2021 Trail Boss Tire Advice

[Rhino]

Hello all, i have been trying to read all the posts on tires on here, and have come up with a few types i cant decide on so i wanted to see if anyone can lend me any advice. I mainly use the truck on highway. every now and then around the property to haul stuff, or haul my small trailer with the dirt bike and 4 wheeler. Travel a ton to different states for baseball tournaments, so pack up everything in bed and travel. So road noise is big for us that way we dont have to talk loud or turn raid up to drum out the humming lol. i have the wrangler duratac orginals on the truck with about 28k miles. every 5-6k tires have been rotated with oil change, but wow they are now very loud. here are the ones i found that i have been trying to read on. stock size 275/65/R18

Nitto Ridge Grappler
Nitto Terra Grappler G2
Toyo Open Country A/T
Falken Wildpeak A/T
Cooper Discoverer AT3 LT
Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S

Thx again everyone love this forum so far with advice and directions

All good choices.

Your gonna need tires at 40k.
I am trying 33inch Nitto Recon Grapplers on 20” Fuel Blitz machined. Had about 2 months. So far….. so good.

 

[Transient]

I ended up going with the Falken Wildpeak RT/01's 35x11.5x20. I got new wheels as well G-FX TM5's in 20x9 at a 0 Offset. I think they look very nice. The tires so far are quieter than the duratacs but definitely ride a little harder.

All in all they look great and should perform very nicely.

Any recommendations for what to use to recalibrate for the larger tires? I've been looking at RC speedo tuner or the Pulsar...

I believe the RC speedo tuner is the only way to go. I have it. It's simple and works fine. I'm not sure if the Pulsar can adjust the speedo.

 

[BigBadChevyMN]

I believe the RC speedo tuner is the only way to go. I have it. It's simple and works fine. I'm not sure if the Pulsar can adjust the speedo.

I appreciate the confirmation. I will get the RC tuner.

Is it normal now that I'm running larger tires that the truck feels completely different driving? Seems like going over cracks or normal bumps in the road specially turning it makes the truck shimmy almost (feels like the whole truck shakes) and obviously I'm seeing about 1.5-2 MPG lost over the last week since putting the tires on. I was running about 18.5 on my normal 35 mile each way commute to now 16.8-17.1.

 

[The Raven]

I appreciate the confirmation. I will get the RC tuner.

Is it normal now that I'm running larger tires that the truck feels completely different driving? Seems like going over cracks or normal bumps in the road specially turning it makes the truck shimmy almost (feels like the whole truck shakes) and obviously I'm seeing about 1.5-2 MPG lost over the last week since putting the tires on. I was running about 18.5 on my normal 35 mile each way commute to now 16.8-17.1.

You added 22lbs of rotating mass to each corner - that's a 52% increase over stock - what you are experiencing is simply the suspension dealing with a lot more rotating mass. Your MPG loss is another symptom. For another data point - I went from the stock Duratracs to GY Territory MT 315/70R17, which are 14lbs per tire lighter than the Wildpeak RT's, and I lost 0mpg. I did notice the additional mass though - the truck rides better and is slightly less sharp in corners due to the much larger sidewalls.

Tire weight is HUGE, and it's exponential...each additional pound above stock is worse than the last. When I upsized the tires on my 2010 Tahoe I knew nothing about this - so I went from the stock 31's to Duratrac E-load 33's and the result was pretty terrible - lost 2mpg and ride quality went to crap. As soon as the D-load Duratracs became available I threw a set on - I immediately got 1.5mpg back and the ride returned to something closer to stock.

 

[BigBadChevyMN]

You added 22lbs of rotating mass to each corner - that's a 52% increase over stock - what you are experiencing is simply the suspension dealing with a lot more rotating mass. Your MPG loss is another symptom. For another data point - I went from the stock Duratracs to GY Territory MT 315/70R17, which are 14lbs per tire lighter than the Wildpeak RT's, and I lost 0mpg. I did notice the additional mass though - the truck rides better and is slightly less sharp in corners due to the much larger sidewalls.

Tire weight is HUGE, and it's exponential...each additional pound above stock is worse than the last. When I upsized the tires on my 2010 Tahoe I knew nothing about this - so I went from the stock 31's to Duratrac E-load 33's and the result was pretty terrible - lost 2mpg and ride quality went to crap. As soon as the D-load Duratracs became available I threw a set on - I immediately got 1.5mpg back and the ride returned to something closer to stock.

Thanks for the info, the FWP RT's that I went with are the D rated and show the weight to be 64 lbs so about 14 lbs more than stock Duratracks at 50lbs each. Difference in rim weight is about 1 lb so total maybe 15lbs extra rolling weight per corner.

I would say the ride quality was hasn't changed except for the shimmy when turning and going over a cluster of bumps like a rail road track or grating on a gravel road. Seems to take those rather hard.

Did you use a speedo tuner like the RC one with your setups? I see that it changes the shift points so maybe that will help with the MPG or feeling a little sluggish.

 

[The Raven]

Thanks for the info, the FWP RT's that I went with are the D rated and show the weight to be 64 lbs so about 14 lbs more than stock Duratracks at 50lbs each. Difference in rim weight is about 1 lb so total maybe 15lbs extra rolling weight per corner.

I would say the ride quality was hasn't changed except for the shimmy when turning and going over a cluster of bumps like a rail road track or grating on a gravel road. Seems to take those rather hard.

Did you use a speedo tuner like the RC one with your setups? I see that it changes the shift points so maybe that will help with the MPG or feeling a little sluggish.

Unfortunately the listed weight for the stock Duratracs is wrong - they are actually 42lbs as measured on my calibrated scale. They are UNBELIEVABLY light for their size and class (as OEM tires tend to be). That said, the listed weight for my Territory MT 35's was wrong too - listed 55lbs, actual was just over 50lbs. So it's not impossible for the listed weight for your Falkens to be wrong too...however I know that the Wildpeaks are notoriously heavy tires.

Yes I have the Hypertech speedo translator box, and yes it made a big difference in transmission smoothness.

EDIT - actually I can't believe I didn't think of this - but if you are not running a calibrator for your VSS pulse then your MPG reading is wrong anyway. So that's good news - you haven't lost as much MPGs as you think.

 

[BigBadChevyMN]

Unfortunately the listed weight for the stock Duratracs is wrong - they are actually 42lbs as measured on my calibrated scale. They are UNBELIEVABLY light for their size and class (as OEM tires tend to be). That said, the listed weight for my Territory MT 35's was wrong too - listed 55lbs, actual was just over 50lbs. So it's not impossible for the listed weight for your Falkens to be wrong too...however I know that the Wildpeaks are notoriously heavy tires.

Yes I have the Hypertech speedo translator box, and yes it made a big difference in transmission smoothness.

EDIT - actually I can't believe I didn't think of this - but if you are not running a calibrator for your VSS pulse then your MPG reading is wrong anyway. So that's good news - you haven't lost as much MPGs as you think.

That makes sense and I wish I would have weighed one of these tires before putting them on just to confirm.

I will for sure get that speedo calibrator ordered and see how it goes.

Love the look of the bigger tire setup but just wanted to make sure I was experiencing what everyone else has when they go bigger.

thanks for the help!

 

[Transient]

I appreciate the confirmation. I will get the RC tuner.

Is it normal now that I'm running larger tires that the truck feels completely different driving? Seems like going over cracks or normal bumps in the road specially turning it makes the truck shimmy almost (feels like the whole truck shakes) and obviously I'm seeing about 1.5-2 MPG lost over the last week since putting the tires on. I was running about 18.5 on my normal 35 mile each way commute to now 16.8-17.1.

Yes, it's normal for the truck to feel different when driven with the new tires. I went with Duratracs because listed weight was the lowest I could find in the size I went with so the difference between the 2 sizes wasn't as noticeable. Going from a C to E tires does mean the ride is stiffer, however the taller sidewall doesn't mean more flex when cornering. I'm actually able to take some corners slightly faster than I was able to with the original tires the truck came with. I was warned I'd see about a 2-3 mpg decrease, but since I just moved from Southern California to the Florida panhandle, the decrease in the cost of fuel makes the decrease in mpg a moot issue. Now if only I could do something about the cost of insurance. It doubled when I switched it to Florida. My next tires might be a smidge smaller, but I'm not going to throw away the perfectly good tires I have on my truck right now.

 

[BigBadChevyMN]

Yes, it's normal for the truck to feel different when driven with the new tires. I went with Duratracs because listed weight was the lowest I could find in the size I went with so the difference between the 2 sizes wasn't as noticeable. Going from a C to E tires does mean the ride is stiffer, however the taller sidewall doesn't mean more flex when cornering. I'm actually able to take some corners slightly faster than I was able to with the original tires the truck came with. I was warned I'd see about a 2-3 mpg decrease, but since I just moved from Southern California to the Florida panhandle, the decrease in the cost of fuel makes the decrease in mpg a moot issue. Now if only I could do something about the cost of insurance. It doubled when I switched it to Florida. My next tires might be a smidge smaller, but I'm not going to throw away the perfectly good tires I have on my truck right now.

So I after some research and wanting to try something to see if it would fix the shimmy or taking certain bumps in the road much harder, I put on a set of hub centric rings due to my GF-X wheel having a hub bore of 106 and the hub bore on the TB is 78.1. This has helped out significantly on the ride and feel of the truck.

Also I installed the Pulsar LT over the weekend and the tire size is now dialed in so that my speedo is corrected. Also the throttle response adjustability is super neat! I only have it on level 3 right now and it makes it feel like a totally different truck! Once the roads dry off from our Snowmageddon I will have to try out level 5 and let her rip!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851M4WBK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[texanfisherman]

Speedo calibration a must. Running 295/70/18 and truck drove sluggish when they were installed. Got the hypertech installed and all back to normal, especially fuel economy.