Gary Lewis

Sorry - Just saw that. And thanks for clarifying things for me. I sit corrected. And you are right, it is a very popular tire so there must be a reason for that. I've just spent most of the day researching tires when I intended to be researching trails in New Mexico. So I think I'm going to cool the tire search a bit and move on trails. I really need to figure out which trail(s) we are going on in October. But, I'm still wanting input! Please!

Bob - I'm right there with you. The A/T isn't what I'm looking for, and the M/T may be too much. So I'm still researching. My son reminded me about Expedition Portal, and it dawned on me that it made sense to listen to people who do what I'm planning on doing. So I went there and they had exactly what I was looking for - except that it was done in 2014 and most, if not all, of the tires they tested have been replaced. However, there was a note in the middle of that test that said they'd just gotten in the KO2 and would be doing a test on it. Sure enough, I've found a couple of reviews on Expedition Portal and some elsewhere. So here goes: Inside Expedition Portal I found these two. You may not be subscribed to EP so I'll capture some of their statements here: Elsewhere: These reviews don't require a subcription: Given all of that, if I had to buy today it would probably be the KO2's. But I don't so I'm still researching. And, Bob, I'm keeping everything you've said in mind.

At this point I wouldn't even shy away from an F250 considering that Sky is now making kits to install the newer coil sprung Dana 60's into the older trucks. Super Duty axles are plentiful, at least around here. Yes, if I had to do it over again I'd go with the coil-sprung D60. Probably has an even better ride. But that is still an extra cost.

Ok guys, lets see what this looks like. Hopefully you can see it, but it is surely going to take a true computer and not a cell phone to make it work for you. Sorry. This is mainly from Tire Rack as that's where all of the ratings came from. And in digging out these ratings and creating this spreadsheet I learned a bit. First, that there are two categories: On/Off-Road All-Terrain, or A/T for short, and Off-Road Maximum Traction or M/T for short. And the M/T tires don't do as well on the road, but do better off the road. However, that's really not quite fair as none of these ratings are for true off-road conditions. So I started looking at reviews elsewhere, and have started including links to those at the bottom of the sheet, and will continue to work on them as I can. At first blush the Yokohama Geolandar A/T GO15 looks to be the hands-down winner. But then looking at pics of that tire several times I'm thinking it looks much more like a street tire than others, like the KO2 for instance. Given that, I started looking at the Geolandar M/T G003. Unfortunately I've not found any tests on Tire Rack to get the rating #'s. But the reviews I'm finding like it a bunch and say it is relatively quiet. So I'm still looking. Please continue to provide input, and tell me what you think of the spreadsheet as well.

That is cool! I've never seen one of those.

I'm getting a bit frustrated with Tire Rack, both their customer support awa their website. On the website you can compare several tires, but you can't get more than 3 on the screen at a time. And if you try to print that screen you get a floating banner that covers some of the results and I can't figure out how to get rid of it. But then I realized that the comparo info is from customers, and it isn't likely that any one of them has good quantitative information regarding two different tires, so when they rate a tire as low in noise or high in off-road traction it probably isn't kosher to compare that rating to someone else's rating on another tire. However, a bit more poking around on their website found a page like the one below where they compare the tire you selected with two other tires. But two other tires they picked, not ones I picked. However there appears to be quantitative info on those pages, or at least is info from people who apparently test tires for a living and not average users like us. So hopefully the data will be something that can be compared. Anyway, I'll poke around some more and see if I can come up with comparable data for the tires we mention on here and try to create a spreadsheet that allows us to see them in one go.

Thanks, Bob. I'll follow up on those other tires.

I thought it was significant that it says Starting bid:US $1,099.00 [ 0 bids ] But, shipping is free.

I went through Tire Rack's decision making guide and got these results: FIRESTONE DESTINATION X/T; GENERAL GRABBER A/TX; & TOYO OPEN COUNTRY A/T III. But in watching the video about the Firestone they mentioned a high-pitched whine and I didn't like that. So I called Tire Rack and the gentleman I drew was less than helpful. He was polite but really gave me no help to speak of. For instance, when I asked about the Geolander's on-road performance he said "You have to pick your poison. If it is a good off-road tire it won't be as good on-road as a street tire." I was expecting him to say something like "That tire is designed for max off-road traction and isn't really good on-road." Or "That's a really good combination tire but it is noisy." But instead I got nothing definitive whatsoever.

Thanks guys. But everyone please keep the cards and letters coming. Also, I'm going back and editing my first post in this thread with links to more info on each tire as I find it.

Very nice truck. But I was just thinking that if I was buying something in this category I'd want an 86 F350 4x4 to get the solid front axle instead of the TTB's.

I'm now thinking about what tires to put on Big Blue as his Cooper DISCOVERER S/T MAXX tires are toast. So I'm asking for your input. But first I need to 'splain what I'm looking for. As BB is for overlanding the tires have to be good offroad. Last fall my brother and I took BB to Ouray and ran most of the Jeep trails there. This fall my son and I are going to New Mexico overlanding. So while the offroad capabilities have to be good, the onroad capabilities need to be decent since it is a long way to Ouray or Santa Fe from here. In other words, I don't want a noisy tire. At this point in time I think I'm looking at these tires, but would look at others if you think I should: YOKOHAMAGEOLANDAR M/T G003: This is said to be an offroad tire, but its onroad #'s seem to match those of the others. And this link takes you to the Tire Rack test results. FALKEN WILDPEAK A/T3W: This link should take you to the Tire Rack test results on this tire. BFGoodrich ALL-TERRAIN T/A KO2: Link to Tire Rack test results. So I'm looking for any and all input I can get. Even if you've given it to me before I'd like to have it here in one thread to make it easy to get my head around. Thanks!

Jim - I think Big Blue is going to turn in almost 13 in most conditions, save for serious winds or driving faster. I was hoping for more, but I don't think it is going to happen. Still, that's a significant improvement over the mid-11's he was getting with the carb, and the driveability difference is dramatic. The best of both worlds. As for the tires, that is the $64,000 question. Concerning size, I think I'll stay with the 33's. Janey has enough trouble as it is getting in so I don't want to raise it another inch by going to 35's. And the 33's seem just about right - big enough to go over 'most anything, but small enough to give a better ride and MPG than 35's. But on the brand I less decided. We discussed it some in this thread starting here, and I think the vote at that time must have been two for the BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO2’s, one for Falken Wild peaks AT3's, and then Bob basically said "anything but KO2's!". I think I'm going to start a separate thread for the tires and get everyone's input.

Yes, those things have a bunch of bends in them. But yours look good. I bought pre-bent tubing and still had to re-bend it to make it fit. So you are money ahead to do your own.

Well done, John.

Yikes! That's probably it.

Thanks, Dane. Comfortable is a relative term. Compared to a stock '85 F250HD 4x4, Big Blue is comfortable. But compared to a stock 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4, it rides rough and makes a lot of noise. However, Janey says the captain's chairs in BB are more comfortable than those in Blue. I credit the D60 SAS and SuperDuty springs with RSK for the biggest part of the ride improvement. That made a huge difference. (Pulling 2 leaves out of the rear spring packz made a big difference as well, but they weren't stock and so can't be used in this comparison.) But there's another aspect to Janey's statement about it being comfortable. She's remembering what BB was like when I first got him. Not only did it ride so rough that you ensured your mouth was closed when you saw a bump coming, it was terribly noisy. And there were many, many changes that helped in that area, including: glasspacks to Magnaflows; T-19 to ZF5 w/OD; new door and window rubber; lots of sound deadening and insulation; and closing up holes in the firewall. But the old tires are making awful noises as they have flat spots and chunks missing, so since new tires are in the offing BB will be even quieter in the near future. But let's put it this way - she just suggested that we drive BB to South Carolina and then Florida to see the kids. What she was thinking about was the trip that our son and I are planning to take in October, and she was wondering if we could do it in the South East. I don't think that is a viable option as I don't think we want to go to the SE for overlanding. But it shows she is willing to go anywhere in Big Blue! In reality, the plan for October is for Janey and I to drive to Santa Fe, drop her off in a hotel, and I'll go pick up our son at the airport. We'll take 2 or 3 days to overland, and then reverse the above procedure. She's approved that plan, which requires a minimum of 4 days of riding in Big Blue, so he'd better be COMFORTABLE!

Do you have any other pictures of it? I don't have such a unit, but if someone did more pics would help.

Yep, the DS-II tester could be loaned. Back from our trip. 169.1 miles and 13.256 gallons for 12.8 MPG. Not as good as I'd hoped, but it was all at 65 MPH on cruise so I'm sure I could do a bit better feeding it myself. And it was windy today, which always hurts MPG on a round trip like that. So I think 14.0 is possible under ideal conditions. But it looks like 12.5 - 13.0 is what to expect for an average. The idle is still smooth, so I'm pretty sure that the ignition problem has been fixed. But I still want to see if I can get the other functions working on the MAC scope as I'd like to see a zoomed-in view. And the truck is running really well. In fact, Janey said "Your truck is comfortable." So I think we are in a phase of ticking off the small stuff now.

I hope the test goes well and you don’t have to rebuild it.

We have twins. I wound up with two and brought one to you via your son. And you give me the DS-II tester in return. I think the switches are dirty as these functions used to work. I'll spray them later, but I saw enough in "parade" to tell me what I needed to know.

Whoo hoo!! The truck is running smoother than it ever has! I noticed when I started it up that the idle was smoother. Then when I put my scope on it I can't tell one cylinder from another. Unfortunately I can't get all the functions on the MAC scope to work so I can't stack the cylinders like I should be able to do, but just visually eyeballing things says each is the same. So we are taking it on a trip. I'll report back later, 'gator!

Interesting, but not for me. Their terminology leaves me befuddled. They say: So, which is it, custom or restored? Obviously it is customized. Fairly well done but not to my tastes. It has a solid front axle but that's not mentioned. And a '93 shouldn't have an AOD but an E4OD. No pictures of the engine nor discussion of whether it is injected or not.

Yes, RA buys obsolete inventory. And some of those parts appear to have been returns. It is so bad that my nephew, the mechanical engineer turned mechanic, will not install parts from RA. He says way too many of them are bad in the box. I've not had the same experience, but he has and will not even install the part if you bring it to him.

Good luck! But I've had great luck using the online form to the Ford dealerships. They've always gotten right back and shipped quickly.