Checkin' out the new tires

[Maddawg]

Nice day here in California, so my neighbor and I took off for a few hours on the back roads of Hesperia. Mainly to check out my clearances with the new tires I installed. Well, I definitely need the body lift and a set of lockers as well. Lots of rubbing on the rear wheel whell clad. And stuck is a four letter work in my vocabulary as I almost managed that today in some soft sand. This bugger is just too heavy IMHO for any serious off-road activity.





I admit I didn't make this approach it took another attempt at the one on the right to make the crest.

[Triathlete]

To heavy for serious off roading? Your joking, right? Have you looked at any of the Moab picture posts?
Did you air down your tires or were you running street pressure? You will be surprise at the HUGE difference running 10-20psi makes in traction (especially in sand)!
Nice pics by the way!

[Maddawg]

To heavy for serious off roading? Your joking, right? Have you looked at any of the Moab picture posts?
Did you air down your tires or were you running street pressure? You will be surprise at the HUGE difference running 10-20psi makes in traction (especially in sand)!
Nice pics by the way!

20 psi

[Triathlete]

For deep sand you want 8-10, if rocky with non beadlock wheels you want to stay a bit higher. On the rocks I usually run about 18 since I am a little paranoid about popping a bead....I know a lot of people that run 8-12 without problems.

[pbkid]

Ya, definately not too heavy for offroad. and im with Billy, gotta air down more for sand/mud. I run my tires at 15 psi in moab and have never had a problem with losing a bead. If i had a compressor to air back up i would probably run them at 8psi in moab.

FYI, for stuff like these pics there isnt much technical advise because hill climbs are really just a matter of power and cahones i believe. If you ever get out rock crawling and have traction issues, just click up your e-brake about 3-5 clicks and BOOM, rear locker.

[VX KAT]

To heavy for serious off roading? Your joking, right? Have you looked at any of the Moab picture posts?
Did you air down your tires or were you running street pressure? You will be surprise at the HUGE difference running 10-20psi makes in traction (especially in sand)!
Nice pics by the way!

Billy ya took the words right outta my mouth......dawg you need to come to Moab and see us in action! And specifically check out Travis' pics (tjh)...he came in full stock mode with bald tires...covered everything!
Made most of us wonder why we pay good money for A/T and more aggressive tires.......



Here's Travis....deep sand at base of rock....


there goes Travis right up....



Here's Kat....




Here's Kat again.........with Travis quietly watching me....




and again...........with Travis still watching...now wondering if he's going to have to strap me..... (he didn't)



and FINALLY ...SUCCESS!.....well, have to admit it was only after we added some big rocks to that sand pit on the right side of truck...notice the big boulders are missing......

[Maddawg]

Very good! Now, no disrespect intended but thats nothing compared to what I was in yesterday. You couldn't even see my tread on my left rear tire because it was buried up inside my wheel well. Right front was up to the clad.

Also after driving around off-road for 40 some years I understand the importance of tire pressure, boy do I. What happened to me was because I didn't see it coming. You know, looks ok, ooops "quicksand". Got out with a little depressurizing and my buddy laying his weight on the left front fender. No biggie, been there before and will again for sure.

But before I do anymore serious off-roading I've got to get this baby up higher to prevent destroying my clad. If you guys aren't tearing up you're clad, then your tires aren't tall enough, or you're not trying hard enough, lol.

[Maddawg]

So now I'm debating lifting the back with spring spacers. I measured my spring height sitting level and its 10.5". I jacked to get the spring to 12.5" (representing a 2" spacer). Car just looked dumb, like a rodent looking for a hole. A 1.5" spacer probably is acceptable appearance wise, although still the nose down attitude. If nothing else I can go to the 2" diff drop and crank the front bars down about 1/2" to get the right look.

Anybody got any other advice (the body lift is out). Also to add the spacers to the rear springs, whats involved? Disconnect the rear shocks and what else??

[LittleBeast]

You just need longer bump stops, weird how you have been offroading so long and don't know this is a simple easy quick and inexpensive way to correct rubbing?

[Maddawg]

You just need longer bump stops, weird how you have been offroading so long and don't know this is a simple easy quick and inexpensive way to correct rubbing?

Whats weird is that you guys have been driving around off-road with those arse busting bump stops limiting your travel. I've been doing fine without them with the stock wheel and tire, however now that I have the 33's and a bit more offset I may have to put them back on temporarily until I can gain some more clearance. Like a body lift or diff drop/spring spacer combo

[Maddawg]

Also to add the spacers to the rear springs, whats involved? Disconnect the rear shocks and what else??

[yellowgizmo99]

dat's it. oh yea insert spacer.

[vt_maverick]

What kind of tires do you have? They look pretty chunky which might not be helping your sand traction either.

[Maddawg]

dat's it. oh yea insert spacer.

Is a 2 inch spring spacer 2 inches, or is it 2 inches taller than stock. Say stock is 2 inches, is the 2 inch spacer actually 4 inches for example?

[Maddawg]

What kind of tires do you have? They look pretty chunky which might not be helping your sand traction either.

They're Toyo Cross Country Mud Terrains. Yes, they are very agressive but I was running 20 psi and didnt expect any soft sand where I was running.