rruff
Explorer
Very stiff tires. Rolling resistance varies a lot by brand and model. My Hankook ATMs are excellent in this respect. 17-18 mpg on long trips, 35x13 and a 2" lift.
Big Booty Judy - 2014 DC Tundra Build w OVRLND Camper
- Thread starter Fergie
- Start date
Very stiff tires. Rolling resistance varies a lot by brand and model. My Hankook ATMs are excellent in this respect. 17-18 mpg on long trips, 35x13 and a 2" lift.
Fergie
Expedition Leader
I went w the 4.88s after doing a bunch of different reading. I may go to a slightly smaller tire in the future and still wanted the gearing for towing ability. With the spot I want to get in to for fly fishing, a full size rig isnt always best, so looking at quads for that.
ECGS had everything in stock and shipped out yesterday(same day as the order), whereas Nitro couldnt figure out their ************** from their elbow.
Fergie
Expedition Leader
Very good point. One of the reasons I went w the Coopers was durability and toughness of the carcass in general, but the trade is the weight and as evidenced by the MPG differences, the economy of them. I may switch it up when they wear out for a smaller tire or take a look at other brands. I'd always been a BGF AT person before this, with only one time of buying Yoko Geolanders that failed my badly in Death Valley.
rruff
Explorer
It isn't weight... it would be easy if it was, we'd just need to put them on a scale! My tires weigh 75 lbs/ea. The stock BFGs with street tread weighed less than half that, but MPGs were worse at low speed. It's hysteresis when the tire flexes; how much energy gets turned into heat.
Unfortunately no one seems to test AT/MT truck tires for MPG so there is little incentive for manufacturers to care... and it's impossible to tell. Generally you would expect a tradeoff with weight (for the same size) since that indicates more/thicker material, and durability since that indicates a lack of suppleness... but design and rubber compounds can make a huge difference.
One thing we can look at to get an indication is speed rating for tires that have the same weight rating, since that is primarily a temperature test. Higher temperature (lower speed rating) means more heat generation from hysteresis.
I haven't managed to destroy mine yet, but I do have some pretty deep sidewall cuts. And my spare is an ST Maxx... ?
Fergie
Expedition Leader
Wow...never heard of that term and went down a brief rabbit hole on it. So I understand, a higher speed rating means less temp, which translates to better MPG?
dstefan
Well-known member
I’m guessing you’ll like them. The difference isn’t dramatic for me, but very noticeable and it drives way better, especially on hills and in headwinds.
rruff
Explorer
That's a guess in lieu of better data. Here are some links for 18" AT/MT tires that are ~35". They range from a P speed rating to T, load range from D to F.
295/70R18 Tires
295/70R18 tire conversion. Convert 295/70R18 tire size to inches and compare prices on available tires from the top brands online.
35X12.50R18 Tires
35X12.50R18 tire conversion. Convert 35X12.50R18 tire size to inches and compare prices on available tires from the top brands online.
285/75R18 Tires
285/75R18 tire conversion. Convert 285/75R18 tire size to inches and compare prices on available tires from the top brands online.
325/65R18 Tires
325/65R18 tire conversion. Convert 325/65R18 tire size to inches and compare prices on available tires from the top brands online.
305/70R18 Tires
305/70R18 tire conversion. Convert 305/70R18 tire size to inches and compare prices on available tires from the top brands online.
Fergie
Expedition Leader
Not really any new changes on the truck, but yesterday, I covered a clinic of mine in Payson, and was able to get some time on the water for the first native trout species I caught...the Gila! Got my first one last year, and then the piggy today. Always good to be on the water, and the 10 miles of hiking was a welcome change from nutty psych pts.
Caught this beast of a Gila at the base of a waterfall on an ant pattern....second cast put the fly(ant) right in to the waterfall, and that's when it hit and hard!
This was the Gila from last year:
And of course, the Tundra making it all comfy:
Caught this beast of a Gila at the base of a waterfall on an ant pattern....second cast put the fly(ant) right in to the waterfall, and that's when it hit and hard!
This was the Gila from last year:
And of course, the Tundra making it all comfy:
Fergie
Expedition Leader
Well, I've been on a work sabbatical from my clinic since August, and use that month to build out the camper a bit more, and then the wife and I hit the road for most of September. We did a few days at a friends house, but primarily camped in dispersed areas in UT, ID, MT, WY, WA, OR and NV.
Leading up to the trip, I removed the wooden platforms I had built and used some extruded aluminum to make a new structure, as well as wiring in new lights, a switch panel and some other random things. The time has finally come on the truck to make it more dedicated to traveling and trips, so other changes are on the docket, but here it is for now.
The start of the buildout; new NL fridge is freaking amazing.
Used the stock bed rails and some t-nuts to anchor everything to. No holes through the bed, and no weight bearing on the camper walls per the mfg recommendation.
I made a dedicated area for the water to be stored, and run a Dometic pump, which functioned well. Vacuum locked it once and it started working as soon as a let the pressure off. First recharge on the pump too and its been about a year of use.
Made a fold down ledge for the pump w some old scrap and a friction hinge:
Added external lights on both sides....have to send one back because it has water in the sense area already and was rated as waterproof.
Made an "electrical panel" out of a cutting board and then a j-box from HD for the switch panel. Pic was pre zip tie tidying up, so excuse the rats nest.
Made a propane mount for the RIGD too:
Partner stove on the RIGD tailgate table and propane runs to it quite easily. My wife loves to be able to cook this way, so it was a good build.
Final look after getting everything cleaned out from the truck:
Leading up to the trip, I removed the wooden platforms I had built and used some extruded aluminum to make a new structure, as well as wiring in new lights, a switch panel and some other random things. The time has finally come on the truck to make it more dedicated to traveling and trips, so other changes are on the docket, but here it is for now.
The start of the buildout; new NL fridge is freaking amazing.
Used the stock bed rails and some t-nuts to anchor everything to. No holes through the bed, and no weight bearing on the camper walls per the mfg recommendation.
I made a dedicated area for the water to be stored, and run a Dometic pump, which functioned well. Vacuum locked it once and it started working as soon as a let the pressure off. First recharge on the pump too and its been about a year of use.
Made a fold down ledge for the pump w some old scrap and a friction hinge:
Added external lights on both sides....have to send one back because it has water in the sense area already and was rated as waterproof.
Made an "electrical panel" out of a cutting board and then a j-box from HD for the switch panel. Pic was pre zip tie tidying up, so excuse the rats nest.
Made a propane mount for the RIGD too:
Partner stove on the RIGD tailgate table and propane runs to it quite easily. My wife loves to be able to cook this way, so it was a good build.
Final look after getting everything cleaned out from the truck:
dstefan
Well-known member
Looks like a great start on an interior build!
I notice you bolted the camper onto the bed. How was that process on the Tundra — did you have to remove the bed rails?
FWIW, for the first year, I anchored my awning straps (we have the same awning) to my sliders as you are doing. After awhile, I noticed that because they were pulling down to the sliders and not in the same flat plane as the awning, which I think was intended for roof rack mounting, it was flexing the awning arms down and starting to make the swing out arms/hinges wobbly and a bit loose.
I was about to bite the bullet and make some sort of bracket for the front corners of the camper to fix this, and tried hooking into the middle brackets for the roof clips. They just fit, with the clips released and hooking up from the bottom, if you want to try it.
Been doing it that way for over a year now and no problems even with some high winds. I found I can get it stretched tighter without stressing the joints that way, plus the damn strap is now out of way of my hatches, and I can hang stuff on the strap.
Don’t have a good close up picture and the camper is covered for the few weeks, but here’s an old shot where you can see it OK.
I notice you bolted the camper onto the bed. How was that process on the Tundra — did you have to remove the bed rails?
FWIW, for the first year, I anchored my awning straps (we have the same awning) to my sliders as you are doing. After awhile, I noticed that because they were pulling down to the sliders and not in the same flat plane as the awning, which I think was intended for roof rack mounting, it was flexing the awning arms down and starting to make the swing out arms/hinges wobbly and a bit loose.
I was about to bite the bullet and make some sort of bracket for the front corners of the camper to fix this, and tried hooking into the middle brackets for the roof clips. They just fit, with the clips released and hooking up from the bottom, if you want to try it.
Been doing it that way for over a year now and no problems even with some high winds. I found I can get it stretched tighter without stressing the joints that way, plus the damn strap is now out of way of my hatches, and I can hang stuff on the strap.
Don’t have a good close up picture and the camper is covered for the few weeks, but here’s an old shot where you can see it OK.
dirtnsmores
Active member
How are you liking that limited slip? Did they not have the true trac available for your truck? I'm looking at ordering an OVRLND Camper for my Tundra really soon!
Fergie
Expedition Leader
So, I've run True-tracs and Auburns in different vehicles over the years, and wasn't really a fan of the Auburns with how they wear, but the Powertrax GripPro is fairly close to the TT. Its a true helical cut gear driven LSD and I LOVE it! I do turn the "auto LSD" off when I drive these days, but that's it.