Big Blue's Transformation

[Nothing Special]

Bob - You are right, those LR E's can go right on up to 80 PSI, so 40 isn't much at all. But the guy from the tire shop looked them over today and said that they are wearing nicely, so apparently the 35 psi is working.

My truck feels too squirmy at 35 psi.

The /85 series sidewalls move around enough that I don't feel connected to the road and my tires wear the edges.

Pressure can go to 80 but that is only really needed with a full load.

You lose ride comfort and compliance but the tire won't roll right off the rim in a corner.

45 F 65 R seems about where I like my truck on stock size 235/85-16 E

I wasn't suggesting anything in particular. Just pointing out to Rusty_S85 that 35 psi isn't the OE pressure for all trucks, and that the 40 psi that seemed high to him really was pretty low in this context.

But yes, finding what works for you with your truck and your load is best with a 3/4 or 1 ton truck on Es (I'll change tire pressure by a LOT when I have a pallet of concrete pavers in the bed!). It's not one-size-fits-all.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Bob - You are right, those LR E's can go right on up to 80 PSI, so 40 isn't much at all. But the guy from the tire shop looked them over today and said that they are wearing nicely, so apparently the 35 psi is working.

My truck feels too squirmy at 35 psi.

The /85 series sidewalls move around enough that I don't feel connected to the road and my tires wear the edges.

Pressure can go to 80 but that is only really needed with a full load.

You lose ride comfort and compliance but the tire won't roll right off the rim in a corner.

45 F 65 R seems about where I like my truck on stock size 235/85-16 E

I wasn't suggesting anything in particular. Just pointing out to Rusty_S85 that 35 psi isn't the OE pressure for all trucks, and that the 40 psi that seemed high to him really was pretty low in this context.

But yes, finding what works for you with your truck and your load is best with a 3/4 or 1 ton truck on Es (I'll change tire pressure by a LOT when I have a pallet of concrete pavers in the bed!). It's not one-size-fits-all.

Yes, I change tire pressures a lot as well. Put the car-hauler trailer on and 35 psi is not nearly enough in the rear, so I go to 50 for short hauls. But if I were going across country with a big vehicle on the trailer I'd probably go higher.

But as previously said, 40 on a gravel road feel like steel wheels. 30 is a whole lot better, and I'm sure 15 or 20 would be much better still. I think that 4 CFM/200 PSI air compressor is going to get a workout.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Jim - Part of it may be the wheels the tires are mounted on. I don't know how wide these are as Vernon put them on, but they seem to be fairly wide. And that may alter the amount of pressure needed to flatten the tire on the pavement, which these seem to have been.

As for squirm, there isn't any at 35. May have been some at 30, but very little. The truck corners well for a truck this size and height, and if the toe-in helped I think I'm going to be happy.

Jacob - It sounds like you've been all over that area. We've done the Queen Wilhelmina scenic drive, both on a motorcycle as well as in a brand new Murano, and it is beautiful! But we've not done any of the other things you mentioned, so perhaps we can when we've gotten the vaccine and we'll feel comfortable being around other people. That's because Mena is 3 1/2 hours from here, so it'll have to be at least a one-night stay, and probably two.

So thanks for the info! Yes, you may have missed your calling.

Well, I'm sure wider rims and tires would feel more planted at low pressure.

'pizza cutters' have an advantage in normal snow in that the small footprint and higher pressures get to the bottom easier.

Remember, the relationship between tire patch and corner weight is tire pressure.

The air is pushing down as much as up.

Divide corner weight by air pressure to get square inches of patch.

And I keep emphasizing feel, because it's all subjective.

I'm not expecting or wanting a compliant ride.

It's a work truck and does that well enough as is.

[Sac79]

Mission control is SWEET!

My thoughts exactly!

[Jacob84]

Jim - Part of it may be the wheels the tires are mounted on. I don't know how wide these are as Vernon put them on, but they seem to be fairly wide. And that may alter the amount of pressure needed to flatten the tire on the pavement, which these seem to have been.

As for squirm, there isn't any at 35. May have been some at 30, but very little. The truck corners well for a truck this size and height, and if the toe-in helped I think I'm going to be happy.

Jacob - It sounds like you've been all over that area. We've done the Queen Wilhelmina scenic drive, both on a motorcycle as well as in a brand new Murano, and it is beautiful! But we've not done any of the other things you mentioned, so perhaps we can when we've gotten the vaccine and we'll feel comfortable being around other people. That's because Mena is 3 1/2 hours from here, so it'll have to be at least a one-night stay, and probably two.

So thanks for the info! Yes, you may have missed your calling.

Gary, It would definitely be a good little trip, hopefully things will settle down soon and y’all will feel more comfortable traveling. We’re looking forward to things settling down, especially so the church can go back to normal. I’m not gonna hold my breath but maybe soon. Anyways, if you ever decide to venture out this way I’d be happy to help any way that I can if y’all need it. Looking forward to seeing some pictures and hearing about the places y’all go with Big Blue!

[Rusty_S85]

Yes, I change tire pressures a lot as well. Put the car-hauler trailer on and 35 psi is not nearly enough in the rear, so I go to 50 for short hauls. But if I were going across country with a big vehicle on the trailer I'd probably go higher.

But as previously said, 40 on a gravel road feel like steel wheels. 30 is a whole lot better, and I'm sure 15 or 20 would be much better still. I think that 4 CFM/200 PSI air compressor is going to get a workout.

You are running regular old street tires are you not?

I know my KO2`s have such stiff side walls I can reduce tire pressure down to 0 psi and the tires are still standing up they just look low. I know I had a blow out once before years ago with the same size tires but a different brand, the tires are such over kill weight wise for my short wheelbase flare side that even without air pressure I was able to drive my truck at reduced speed to the tire shop some 10 miles away to have the tire replaced.

That might be why you have to run higher pressure if your tire doesnt exceed the weight rating of your vehicle by as much as mine do then that could be why you are having to run higher pressure.

My KO2`s have a max load of 2270 lbs and my truck in the back only weighs 2,912 GVW and with the two tires in the back which comes out to 4,540 lbs the rear tires could support max. But that is just on math though in reality might have to bump the tire pressure up when hauling a trailer for example but I dont haul trailers that much.

[Rusty_S85]

I had 40 in them, but it made them like steel wheels on gravel roads. I put them back to the 35 I've been running before taking it in for alignment.

And, speaking of that, the big wig there assured me that if it drives fine on a flat concrete road that changing the toe-in won't make any difference. But, they'd check it out. Turns out it was toed out .16 degrees, so they set it to the .06 toe in the FSM called for. And it certainly drives better. We hope to take it out again later this week for another outing and will find out more then.

Also, I stopped by the filling station and calibrated the gauge. Took some time but have it set up to read correctly at empty, 1/3, 2/3, and full. And speaking of full, it would only take 16 gallons. So apparently it runs out with 3 gallons left in the rear tank.

And I tried the speed control. The switches on the Bricknose pad work perfectly. Thanks again, Scott! But there is still some unevenness in the operation of the speed control. At speed the speedometer is rock steady, but at low speeds like in the neighborhood at 15 - 20 MPH I can see the needle flicker.

So, y'all, where do I go next on getting the speed control smoothed out?

I don't think it is the speedo cables as both cables are well lubed. And the transducer has been changed out with no effect. These systems don't have a vacuum reservoir do they? I can't see one in the documentation. But I can sure see the throttle action on the vacuum gauge. So I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

On another subject, one week to the day after ordering the switches they came in. I popped them in, save for the locker switch as the old one was already in, for a photo opportunity:

Looks good, I never thought of putting switches in that space above the radio. I was looking at using a highliner headliner to put a transmission temp gauge and my auxiliary light switches over head. But I was leaning away from it cause I really wish the highliner didnt have those ugly speaker pods cause I really dont need more speakers for a stock radio.

If I can get Dakota Digital to release a RTX retro cluster for our trucks I can add a module for transmission temp on the gauge cluster digital display as well as outside ambient air temp and compass. Then with the rewiring of my auxiliary systems on my truck I am really playing around with removing the switch I have for my driving lights to isolate it from the highbeam trigger circuit and just have my driving lights hooked up constantly to my highbeam trigger circuit. Then I could just add a on/off/on toggle where my current toggle is under the dash to isolate the driving lights and can use that for bringing in auxilary lights on the roll bar I keep contemplating adding but unsure about due to I cant find photos of a flare side with this go rhino roll bar installed to know how it fits the bed. I am looking at on/off/on toggle so I can have one on to switch on the pair of spot lights to the highbeam trigger and the other on position would bring the flood lights to be connected to the high beam trigger along with the spot lights. That way in normal conditions I can leave it in the center off position and still maintain my driving lights operated by my dimmer switch and if I need more side lights at night time to try and spot deers on the back country roads I can flip the spots and floods on with my dimmer switch so one switch can shut all lights off when on coming traffic. So for me I really dont need a bunch of auxiliary switches like I was looking at once before.

[Gary Lewis]

You are running regular old street tires are you not?

I'm not sure what a "regular old street tire" is, but there's not much "regular" or "old" on this truck. The tires are Cooper Discoverer S/T Maxx LT285/75R16's, and each one is rated for 3750 lbs @ 80 PSI. And they have an aggressive enough tread that I picked rocks out of it today after it had been on the road up to 70 MPH. Plus, the tread makes a lot of noise on the highway. They were on the truck when I got it and they have lots of miles left in them.

As for the switches, they are mounted in a medium-duty radio bezel, not one from one of these trucks.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, It would definitely be a good little trip, hopefully things will settle down soon and y’all will feel more comfortable traveling. We’re looking forward to things settling down, especially so the church can go back to normal. I’m not gonna hold my breath but maybe soon. Anyways, if you ever decide to venture out this way I’d be happy to help any way that I can if y’all need it. Looking forward to seeing some pictures and hearing about the places y’all go with Big Blue!

Rob - Thanks!

Jacob - It sure would be nice if church could go back to normal. We have about half of the congregation coming in via Zoom or Facebook Live and the rest attending in person, and even there most wear masks and social distance themselves.

As for what I did today, yesterday when I drove on a bumpy road I heard a clunk that should have been there. So today I checked ALL of the fasteners in the front end. None were loose so I checked the wheels, and sure enough found the left front wheel bearing to be slightly loose. I pulled the lock-out and tightened it up and now there's no more clunk.

Then I decided I'd see about mounting the fog lights as Bruce suggested. Happened to have a piece of 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 angle 18" long that came from a garage door installation. Not the stiffest piece, but plenty good enough to test the idea.

LOOK MA, NO HOLES!

Janey likes the look, and it works well save for a couple of minor problems. So I think this is a winner, but I'd like to hear (see) your thoughts.

On the problems, the first is that the winch's clutch handle can't be rotated the whole way. Second, the cover won't slip between the winch and the angle. But as you can see in the pic the angle could be 1/2" narrower and I believe that will fix both problems.

[Sac79]

Janey likes the look

Then I guess you have a winner indeed! I like the look too. And if narrowing the bracket will fix the issues, then that's perfect!