Is Offroading in a SuperDuty Really That Bad?

[rruff]

Running a tire on a wheel outside the specified width puts far more strain on the sidewall, beads, and carcass than designed.
It is not advised.

Another factor I think is the tire shape vs pressure... narrower rim making the tread more rounded.

 

[Mack M]

Oh ya! Those actually fit on your stock rims ok? I thought they were only 7.5" wide...

Yep! 7.5 is the minimum width for this tire, so worked out perfect. Plenty of clearance too!

 

[Mack M]

Ultimately, I guess this site requires a discussion about tires.

My rig looks like ^, a white F 150, however. I'm running stock wheels with KO 2's.

This thread is about "Off roading", as opposed to "Overlanding" I suppose there is a difference, where off roading entails encountering obstacles at a "slow" speed where the purpose is to negotiate that obstacle, vs. overlanding as travel. Overlanding may involve off road travels and encountering obstacles but the purpose is traveling.

So, with huge tires, does your HD pickup negotiate boulders, mud, sand and downed forest debris better than stock sizes? I guess, but it really messes up expectations of a comfortable ride on the streets, sure makes for more wear and tear on the vehicle and may require ear plugs on the interstate.

Most here use their vehicles as an everyday driver, I'm sure. With that assumption, should we address the best alternatives for 90% of our driving requirements or suffer all the negative aspects of running larger tires.

I do understand some guys hauling their egos in their trucks, but you can certainly have your overlanding and occasional off road episodes with stock wheels and OEM size tires.

You're right, I should have written 'overlanding.' I travel off road to get to places I want to see, I don't go off-roading as a passion. I rock climb, which takes me to far off places all over the world.

For what it's worth, the larger diameter tire was for comfort, off pavement travel comfort (this truck will be driven in both South America and Australia where corrigations are pretty bad, so more sidewall to offset damage to the truck, and comfort for it's passengers. But the main reason for the tire upgrade, was because I wanted them They're hardly more noisy at highway speeds as well. I was quite surprised.

 

[Mack M]

They are 7.5". It's not uncommon to see 35x12.5 or even 37x12.5 on them. They mount fine. Some national chains won't mount them because they are outside of what the tire manufacturer recommends.

Correct, it all comes down to the specific tire. In this size, another manufacturer was requiring an 8.5 inch rim, but for this specific tire, 7.5 worked out fine. I was happy they did. I do not care for aftermarket wheels, and prefer stock offset and good old steel!

 

[Mack M]

They may mount "fine", but there is good reason why the tire MFG specifies wheel widths.

Especially for a proper truck with a proper payload rating, that are designed to haul weight reliably/safely.
Running a tire on a wheel outside the specified width puts far more strain on the sidewall, beads, and carcass than designed.
It is not advised.

TIRE TOO WIDE OR TOO NARROW – Rim Ringz

www.rimringz.com

Couldn't agree more. I chose this specific tire for exactly that reason.

 

[rruff]

Correct, it all comes down to the specific tire. In this size, another manufacturer was requiring an 8.5 inch rim, but for this specific tire, 7.5 worked out fine. I was happy they did. I do not care for aftermarket wheels, and prefer stock offset and good old steel!

Falken's webpage for this tire says 8.5-11": https://www.falkentire.com/wildpeak/at4w

 

[IdaSHO]

Falken's webpage for this tire says 8.5-11": https://www.falkentire.com/wildpeak/at4w

Yep

 

[kpredator]

I am running a f350 carrying a camper
When out with the wife. When solo
Camper stays at home. I air down
Yes it’s on the rough side. But doable.
Biggest problem I’ve encountered is
Length. Some of the trails are just too
Tight for my rig. Still works on the majority
Of trails.

 

[Mack M]

Falken's webpage for this tire says 8.5-11": https://www.falkentire.com/wildpeak/at4w

Shoot, that isn’t good. I will be calling discount tire on Tuesday. Damn. Thank you!

 

[rruff]

If you are bored you might do a chalk test and see how the tread is sitting on the ground. If that checks out and it rides and handles good, I wouldn't worry. There might be some wider cheap steel rim that works too.

Also, you turned your nose up at the C rated 35x11s but they do have the 3 ply sidewall, and unless you want to load more than 6k lbs on the rear axle, I think they'd be fine.

 

[Mack M]

If you are bored you might do a chalk test and see how the tread is sitting on the ground. If that checks out and it rides and handles good, I wouldn't worry. There might be some wider cheap steel rim that works too.

Also, you turned your nose up at the C rated 35x11s but they do have the 3 ply sidewall, and unless you want to load more than 6k lbs on the rear axle, I think they'd be fine.

Ok good idea, thanks.

I actually tried to buy the 35x11.50 c load, but discount tire won’t install them as they are load rated at 118, and the truck calls for 121. I know, it’s silly, I told them I don’t plan on hauling that much, but it didn’t matter, said it was company policy.

 

[Mickey Bitsko]

Fwiw, you can buy the the tires you want and have a independent tire shop mount them, however, I wouldn't underestimate your ability to overload c rated tires.. it's easy.

 

[Mack M]

Fwiw, you can buy the the tires you want and have a independent tire shop mount them, however, I wouldn't underestimate your ability to overload c rated tires.. it's easy.

Yeah good point.

Though when I look at the chart, it’s actually not possible, that tire in C load is roughly 2,900 lbs. That tire in E load is roughly 3,100 lbs. Payload is about 4,000 lbs. so to overload the tires, I would be exceeding payload by roughly 2,000 lbs. If I ever have 6,000 lbs in the back of an F250 I’ve got bigger problems haha. 😁

 

[rruff]

I thought a 60-40 weight distribution was pretty typical of gas trucks, but it's hard to find this info. If your truck is 6500lb curb weight, this would mean 3900lb on the front axle, and 2600 on the rear. So adding 3200 to the rear axle would get you to 2900 per tire.

 

[tacollie]

Our F250 weighs a hair over 6500 with just me in it. Fully loaded with the wife, dog, camper, mtbs, and whatever other crap we have is 9560 with 4420 on the front axle and 5140 on the rear. That's about as heavy as we get. I'm assuming the OPs truck GVWR is 10600 so technically the 35x11.5 may work but it doesn't make sense to buy a truck with a payload rating to carry a camper and then put a lighter tire on it.