Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Maggot4x4 wrote:

Trusa wrote:For a tourer remember fuel economy. As Mad Cruiser said, what gearing you running and are you prepared to change it. I have a TD 80 series and went from 12 l/100km on 31s to 17 l/100km with 33's so there is a big consideration there if you do a lot of k's. (I do and it hurts at the pump). However, depending on whether it's petrol, gas of diesel and what power you have will depend on the increase at the pump.

I used to run 35's on the middy and they were a little unhappy on road but made up for it off road (Claws), my 33 STT are manerable on the road and can cope with most dirt and rock you can throw at it and a bit of the mud also.

If you go bigger, be prepared to sacrifice more dollars than just the tyres. But it's worth it.

Did you take into account your speedo error when you worked out you MPG? When I went from 33's to 35's my MPG got better.

On my shorty i was getting an extra 50 k's out of each tank with the 35's on. Suprised me i thought it would of got worse.

I'd go 33's for touring they're a good size for doing a bit of everything

Trusa wrote:For a tourer remember fuel economy. As Mad Cruiser said, what gearing you running and are you prepared to change it. I have a TD 80 series and went from 12 l/100km on 31s to 17 l/100km with 33's so there is a big consideration there if you do a lot of k's. (I do and it hurts at the pump). However, depending on whether it's petrol, gas of diesel and what power you have will depend on the increase at the pump.

I used to run 35's on the middy and they were a little unhappy on road but made up for it off road (Claws), my 33 STT are manerable on the road and can cope with most dirt and rock you can throw at it and a bit of the mud also.

If you go bigger, be prepared to sacrifice more dollars than just the tyres. But it's worth it.

Are those fuel consumption figures quoted taking into account the fact that your speedo is going to be inaccurate after changing tyres? Thats a big jump! Definately making me think twice about getting 33s in the hilux.

My old boy is running pro-comp x-terrain's in a 285/75 16", on a 79 troopy, between the 6 tyres(rotated) they have done 80,000klm and hes currently in WA somewhere and has finally killed the rears so much he is buying 2 newies, before coming back through the nullabor, so as to minimize the rizk of a puncture

He's also started towing a kimberley camper on his trips, these tyres have been to all over WA NT and QLD faultlessy and without ANY punctures, great tyre and great on-road manners

Previous tyres were BF all terrains and what utter shit they were, in the 7,oooklms he did through the simpson WITHOUT the Grimace trailer he chewed the rear pair up that much they looked like a dog had mauled them

touring is more about realiability that capability ... I would go a 285/75 or a 33/12.5 .. a good mix of both .. easyish to replace and dont put to much strain on bearings, brakes etc ..

33" mtr's it is

With the gearing of the Commodore auto, the stock 4.6 diff and the 35's i get 2050rpm at 110, pretty much the same as a commodore, if I went to 33's it would be a bit quicker off the mark, but rev more at highway speeds.
Hoppy

OK - my turn.

If you're serious about touring, consider which size is most readily available in remote areas. I think you'll find 265/75-16 (32") is the winner there.

Check out load capacities. 16" tyres generally have a much higher load carrying capacity, compared with a 15" tyre of similar overall size. Any tyre you're considering may have a high enough load rating, but the higher the rating the less stressed the tyre will be (for your particular load.) Remember that a tyre's peak load rating is normally at very high pressure. Do you run 65psi in your tyres?

I don't believe in buying tyre brands based on what's available in the middle of nowhere. Buy the right tyres in the first place, run them at the correct pressures for the road conditions, drive sensibly and you shouldn't have problems. If it all goes to cr@p in a remote area, you'll be happy to buy something close to the same size - and who cares if you're now running one Toyo OPAT with your BFG A/Ts? You should be running something tougher to begin with.

"Overdrive" is a much abused term. Theoretically, a vehicle should be geared to provide it's top speed at peak power in it's top gear. (In reality, who does that?) An "overdrive" gear is taller than this theoretical optimum, and is a means to reduce engine revs for a given road speed. If your "overdrive" is too tall you can drop revs to the point where the engine is using all it's available power to maintain your "cruise speed", and economy suffers. You can get better economy by dropping a gear (or two) and running the engine at a more efficient speed. Often, best economy comes by cruising at peak torque revs.

What's that? 4 x 2c? Crikey, I'll go broke at this rate.

Scott