Trying on 33"-ers

[Eric]

These are pics of my Trooper with my buddy's 33x12.50 Sidewinders on it. I thought I'd try 'em out on Tuesday, when I go down to Tuttle Creek.

Looks bad-ass, donchathink?














This is what my buddy's truck looks like wearing my stuff!

[IsuzuRS]

Those are some 15 inch rims huh? Im probably going to get some 15 inch rock-crawlers and some 32" Mud terrains as my main offroad tires. I plan on hauling them wherever i travel to, then swapping out right before i hit the trails. Then again, everyone plans that, right? 4 tires are alot to haul around though, esecially with the little room in my RS.

[Eric]

That's exactly what I was going to do. Then I realized, like you did, what a pain that'd be.

But, then I got a pickup box trailer. Plenty big. El-cheapo.

[BuckHunt]

the 33's look better on your rig than his. Doesn't look life you have any lift or trimming - did those 33x12.50's rub any on compression? What about turning??? any rubbing at full turn? I have 285/75/16's - a 33" tire but not nearly as wide as the 12.50's...

I'm sure he'll trade tires with you.

[IsuzuRS]

Hey...I know this is weird, but I have the exact dent on the rear bumper, under side, right of the hitch. I think this dent was not there when i bought it, and noticed it one day after wheeling. Strange. I am thinking of making a trailer in shop class(still in HighSchool) but you have to register them. Also, are they covered by your insurance? I have liability, and just dont want to insure a trailer(i fit costs more). Kinda off topic, but ohhwell. wait...what if the trailer had 33's and an isuzu & trooper logo on it...(now its on topic). HaaaHaaa

[Eric]

Hey, we don't get bent out of shape on this board for going off-topic once it awhile. My goal is to keep this thing as low-brow and laid back as possible.

You may have to license your trailer, but I don't think you have to insure anything that doesn't have a motor itself. I'm almost positive it's covered by the tow vehicle, as long as it's not more than the tow vehicle is rated for.

'92 and later Troopers/SLXs are rated for 3500lbs tow weight and 300 lbs tongue weight. That moves up to 5000lbs and 500lbs, respectively, if you add electric brakes. I have a full-size 80-something Chevy pickup box trailer I drag around to do all of my big hauling, and it does fine. As we speak I've got 1000lbs or so worth of rock in it, and the Trooper barely noticed the difference.

A pickup box trailer is the way to go. Cheap (usually can be had for under $200), and at 1/2 ton rides great. The smoother the suspension on the trailer, the nicer your towing experience will be.

For example, I've dragged my brother's 18ft tilt-bed car trailer behind my Trooper before, which weighs 1800lbs with a 3500lb tractor on it, and it did just fine. The more weight, the smoother it goes.

It's important to have the weight balanced forward on the trailer, otherwise, when you get up to higher speeds, it will start to fishtail on you, which sux from a safety standpoint.

For example, let's say your trailer has a neutral tongue, that is to say, that when it's unloaded it has very little or no tonque weight. If you're loading a lawn tractor on it, I'd put the motor toward the front, as the weight of the engine is usually enough tongue weight to make it stable.

If you're hauling a car or something else heavy on a trailer, the same hold true, but too much tongue weight is bad, too, as it will make your front end come up, which lessens your steering and braking control big time.

A good rule of thumb when towing something heavy is that if it's really difficult for you and a buddy to lift the tongue end when it's loaded, but not impossible, you're probably good to go. You don't want it to be impossible, because that would mean you're getting really tongue-heavy, which causes the too-light-front end symptom.

ALSO!! This is important! When you're towing something heavier than a lawn tractor or an ATV, is really important that you use 3rd gear instead of D. Drive works the transmission too hard when you're towing a lot of weight. If you're on the interstate, and it's fairly flat, you're probably safe with Drive, but you'll notice that it shifts down to 3rd a lot when going up inclines.

When I'm towing a car or a tractor, I use 3rd gear until I'm on a long, straight stretch of road. I also select the Power option on the console, which raises the shift RPM. Seems to help the motor compensate for the increased load.


Is all of this making sense?

[Zaphod]

Great-looking rig!

Sigh.....okay: stupid newbie question.....

Would someone please give me the Cliff-Notes version of how tires are identified? For example, WTF does 285/75/R16 mean?

The few times I've purchased tires for my car, it's been, "here's my make, model, and year. Gimme tires." Obviously not something I want to repeat on my truck.

I'd be looking for tires that are useable for daily driving, but which work reasonably well during moderate off-roading. No extreme stuff; I gotta start learning small...

Thanks!

[BuckHunt]

someone else will have to help you with what the numbers mean... i can help you translate out how to get the tire height from those numbers though...

285/75/16

multiply 285 by .75.
gets X
X is 213.75 in this case

divide X (213.75)by 25.4
you get 8.42

8.42" of tire above and below the rims... so times that by two for each 8.42" section... 16.84" of tire total, plus the 16" of rims. 32.84" tall tires, those not fond of metrics can simply say "yeah uhh they're 33's"

[IsuzuRS]

I was told that in 285/75/r16, 285 was the width of the tire(tread?), 75 was the height of the tire from the rim to the outside circumfrence(pars of the radius of the overall wheel), and r16(duh, 16" rims). I maight have thought wrong, but this is what i thought. Like, I have a spare set of 245.75.r16, same as my new 265/75/r17, but the 245's are narrower. Stock came the 245/70/r16, this was like a 30" tire. Hmmm....

[devmoe]

Nice Site. Question for you: How big of tires can I fit on my stock 16x7 rims on my 2002 Trooper, with no additional mods? Want it to be more agressive.

[Eric]

Okay, here's where my time working at Discount Tire comes in handy.

Using 265/75R15 as an example, the following holds true:

The 265 is the Section Width. That is the width at the widest point of the tire as it is mounted on the average width wheel, measured in millimeters.

The 75 stands for the aspect ratio, which is the height of the sidewall measured from the inside of the bead to the outside of the tire at it's tallest point. It is a percentage. So, the sidewall of the tire we're using in this example is 75% as tall as the section width. The rest is the wheel diameter.

Any questions?

Tirerack.com has a sweet tire tech section that explains all of this. Also, look at the specs for a tire, say, the Dunlop Mud Rover, and you'll notice that all of the measurements are there. Compare them to the tire specs at Intercotire.com, if you'd like to see how they measure up.

[Zaphod]

Thanks!

I'm really beginning to like this place! You get ANSWERS here! ;D

[DoctorC]

Would someone please give me the Cliff-Notes version of how tires are identified? For example, WTF does 285/75/R16 mean?

[/quote]

Here are a couple great tire calculators
This one gives a picture demonstration of tire sizes along with speed differences with new tires
www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html


This one gives a simple drop down menu to input tires # for example 165/75/16 and gives approximate Height and width in inches.
members.shaw.ca/snowjeep/droptirecalc.htm

This one is the mother of all tire calculators giving all most all info you could possibly want about the diffences new tires/rims make in speed/size/clearance etc. etc. etc.
gs.tolan-hoechst.com/tirecalc.htm

[IsuzuRS]

When I upped my tires, i noticed I was keeping up with traffic when my speedometer was at 70mph, not 75ish. I remember making a project over this in 10th grade, over tire diameters and gearing, and dealing with circumferences, radius, and pie(yumm). Easy stuff