Mercedes Overland Building/Tuning

[RoamIt]

All good points. I was set on 22.5", but when Terra-Exp said 4wheel24 mostly mounts 20", I started questioning my decision. It may be that since they came from a race truck background, they are more oriented towards the 'off- road' side of things vs 'overlanding'. Certainly the lines get blurred.

 

[Geo.Lander]

I didn’t really want to chime in here because of my lack of experience. But one other factor with a modern 22.5 construction site profile tire is the technology in them is far far superior, they are tubeless, much harder wearing, etc. Just much tougher.
Akela have completed a full circumnavigation on one set of 22.5 Goodyears.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

We're currently in Baja. We have the 385/65r22.5 tires. We're traveling with a MB 1113 with the 20" rims and MPT tires. There is also a guy with an LMTV down the road with the 20" rims and tires who spent 3 days stuck in San Felipe. We have aired down to 25psi to get unstuck. The 1113 got stuck in sand last season. The 1113 used to have 22.5" rims and swapped to the 20" rims after a sandy trip to Morocco. In 2 years of travel we've been stuck twice. Both times after a bit of digging we drove out (once in mud, once in deep pebbles, neither time were we aired down but did to get unstuck). It does seem that most of the expedition trucks we see out traveling do have 20" rims. I have noticed that the 1113 tires seem to be wearing a bit odd, likely due to pavement driving. Our tires are wearing more even though it looks like we might need an alignment (if that is even possible on these trucks). Guess the moral to this inconclusive post is any truck can and will get stuck. The bigger/heavier the truck the more difficult the recovery. For us that means we are more cautious than someone with a Jeep.

 

[Joe917]

We're currently in Baja. We have the 385/65r22.5 tires. We're traveling with a MB 1113 with the 20" rims and MPT tires. There is also a guy with an LMTV down the road with the 20" rims and tires who spent 3 days stuck in San Felipe. We have aired down to 25psi to get unstuck. The 1113 got stuck in sand last season. The 1113 used to have 22.5" rims and swapped to the 20" rims after a sandy trip to Morocco. In 2 years of travel we've been stuck twice. Both times after a bit of digging we drove out (once in mud, once in deep pebbles, neither time were we aired down but did to get unstuck). It does seem that most of the expedition trucks we see out traveling do have 20" rims. I have noticed that the 1113 tires seem to be wearing a bit odd, likely due to pavement driving. Our tires are wearing more even though it looks like we might need an alignment (if that is even possible on these trucks). Guess the moral to this inconclusive post is any truck can and will get stuck. The bigger/heavier the truck the more difficult the recovery. For us that means we are more cautious than someone with a Jeep.

Alignment is very possible and can be done by most truck tire shops, just like a car but bigger! Bad shocks will also wear tires quickly( I know you have new shocks)385/65r22.5 is another good choice.

 

[Sitec]

Dare I say it, but I think a lot of it is to do with the look of the vehicle too... A company built 'Overland' truck has to look like something that has it's origins from the Dakar rally or military, where everything is twice as big or twice as rugged as it needs to be. I'm not shooting down folk with huge grippy 20" tyres here by the way... I think trucks look awesome on Michelain XZL's or similar 20" wheels... I'd love nothing more than to own an old Ex Dakar Merc with 500hp and an auto box to play in, but It wouldnt be the best machine for world travel... We personally are on a limited budget, so can't afford running and replacing big single 20" tyres with seconds coming in at $450 or new at north of $1500 a corner. It is not something I'd ever consider. We do plan to hit dirt roads and tracks, but we don't invisage rock crawling or soft mud driving with our 11 tonne home on wheels. Realistically most of us will be on the black top for 90% of our driving, and the other 10% will be dirt roads, 1 or 2% of which might be on slow twisting tracks where vehicle placement and a short walk first to check it out would be needed. This is why I have gone with 22.5's that are readily available and affordable. If by mistake we trash a tyre on a rock, it's frustrating, but it's $300 at the next town for a new one. This is the reasoning behind our choice.

 

[RoamIt]

And solid reasoning from my point of view. Availability alone is the prime issue to me at this point. I'm probably more vehicle vain than most here


but I'm not going to create problems for myself for the cool factor, it's one thing for a fun track car, but for my 'home' when I'm traveling, a 'cool Dakar build' is not the priority.

My plan calls for me traveling the US first, it's a big country with lots of places I'd like to see. This also allows me to work out any kinks in the build, and gain the overlanding experience I need before traveling abroad where there will be more challenges with language, infrastructure, etc.

I'm starting to think I may just keep the stock wheels with duals and appropriate tires for the US phase and see how that goes. Then switch to super singles if I feel their warranted. There's an off road park that not too far from me, I think once I get the firebox off, mount some tires, I'm going to go camping for a week there and run the trails. I was going to do it any way to get and idea of how the truck handles, learn how to drive the beast, test frame flex, etc. I think this will also be a test of the dually's.

Depending on the condition/date codes of the tires on the truck, I may go ahead and put tires on as soon as I pick it up for the drive home.

Thanks for the input all, I do appreciate it.

 

[Neil]

I personally think that the Michelin XZL tyres,are over priced and very over rated.

Yes in the mud they are going to be good, but this is maybe less than 1 % of your journey. I never understood the logic of making such an important and expensive decision on less than 1% of their use.

I'm currently parked next to a 6 wheel MAN KAT . They have these tyres. They are huge. They cost near 1000 USD each. They have 40,000 km on them and they are nearly bald.

I personally thing that a tough intermediate tyre at half the price will give you better service. I have 70,000 km on my Bridgstones . I have hammered them on terrible roads throughout South America. I have never had a puncture so far and they are about half way through their life. They are quiet and have worn evenly.

On the subject of size , I wouldn't go to South America on 20 inch Rims . This size simply doesn't exist there. We know a German guy who had 6 tyres flown in from Europe. Very expensive and endless customs hassle.

Neil

 

[RoamIt]

Thanks Neil. Hard to believe that their getting such low mileage out of such an expensive tire. I've definitely decided not to go with 20" rims. Whether I do wide based tires or not will be decided once I get the truck and conduct some testing.

It may be an expensive test, but hope it pays off in the long term.

 

[charlieaarons]

Yes, it IS hard to believe. I replaced my first set of XZLs at 56,000 miles (>90,000 km). And they weren’t “bald”. And I don’t rotate them.

 

[Joe917]

Look for all position, on/off road tires for the logging and construction industries.

 

[Neil]

Yes, it IS hard to believe. I replaced my first set of XZLs at 56,000 miles (>90,000 km). And they weren’t “bald”. And I don’t rotate them.

You must treat them very well. The owner of these tyres parked next to me tells me he has 46000 km on them

Neil

 

[RoamIt]

I imagine there's a lot of variables. Overall weight of rig, terrain regularly traversed, alinement, how many squirrel's that were run over, etc.

 

[charlieaarons]

You must treat them very well. The owner of these tyres parked next to me tells me he has 46000 km on them

Neil

Thanks very much for posting the picture. I can now confirm absolutely that those baldish tires are NOT XZLs, but rather Continental HCS. Zero personal experience with these, don’t know initial tread depth especially since size unknown.
There’s a new XZL type at least in 395/85R20by Michelin called XZL2. Very slightly less aggressive tread, cooler running so full load speed rating is 110 kph (5600kg/tire), singular point rating 120kph (5000kg). They should last even longer in the same application than XZLs. Due to bit less heat.

 

[Geo.Lander]

Thanks very much for posting the picture. I can now confirm absolutely that those baldish tires are NOT XZLs, but rather Continental HCS. Zero personal experience with these, don’t know initial tread depth especially since size unknown.
There’s a new XZL type at least in 395/85R20by Michelin called XZL2. Very slightly less aggressive tread, cooler running so full load speed rating is 110 kph (5600kg/tire), singular point rating 120kph (5000kg). They should last even longer in the same application than XZLs. Due to bit less heat.

Do you know if they have the 3PMSF rating? I was thinking of a set of 20"s in a few years for my Africa plans... Problem is they will be illegal here in Norway on trucks (even in summer) if they dont have the 3PMSF.. Are XZL2 the only real option for 20" rims?

 

[charlieaarons]

Call Vrakking re XZL and XZL2; good prices on both, the XZL2s they have a very recent manufacture dates. Ask them about the ratings and let me know.