s are currently set at 31 cold. I think I’m going to bump them to 34 or 35 tomorrow.

No issues at city or highway speeds.

 

I had them at 29 cold and noticed the edges were wearing faster so I bumped it up. No decline in ride that I can tell.

 

Update.

I’m not sure if it’s shock oil viscosity in this heat, break in time, or some of the charge coming out, but the OME suspension at 14,000 miles is oddly smoother than it’s ever been. Today I just absolutely tore over some rocky uneven terrain and a river rock area and my son noted he could barely feel anything in the cabin. I’m also pretty convinced I’m a Falken AT4W for life guy—in standard load. Super even wear and amazing performance in all conditions here in Texas. They seem to be extremely tough.