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What tires are you running on your tow rig? What size truck, what tread design and load rating?
Right now I have a set of 265/70R18 Firestone Destination AT's on my Titan that I like so far. Most of my driving is mixed city/highway, but whenever I tow my Jeep, I end up using 4wd on the dirt roads and gravel parking lots, so I want to stick with an AT.
What tires are you guys running?
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17422
A lot of us chimed in there.
When I used my 5.9 to tow my race car (4500 lbs total - car and trailer) I had 245/75/16 BFG AT's. Load range was E (IIRC). Loved 'em. I got about about 45 - 50K miles out of them before I took them off when I lifted. There is still some life left in them too.
I knew somebody would post that. I thought about reviving that thread but didn't because it's about diesels only. Weight of the actual tow rig affects tire choice immensely. Hoping to have more of a general thread here, especially for us poor 1/2 ton guys.
I have an 07 Ram 1500 with the stock 275/60/20 Wrangler HPs. They get the job done, but I hate them.
I have no complaints when the roads are dry since they are so quiet, but they spin out way too easily in the rain even with 7000lbs behind it. They suck in the snow, too.
I really want to replace them with BFG ATs (ran them on my ZJ when it was my DD for a while and loved them) -- but they are like $400/tire in my size and the Wrangler HPs seem to be wearing like iron.
Last edited by SirFuego; 02-05-2009 at 11:57 AM.
I have an 03 dodge 2500 ctd with stock 265/70/17 load range E BFG Rugged Trail. They are great on dry pavement but suck in any other conditions. I have also ran BFG AT 285/70/17 Load range D (carry the same lbs as the 265/70/17 ) on the same truck. They did fine towing my ZJ, and were far better in the snow and wet roads. These wil be the next tire I put on my truck.
After my other thread that Dave posted, I went with some BFG MTKM2s. I got the 285/75/16Es. Very happy with them so far. Little squishy/squirmy, but every MT I've ever driven did the same thing. They're also made in the USA.
I don't think you can go wrong with some BFG ATs. With your 18" wheels, you're somewhat limited in what they offer...the 285/65/18E seems the closest match to what you're running now, and the E load rating is a pretty attractive bonus. They'll probably cost a small fortune though. edit: confirmed....close to $300 a corner.
Any opposition to running another set of what's on there?
Paul
Last edited by paulkeith; 02-05-2009 at 01:33 PM.
Get the LTX A/T2 because I want to know how you like them since I may get those next. LOL They make this tire in the newer truck sizes.
I run Firestone Steeltex AT's on my 97 Chevy K2500 454 Vortec. They have a lot of grip on dry and wet roads and are also pretty good in the snow. I pull a 10,000lb trailer with it and have put almost 50k on the tires and they still look brand new.
As for the BFG AT's, I don't like them. We have them on our F-350 7.3l TD at the size of 315/75/16's and other than getting ~60,000 miles out of them they suck. Only traction they have is on dry pavement. They are horrible in the snow. In the summer months we pull a 12,000lb + trailer daily. Winter months it is used commercially for snowplowing. Will be purchasing new tires for it in the next month or so and are looking at going with the Firestone Destination AT's.
I've heard from some people that they hate the wider BFG ATs, but I've yet to hear anyone with a narrower BFG AT (like 10.5" or less) that they suck. If my calculations are correct, your width works out to about 12.5", so that could be the reason. Perhaps the additional weight of the rig had something to do with it, too.
dude, you need to condense your marathon signature
I run that in a 285/70-17 on my 01 CTD. I love them. They're quiet, and get pretty damn good traction in all conditions. I've even put them through snow and they do well in that too. I report back after my 2500 mile trip next weekend to let you know how they do on road trips.
Giving this thread a little bump and update.
So even after 45k miles, there was a fair amount of tread left on my Wrangler HPs. However, they wouldn't balance very well. To and from GSSE-W, I noticed a bit of a shake start -- thinking it was just an out of balance tire. After I got back, I took it to a shop only to see that one tire had a broken belt and had a small area worn down to the cords (which either happened to and from Windrock or I just never saw when I would do "spot checks" of my tire tread). The other tires were really out of round, so I just got a new set of tires. I guess I can't really complain about the life of them. 45k (and admittedly a bit inconsistent with tire rotations) isn't too shabby for truck tires.
I went with the 275/60/20 Cooper H/T Plus (the H/T version with a different tread supposedly optimized for bling 18"+ rims). I've only had them for a week, but I don't notice any additional road noise from the tires (and of course the truck rids like new again). Like I said before, the Wrangler HPs sucked when the roads got wet. This morning it was wet and I took some turns on these new tires where I knew my LSD would kick in with the old tires, and had zero issues with tire slippage in the new tires. These new tires are also rated for a heavier load than the Wrangler HPs, which will hopefully help. Of course I can't comment on tread wear or snow performance (it's mostly all melted now), but I'm much happier with these than I ever was with the HPs.
I don't personally have a tow rig, but my grandpa has bfg at's on his ram 2500. He tows a fifth wheel with small caterpillar tractors (old fifteens and twenties, about 6,000 lbs plus trailer wt.) all the time. he loves them and he lives in snow country. not sure what the size is, but they are narrow looking and on a 16 inch rim.
I had 31/10.50 bfg ats on my zj, got 50,000 out of them and they were awesome in the snow in my opinion.
I guess just to close the loop on my question in the linked thread, the KM2s have been on for about 18 months, and I'm flirting with the wear bars. Frickin joke.
Next set will be LTX M/S in stock size. Tired (haahh!) of blowing through tires in a year and a half of this thing. I've got the Jeep to put stupid shoes on.
I just picked up the new Wrangler Duratrac tires for my tow rig. They're an aggressive all-terrain. Not bad priced either. I got 295/65-18's E for $240 a tire. Supposedly you can get around 40k miles out of them. Time will tell though.
I just paid ~$760 for my 265/75-16 BFG ATs, and in that size they only come in E.
Over the years of being on different truck forums the only thing I've read "negative" about them.... is that everyone has them, which is true.
I was going between Michelin LTX M/S and the BFG ATs, but I wanted something on the more aggressive side and also a fairly strong sidewall because I would be towing offroad rigs and as we all know the terrain isn't always forgiving. I haven't towed anything on these tires yet but so far daily driving with them I love 'em. The new MT/Rs were on my list until I saw the price
what did you do to them?
+1 for BFG ATs.
Have some 31's on my current DD (96 2 door 2wd Chevy Tahoe) until my ZJ is operational again. LOVE them. They are great on basically anything I have put them through except mud. Didn't have any trouble with it in the snow (2wd keep in mind). Never slipped when it's wet out.
Paid about $155/tire at discount for 31's. When I was looking to buy my set of 33s for my ZJ they were about $190/each on Discount's site. You can talk them down in price at the store. I got my MT/R Kevlars for $185/tire when the online listing price was $225. I recommend trying them.
Im running 34" nitto terra grapplers E rated. Good onroad and dirt/mud acces roads hauling a load
09 dodge 2500 CTD 4x4
I think the MTRs were 250+ for me. a friend at discount could get me the black wall BFGs for like 160, i paid like 175? for the white walled ones and the company delivered to my shop within a few hours.
They're amazing on wet roads. thats the only place they've been. I was in some mud recovering a few friends, while I didn't get stuck.. I also didn't play around, I was just there to get them out.
Running 285/75 or 70/17 Toyo Open Country A/T's Load Range E, on my 03 Ram 2500 5.7L .. the drive from Massachusetts was pretty nice towing a uhaul trailer with the XJ on it. Drove on Dry,wet and Icy roads with no slippage or Vibes. i have a hard time breaking loose the rear tires on wet roads and when they do let go it will catch rather quick mud/grass has some sweet grip too.
I didn't do shit to them. I put em on my ZJ in August '08, and will be replacing them this summer most likely. They're wearing so damn quickly, I guarantee I wont get 15k outta them. I'm at 9k right now. I probably got more miles outta my BFG M/T's.... They're wearing evenly across the face of the tire (no alignment issues), they're just wearing really fast. Maybe I got an unlucky batch.
EDIT: Oh, and they suck cawk in mud.
Last edited by dp96zj; 03-14-2010 at 02:45 AM.
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