ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Suzuki 4x4 Forum => Topic started by: Quaddawg on March 29, 2006, 10:13:08 AM
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Airing down isn't just for grabbing rocks.. it increases your contact patch significantly, and also lowers your gear ratio slightly...
AIR PRESSURE AIR PRESSURE AIR PRESSURE!!!!
(or lack of it)
That and a good breaking in of the sidewalls.. (ala Mr. Fuelish)
After wheeling with my LTB's over the last few weekends , and finding several others using 31 and 33 inch LTB's.. I love mine, so I asked them how they liked them.. NOONE LIKED THEM!!! ??????????
I got to looking and it seemed they were VERY stiff, all of them
.. I asked about tire pressure and the first guy was running 45 lbs....  :o ....... all he could say was that was what it said on the tire.. (yeah....45psi MAX) He had a full size truck, so I aired him down to 15 psi, and they squatted pretty well... I let him go, telling him to keep a close eye on the beads, the squat, and so on..
He came back to my side of the parking lot about an hour later, and I thought he was going to kiss me... I checked them, and he had let them down to 10 rear, 12 front, and they were about perfect.. He said the difference was more than Night and Day.. well... we know this stuff. but I don't really think the average person knows HOW BIG of a difference it makes.. it is HUGE..
The second guy was in a Sami, he didn't care for his either.. and was having trouble with a little slick hill that I was walking right up.. .he was mystified.. afterall, he was lighter and had the same tire as me... BUT, he was running 15 psi in the 31's.. there was NO squat.. the little Sami set up on them like they were rock hard... TINY LITTLE CONTACT PATCH!!!!
I took out my handy dandy valve core tool (everyone needs one on their keychain!) and to this guys surprise... just took them all out and went down to zero on all four. Little thing still sat like a radial tire.. not quite enough sag though.. so we had him drive around a little on flat ground till they started sagging good, and just aired him back to 10 psi front and rear.. He did MUCH better.. MUCH MUCH better.. he wouldn't run them at 5.. he just wouldn't... he was skeered... BUT, I at least got him to squat a little... LOL and once again, he couldn't believe the difference..
which brings me to these little trucks of ours... they are LIGHT, and will barely squat a set of 31's when the tire is new, with 0 pressure.... at least mine wouldn't..
Mr Fuelish recommended a break in procedure.. which I wasn't familiar with, being new to these light little rigs.. he told me to run them with 0-2 psi, up the road till I smelled hot rubber, and then get out and air them up to 4-6 and be done with them.. At first I was a little uncertain.. lol.. I have "broken in" bias ply tires before... to get the sidewalls and tread base flexy... but at 0 psi?? lol.. to tell you the truth.. I didn't put much stock into it.. but before it was all said and done, he was right.. it worked REALLY well.. I did just that.. I tried to run them at 5 rear, 7 front for a while, but they were just too stiff, and not breaking in fast enough.. so I said what the hell... let out ALL the air.. (I ended up putting just a SKOSH back in..as I had partially broken them in already) but I swear, I ran them at 1-1.5 psi for a mile or so, till they got good and warm and were bulging badly.. not enough to damage them... (well.. not much anyway.. LOL)
At first, I ran 4 rear, 5 front.. since they have broken in even more now, I am up to 6 or so in the rear.. and the fronts at close 7-8 and these tires work like TRACKS..
I don't recommend this for street tires of course.. just because I wouldn't want the liability.. lol.. I mean, I am not afraid to run these on the street.. I just air them up to 15 or so.. and they are fine, But I am not gonna be liable for tires coming apart and killing folks.. Cover my ass ya know.
BUT, I was wondering.
what tire do you run, with what pressure, and did you break them in in ANY way at all???
Interested in what works for others.. and thanks to Mr. Fuelish for the extreme advice that has worked better than anything yet... I wouldn't trade my LTB's for anything at this point. I am walking stuff others are spinning going up.. and several of them won't listen to me and air down..
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I am running 33x12.50 Goodyear MTR's. I usually run 15-18 psi on the road and 5-10 off road. I broke them in good with a 1600 mile trip and a week in the Moab desert ;D with 6psi front and 4 psi rear. They stayed at that perssure all week, on and off road. ;D
Zig
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This is new to me and now i must go and try this,info like this is why i come to this site. :o ;D
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on the road , i'm at about 12-15 PSI. off road i let them down to between 3-8 PSI.
all the tires we run are designed to hold up a rig that weighs a bizillion pounds. that also means that they are virtualy indestructible to us little guys.
when my dad put the new tires on his tracker, the guy at american tire put them up to like 40 PSI, felt like they were full of concrete, not air ;D  you got to keep an eye on the oil change places too, they will fill them to mfg specs too.
jason
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Too kool for school. I love this kind of info. I'm on it when I get home today. Maybe I'll go to lunch and get a gauge to do it now
Thanks
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Hmm..
I have 315x75x16 Goodyear MT/R's
I run them at 28-30 on the street (better gas mileage) and 12-15 off road.
Seems to work well for me.
28-30 might seem a lot, but the ride really isn't too bad with the YJ springs, and it's less resistance.
12-15 on the street when I haven't aired back up yet makes my truck bobble like a construction CAT or something. Hahaha :)
It also makes a big difference in steering.
I've also got these:
(http://www.rockcrawler.com/techreports/staun_tyre_deflators/deflators.jpg)
;D
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31s BFG MT --28-30 on street 15psi if have to -offroad
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The BFG MT's... are those radials??/
I am talking Bias here.. I wouldn't recommend running radials at radically low pressures...
Check before you younguns go ruining your radials now... ;)
A big stiff walled Bias ply like non-radial Swampers..
Gotta remember, I rarely drive my Tracky on the street.. I mean, I do.. but I don't drive it daily.. I think I have put 30 miles on the LTB's... on the street, since I got them.. and about 50, off road.. LOL.. (10 miles is a pretty good day at Haspin...)
Also, like it was mentioned above.. each LTB like mine has a 2800 pound rating... lol.. by itself... and each tire is carrying only 600-700 pounds on a Tracker.. less I guess on Sami's.. (Stock without winches, cages, etc..)
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This is new to me and now i must go and try this,info like this is why i come to this site. :o ;D
What tires are you running FNG??? What pressure?? I have seen a lot of your videos.. that thing does very well... I bet if you lower your pressure (12-15 radial 5-8 bias) you will be AMAZED at how much LESS throttle it takes to crawl slippery stuff...
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I'm running 9/34-16 bias TSL's on my Tracker. I started by dropping to 5 psi which gave a nice bulge then pounded it up a logging road for about 8 miles. I always air down as soon as I'm off the pavement as they are too rough on the potholes otherwise. When I'm offroading I usually run at 5psi and they work awesome and have a nice bulge.
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Airing down too low is not good if you're running through very deep mud. At least not the suck the tire off the bead mud we have here in KY!
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I got some little all season radials and i put them at 11 PSI front and 8 PSI rear and it is good, i think, can't afford a nice tire yet
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My little Buckshot mudders (235's) that I used to have did dramatically better down low.. they were radials, and I ran them at about 10 I think... even with open diffs at the time, surprised the hell out of a group of Jeeps... :P
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I run really low pressure all the time offroad. Sometimes it bites me in the ass but thats why I have a full size spare. At the winter event I went to last month I ran the rockstar at 1 psi in the front and .5 in the rear! It wasnt all that squatty cause it was cold as hell but when it sat overnight it was almost on the rims. As soon as I drove it 1/4 mile all was round again. Im running a Bias tire on the rockstar now.In the summer I usually run 3psi in the front and 2psi in the rear.
Mike
Interesting winter pic for those not familiar with the rockstar...
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Hmm I should probably break my swampers in. I've got 31x11.5 LTBs, and I've been running at 18 PSI since I got them, on and off road. They ahve about a thousand miles on them, and they've never been lower than 18. They don't flex at all, and they suck in sand so far, but they kick ass in mud. Got stuck as hell when they were at 40 psi though.
How should I break them in now that they have quite a bit of miles on them?
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Same way.. air them down as low as you can without sitting on the sidewalls... and gettem warm!
You will notice the difference I am betting.. would love to hear how it works for you..
18 is just WAY too much for those tires on a little truck like this.. for optimum off road that is...
Doesn't the Rockstar look sweet laying down taking a nap!!!
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Hah, I can't tell you how many times I've had an argument with "less refined wheelers" (rednecks) or seen tires off of the same's trucks that have no tread in the middle because of this subject.
NO YOU SHOULDN'T RUN 50PSI IN YOUR 38" HAWGS JUST BECAUSE THE SIDEWALL SAYS SO!
It's not uncommon to find someone selling a set of offroad tires in Michigan with something in the description like, "center tread worn, good side lugs." ::)
The funny part is there's a discussion on the Yahoo Groups Grand Vitara forum about guys running 35-40psi in their 28-30" tall radial tires.  I told them they were nuts, I was running 25psi in mine and probably should be a pound or two less.  They talked to me like I was ignorant.  I bet their side lugs aren't even touching the ground!
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My side lugs aren't wearing at 18 psi at all.
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man i couldnt tell you what psi my 33 swampers have in them. :( :( especially now that they have tubes in them seeing as someone slashed them at the mall and i dont have the money to buy any new ones right now and I REFUSE to go back to the 30s >:(