255 toyo or 285 duratrac

marathonracer

Adventurer
At the risk of starting yet another obligatory tire thread I would like some input on the thoughts between these two tires. My truck is used pretty much for working in the woods guiding. It sees very little pavement and most of the time is spent getting to the good spots. If narrowed my selection down to these two tires and these two sizes based on snow performance.

Frequently the truck will see mud and slop, packed snow, then 12-18" un packed snow all in the same day. If I'm out all day I may return to the truck and have to run miles of deeper new snow covered road out to the major logging artery which would be packed snow.

My thoughts so far:
285 75 16 duratrac: good snow performance on packed snow and loose snow clean out okay.

255 toyo mt: no first hand experience in snow but guys seem to love them in the deep stuff, not sure on the packed snow. Great in the mud. The tall skinny size would be better in the snow plus gives the truck a little extra room underneath

The truck is a 1st gen tundra DC. I do run chains on the rears on occasion. Thanks to a great UCA design I can't run them on the front.

Thoughts?
 

Betarocker

Adventurer
Is this to be a dedicated winter set, or year round? Duratracs are soft compound so they'll wear fast during the warm dry seasons.

I've never had a Toyo MT that small and narrow. 35x12.50-18 was that smallest I've used, then 37x13.50-18, and now 38x13.50-18. In those sizes on an almost 4 ton diesel they worked and lasted very well in most conditions encountered year round in Western Canada. There are better winter tires, but not in the size I run. I know the limits of the tires and drive within them.
 
Just took a set of 285/75/16 Duratracs off a 2004 F350 CC Long Bed with a Powerstroke.

Got 95,000 miles had 3 to 5 32nd left. Rotating them every 5000 and air set at 58 to 62 in front and 50 rear unloaded. That was a big mix of towing and city miles.

Just put 315/75/16 Duratracs
On so I hope for close to the same miles.
 

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