New Tires...Finally!

[osufans]

Finally got some new treads! The ones that came on this were just plain terrible, to the extent of being dangerous. Plus one was worn to the indicator bars (which was finally my excuse to be able to buy new ones ).

Picked up a set of 265/75R16 Wild Country XTX Sport tires. Cheap mom and pop shop in NE Ohio...got 'em for $570 installed, out the door.

They ride great, and only have some minor rubbing at full lock. Tires rub on the swaybar just a tad, but not too big of a deal. The driver's side also kissed the plastic when I was pulling out while turning onto uneven pavement, but they didn't bite or do any damage. Will probably look into trimming the plastic and pounding the pinch weld, but other than that...they're awesome!

Drove home through some winding hilly roads...I don't see the big deal about re-gearing. I do feel like OD is just a tad tall, but it will still pull while locked into OD. Quite frankly, I feel like it shifts when it should, rather than holding onto a higher gear too long like before. That was my biggest complaint about my Jeep compared to my Ranger I had. Granted the Ranger had a 5 speed auto, but it would always hunt for a lower gear when needed, rather than trying to pull a grade in OD. But no more than I drive my Jeep now, I don't think it will be an issue (I literally put less than 1000 miles on this over a year.)

I'll get a better pic after I can wash it up. I just got home and drove down a gravel road, but wanted to share a quick pic.

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[Ry' N Jen]

Give it time and eventually you'll notice that your KJ has less power
and when it starts hunting for gears on long uphill highway grades...

 

[osufans]

oh, don't get me wrong...i did notice a difference. but it's not so drastic as others have made it out to be, at least IMO. take at look at this topographical map. see that big red area near Mansfield? that's the approximate area the tire shop is at. i drove from there, through Mount Vernon, and turned towards Columbus. i'd say i had plenty of opportunity over the hour or so drive home to notice. compare that to the toledo area where one particular member is from, who claims to live in a hilly area compared to say, florida?? i realize that expectations vary among drivers...but as i mentioned, since i no longer drive my jeep regularly, suffice it to say, i'm well pleased with the way these tires worked out.

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[seabass1858]

I have 4.10s, truetracs and 265s grabbers at that which are almost 60lbs a piece 57 to be exact. I couldnt imagine having 3.73s. Motor works harder, transmission works harder, and theres way more stress on the u-joints so expect to replace them in the future.

 

[tommudd]

:whip::whip:OK now since you called me out.
Yes I live in Toledo area BUT every two weeks I am down in the hills of Southeast Ohio which are a lot more than you see on your trip to Mount Vernon which are ant hills
WHEN you think you are ready to ride in a real KJ and go on some real back roads and lots of hills bring it on Matthew !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll show you the difference lower gears make
and plus I actually use mine to go off road, pull loaded trailers and drive, 174,000 so far

 

[osufans]

lol...right on man. i hear ya. just bustin' ur chops.

like i said..i do notice it feels a bit taller in OD, and you can feel that you've got bigger tires when you take off, but that's about the worst of it. and as i've mentioned numerous times since i bought my jeep, i've always felt like this transmission wanted to shift into OD too soon. having bigger tires helps prevent that.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

:whip::whip:OK now since you called me out.
Yes I live in Toledo area BUT every two weeks I am down in the hills of Southeast Ohio which are a lot more than you see on your trip to Mount Vernon which are ant hills
WHEN you think you are ready to ride in a real KJ and go on some real back roads and lots of hills bring it on Matthew !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll show you the difference lower gears make
and plus I actually use mine to go off road, pull loaded trailers and drive, 174,000 so far

Yup, same here.
If you drove your Rig up to British Columbia and you went wheeling with us, you would notice a huge loss in performance and the ****** overheating constantly.
Necessitating pulling over every 45-60 minutes and keep the engines RPM's at 2500 for
at least 15 to 25 minutes...


On a side note It's too bad I couldn't go to a lower set of gears because of the Aluminum Diff up front.
And our KJ is on 245-75-16's with 4:10 gears.
32 inch tall tires would totally blow with 3:73 gears!

Oh and an other thing?

We get way better fuel economy since re-gearing to 4:10's with 31" tall tires, we get a solid 24 mpg.

I'd hate to see how bad the 3:73 final ratio would suck back the gasoline on 32's!

That must literally suck!

 

[osufans]

Yup, same here.
If you drove your Rig up to British Columbia and you went wheeling with us, you would notice a huge loss in performance and the ****** overheating constantly.
Necessitating pulling over every 45-60 minutes and keep the engines RPM's at 2500 for
at least 15 to 25 minutes...


On a side note It's too bad I couldn't go to a lower set of gears because of the Aluminum Diff up front.
And our KJ is on 245-75-16's with 4:10 gears.
32 inch tall tires would totally blow with 3:73 gears!

Oh and an other thing?

We get way better fuel economy since re-gearing to 4:10's with 31" tall tires, we get a solid 24 mpg.

I'd hate to see how bad the 3:73 final ratio would suck back the gasoline on 32's!

That must literally suck!

Actually, I was averaging better MPG on the drive home (just over 18) than my average MPG was prior to installing the tires (17.8). I don't know how accurate that is though, as that was based on the trip meter, which is now off due to tire size.

I could see if this was your daily rig, or you did some serious trail riding, that you might find the need to change gearing. But for no more than I drive it, and no worse than the difference is, it's not worth it to me. I'm just pointing out that 265's does not automatically make it "undriveable" as others have forewarned.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Nobody ever said that it's undeivable.
We said that with 32" tires that your engine works harder, generates more heat in the ******, and zaps engine torque.
Also, when going up in tire size (245/265-75-16) the ****** needs a pinion reset done to correct the transmissions shift points.

But hey, it's your junk and if you want to f&@k it up, that's up to you.

 

[seabass1858]

I can testify that the fuel mileage is better than factory since I put my tire and gear combo and ryan has about 75lbs hanging off the front of his so you can see where 4.10s are necessary. I do think I will be going back to firestone destination ats for my next set.

 

[osufans]

Whatever guys. Obviously you're the only experts on the internet. Guess my experiences and those of others I know are automatically disqualified by your opinions.

Since I'm walking proof that 265's fit on factory wheels, no spacers, no pounding or trimming, running 926 springs instead of 927's, no strut mount spacer (although I do have a 3 ring clevis spacer installed), and my Jeep is not only driveable, but nowhere near as bad as the dooms day predictions on here, I guess that's all I need to worry about.

Basically, I'm sharing the point of view to others who may be looking for info on running 265's on their ride. I'm pointing out that while I do notice a difference, it's not nearly as exaggerated as the claims on here by others.

It's obvious this forum is run by the few who are all buddy buddy, who go out of their way to bash any opinion that conflicts with their "Gospel".

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This is by far, one of the worst internet communities I've ever been on. Pardon me for not falling in step with the *****, and sharing my informed opinion.

 

[tommudd]

lol...right on man. i hear ya. just bustin' ur chops.

like i said..i do notice it feels a bit taller in OD, and you can feel that you've got bigger tires when you take off, but that's about the worst of it. and as i've mentioned numerous times since i bought my jeep, i've always felt like this transmission wanted to shift into OD too soon. having bigger tires helps prevent that.

:happy175::happy175::happy175::happy175::happy175::happy175::happy175:
Not a problem , just giving you a hard time with the "hills" out towards Mt. Vernon
Is Apple Valley on out towards Howard still open with people living there?
Used to own a home there for a while just wondering
yes off topic but ...............oh well

Oh and it is pretty flat up here although we do have some small hills and even a few turns but not many. hate it up here , but thats where the job was. Worked out of the C-bus office and lived in Lancaster so lots of difference. Grew up down almost close enough to throw a rock over to WV and go back every chance I get just to go around sharp turns and up and down hills . Up here you can go to sleep and still make it down the road BORING!!!

 

[rockymountain]

One tell tale sign is your electric fan turning on more frequently. Pay attention to that. That's one thing I noticed. More so with the KMs (HEAVY).

Drove home going 50 in a head wind last week and the fan was on the whole way until I parked it in the garage when I got home.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

We drove our KJ with bigger tires and the stock 3:73 gears for two plus years because we
we couldn't afford to re-gear.
I've got a friend that's running 4:10 gears in his XJ with 35 inch tall tires and swears by it!
Another friend with his XJ with 33's and 3:73's and loves it both on and off road.

Like I said, it's your Jeep.
If it works for you, then great. No problem.

But at the end of the day, re-gearing to lower gears with bigger tires is very advantageous.


The most important thing is that you are out enjoying you Jeep. And that's all that counts.

If you do decide to re-gear you will notice an improvement in your Rigs performance.
That's all we are saying.

Cheers

 

[osufans]

:happy175::happy175::happy175::happy175::happy175::happy175::happy175:
Not a problem , just giving you a hard time with the "hills" out towards Mt. Vernon
Is Apple Valley on out towards Howard still open with people living there?
Used to own a home there for a while just wondering
yes off topic but ...............oh well

Oh and it is pretty flat up here although we do have some small hills and even a few turns but not many. hate it up here , but thats where the job was. Worked out of the C-bus office and lived in Lancaster so lots of difference. Grew up down almost close enough to throw a rock over to WV and go back every chance I get just to go around sharp turns and up and down hills . Up here you can go to sleep and still make it down the road BORING!!!

Yeah, Apple Valley isn't too far from me. It's closer to Mt Vernon. I live closer to Johnstown. I would agree the hills in WV are definitely bigger than anything around here though.

 

[Dave]

osufans let us know how those tires do and how they wear as you get more miles on them. They look good.

Dave

 

[osufans]

osufans let us know how those tires do and how they wear as you get more miles on them. They look good.

Dave

Will do. My cousin has them on his Chevy HD2500 and likes them a lot. Most of his friends run them too (but they all live pretty close to this tire shop, and you really can't beat their prices.)

We took the Jeep in town today because the boys wanted to ride in it now that I have bigger tires, and I have to say I'm really impressed with the ride. These tires are nice. I'd say they're comparable to Toyo Open Country AT's in style and ride. Not too loud at all, although sometimes you can hear them kind of "whir" on the pavement. You can definitely feel them though. Going over bumps, you know there's more weight at all four corners, and you can tell it takes them just a tad longer to get moving compared to smaller tires. But in the lower gears it's still pretty quick. Still able to blow the doors off a minivan that was trying to keep me from changing lanes, so it's not like it can't get out of its own way.

I'm definitely glad I went with 265's over 245's, that's for sure!

 

[seabass1858]

Im still waiting for my grabber at2s to wear out and I got like 10k on them already

 

[lautinjr]

Im still waiting for my grabber at2s to wear out and I got like 10k on them already

If your waiting for them be prepared for a wait. over 80K and 4 years they still measure 8's and 9's damn things won't die, but they are starting to crack so must go now.

 

[osufans]

Finally uploaded a few more pics..just thought I'd share. Really loving these tires so far! Need to find some mud or some trails to try 'em out, but I'm lacking in the recovery and protection department to go anywhere too serious.

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