I read through your post over on the Adventures forum page. Looks like an awesome trip! Love your frontier, as well. So you're planning on doing a slide-in camper?
Thanks I appreciate it! The trip report took me about the same amount of time it takes for me to drive to Moab now, over 2 hours LOL.
I'm going back and forth on the slide in. With the slide in weighing about 1000lbs loaded ready for camping it will obviously limit what I can do with the truck off road. Most of our exploring is on easier roads but it is fun to do the more technical stuff when the opportunity presents itself or it's required to proceed.
From what I've read on this site and others, I need to set my off road expectations low with the slide in and be happy if it works out that I can do more than I expected. If we get the slide in I'll keep it in the truck full time. My commute to work is a couple miles across town and we will be usin it at least 2 weekends a month year round, so taking it on and off doesn't make sense. The other issue specific to the Frontier is that the slide in needs to be bolted to the bed with 4 bolts, which also makes loading and unloading it a bigger hassle.
I may end up with another James Baroud RTT and just purchase and instant cabin type tent with 6 ft plus ceiling for shelter form bugs, bad/cold weather, ect. This would be a place for us to get ready for bed, eat, cook, or just hang out in when needed. That was our main complaint with the RTT setup the summer of 2014 when we did a 4 week long off road camping trip through CO, UT, ID, OR, and CA, we just didn't have a shelter when needed other than the front seat of the truck or laying in the RTT. If we do end up with a large ten for shelter it has to go up and pack down in minutes, I can't deal with a traditional pole style tent anymore.
Excellent report! Lockhart looks like exactly my kind of place. I need to get out to Moab soon...
Nice truck!
Thanks, our trucks are like cousins, similar but different :wavey:
Nice truck and great trip report!
How do you like the 255/85/16's? I went back and forth between those and 285/75/16's AT3's, but ended up with the 285 at3's. I'm curious to know if you felt there was a substantial difference in power/braking with the 255's.
Mike
I love the look of the 255's but the Cooper ST Maxx's are really heavy. I weighed them when I got them mounted on the stock Pro4x aluminum wheel and they were 84.5lbs. I think the stock wheel weighs around 25-27lbs, which would put the tires around 58-60lbs. Most of the 285's aren't any lighter though. For comparison I weighed the stock spare with 265/75-16 BFG mounted at 68lbs and an unmounted P rated Hankook Dynapro ATM 265/75-16 at 38lbs. Next time if I stick with 255's I'm going to try BFG MT's or I may switch to 285's so I can get a AT tire instead. IMO the ST Maxx is much closer to a MT than an AT.
The acceleration and braking were both noticeably affected by the larger/heavier 255's. I think the weight is more of an issue than the overall diameter. I feel if there was a lighter weight option in this size the negative affects would me minimal, but then you don't have a tough tire for off road because it's light....
