Late Bloomer

[MiamiTrailBoss]

Hey guys, ive had my 2021 Trail Boss for a little over 2 years, and just found out there is a forum today while searching what tires i should replace my stocks with 30k miles. And tires are loud as hell. This truck had the lifter issue at 10k miles and was really disappointing. Previously i had a 2012 Ram 1500 with a Hemi. Really reliable truck i put 150k miles on with towing boats and jetskis every weekend.
No mods for my truck yet. its a daily driver and cant afford much down time. looking forward to learning a bit more about this truck on here.

 

[The Raven]

Welcome, and good luck with the tire decision - there is no magic tire no matter what anyone claims...everyone has their favorites but don't assume that you will like what someone else likes. The stock Duratracs are loud but they are among the very best in performance. You will be hard pressed to find a tire that can match the Duratrac in both wet and dry traction. You can however get close, and also get a better ride and lower noise levels. That is, assuming you want to stick with an aggressive AT. If you are willing to go to a standard AT, there are lots of quiet, comfortable options that will offer great traction performance.

From my personal experience, the Nitto Ridge Grappler and Toyo Open Country AT3 will offer a better ride and lower noise levels...the ATIII is close to the Duratrac in wet performance but the Ridge Grappler is not. There is also the relatively new Goodyear Territory MT - I just put these on my truck this summer, and so far I can't find anything to complain about...but they haven't seen winter weather yet and that's where the Duratrac really shines so the jury is still out on these.

ABOVE ALL MAKE SURE YOU FIND A C-LOAD RANGE TIRE!!!! There are tons of E-range tires out there and many are cheaper than their lighter weight counterparts, but don't fall into that trap - you will more than make up for the price difference in fuel mileage and performance. Stick with C-range, only go to D-range if you absolutely must.

And as for the lifters - its an evil we all must live with. Even Rams have them now. I'm keeping my truck under drivetrain warranty forever - I figure since the automakers decided to force this on us, lets keep it their problem and not ours.

 

[MiamiTrailBoss]

Welcome, and good luck with the tire decision - there is no magic tire no matter what anyone claims...everyone has their favorites but don't assume that you will like what someone else likes. The stock Duratracs are loud but they are among the very best in performance. You will be hard pressed to find a tire that can match the Duratrac in both wet and dry traction. You can however get close, and also get a better ride and lower noise levels. That is, assuming you want to stick with an aggressive AT. If you are willing to go to a standard AT, there are lots of quiet, comfortable options that will offer great traction performance.

From my personal experience, the Nitto Ridge Grappler and Toyo Open Country AT3 will offer a better ride and lower noise levels...the ATIII is close to the Duratrac in wet performance but the Ridge Grappler is not. There is also the relatively new Goodyear Territory MT - I just put these on my truck this summer, and so far I can't find anything to complain about...but they haven't seen winter weather yet and that's where the Duratrac really shines so the jury is still out on these.

ABOVE ALL MAKE SURE YOU FIND A C-LOAD RANGE TIRE!!!! There are tons of E-range tires out there and many are cheaper than their lighter weight counterparts, but don't fall into that trap - you will more than make up for the price difference in fuel mileage and performance. Stick with C-range, only go to D-range if you absolutely must.

And as for the lifters - its an evil we all must live with. Even Rams have them now. I'm keeping my truck under drivetrain warranty forever - I figure since the automakers decided to force this on us, lets keep it their problem and not ours.

Hey bud, thank you very much for your reply and recommendations. Last night while talking to a buddy of mine he let me know that he needed tires for his ram and is ordering some through a mechanic friend of his at cost. long story short - i ordered Toyo Open Country AT3s for about 120 bucks less each than they were charging at the tire shop!! i dont know the load range since i got excited with the price and just pulled the trigger. These Goodyears have 31k miles and the road noise is killing me. i cant complain about the performance.
Another note - i found here on the forum that a few people are running 285/65/18 so i ordered that size. only half an inch taller but my wife would kill for an extra half inch.

 

[Jmzvet]

I have the Toyo Open Country III 295 70-18s. I really like them.

 

[MiamiTrailBoss]

I have the Toyo Open Country III 295 70-18s. I really like them.

Nice! what suspension upgrade did you do to fit them?

 

[clstark7]

Welcome, and good luck with the tire decision - there is no magic tire no matter what anyone claims...everyone has their favorites but don't assume that you will like what someone else likes. The stock Duratracs are loud but they are among the very best in performance. You will be hard pressed to find a tire that can match the Duratrac in both wet and dry traction. You can however get close, and also get a better ride and lower noise levels. That is, assuming you want to stick with an aggressive AT. If you are willing to go to a standard AT, there are lots of quiet, comfortable options that will offer great traction performance.

From my personal experience, the Nitto Ridge Grappler and Toyo Open Country AT3 will offer a better ride and lower noise levels...the ATIII is close to the Duratrac in wet performance but the Ridge Grappler is not. There is also the relatively new Goodyear Territory MT - I just put these on my truck this summer, and so far I can't find anything to complain about...but they haven't seen winter weather yet and that's where the Duratrac really shines so the jury is still out on these.

ABOVE ALL MAKE SURE YOU FIND A C-LOAD RANGE TIRE!!!! There are tons of E-range tires out there and many are cheaper than their lighter weight counterparts, but don't fall into that trap - you will more than make up for the price difference in fuel mileage and performance. Stick with C-range, only go to D-range if you absolutely must.

And as for the lifters - its an evil we all must live with. Even Rams have them now. I'm keeping my truck under drivetrain warranty forever - I figure since the automakers decided to force this on us, lets keep it their problem and not ours.

I was debating the Goodyear Territory MT's, as I like how they look on the new Canyon AT4's and Colorado Trail Boss's. They definitely look less aggressive than the Duratrac's though, which gives me some pause. Have you noticed any better fuel economy with them? Quieter ride? I could forego a little tread aggressiveness if those other areas are noticeably improved.

 

[Jmzvet]

Nice! what suspension upgrade did you do to fit them?

ReadyLift SST kit, 1.5in spacers, mudflap/ bracket mod & front fender liner mod. The mudflap, bracket, liner mod is easy and not noticeable unless you look for it. You might be able to do a 1/4in spacer just for the tire to clear the front upper control arm and avoid the mudflap bracket liner mod but I wanted my stock wheels to poke out a bit so I went with 1.5in spacers.

 

[The Raven]

I was debating the Goodyear Territory MT's, as I like how they look on the new Canyon AT4's and Colorado Trail Boss's. They definitely look less aggressive than the Duratrac's though, which gives me some pause. Have you noticed any better fuel economy with them? Quieter ride? I could forego a little tread aggressiveness if those other areas are noticeably improved.

So there are two different versions of the Territory MT.

This is "Tread Pattern A", which is OEM on the Sasquatch Package Broncos

And this is "Tread Pattern B" which is OEM on several GM trucks and the RAM TR-X

I would agree that Pattern B is not as aggressive in appearance as the Duratrac. But I feel like Pattern A is very aggressive looking and I actually like it better (in appearance) than the Duratrac. I put Pattern A on my truck.

As for the other factors - it's going to be tough for me to give you reliable information because I barely have 1k miles on them...but here's what i've found so far. Fuel mileage - this is the big plus with these tires - I was able to go from the stock 32's to metric 35's (315/70R17) and I lost ZERO MPGs. With just the wheel tire change I was able to maintain the exact same fuel economy as before. This is mostly attributable to the weight of the tires - my 35's with 17x8.5 wheels were just slightly under 10lbs heavier (each) than the stock 32's. The tire alone weighed 50lbs on my calibrated hanging scale. Most 33's are heavier than that. So if you are looking at the 33" sizes, you may very well end up with a LIGHTER than stock wheel/tire combo and possibly GAIN fuel mileage. Now when I installed that 200lb bumper and killed the underbody aerodynamics of the truck, I definitely lost MPGs...but that's irrelevant in this discussion.

As for comfort and sound - I would say they ride pretty comparable to the Duratracs...for me, going from 32's to 35's definitely improved the ride but I don't think that's the tire construction, I think that's the extra sidewall. They are definitely quieter than the Duratracs, but my Duratracs had 18k miles on them, so it's not really a fair comparison because Duratracs are pretty quiet when they're brand new. They don't get painful until well above the 10k mark. Also, the sound of the Territory is duller, so it fades into background noise better - on the highway it's difficult to pick out over wind noise, but at 20-30mph with the windows down you can hear it clearly.

So to sum it up, as of right now, I would DEFINITELY recommend the Territory MT (Tread Pattern A). But in 10k or 20k miles I might feel differently.

 

[The Raven]

Nice! what suspension upgrade did you do to fit them?

Also I will add my setup as a point of reference - I have the Readylift front level also, but I removed my lower spacers so i'm actually only an inch over stock. I wanted to be as nice to my CV joints as reasonably possible. Otherwise i'm stock in suspension. My wheels are 17x8.5 with 0 offset and the tires are 315/70r17. I had to remove the mudflap bracket but then I bolted the mudflap back up unmodified, without the bracket and i've got a solid inch of clearance at full turn. 295/70R18's are just a tiny bit smaller in both diameter and width than 315/70R17's so if that's the size you want you should be fine with at least a 1" level and removal of the muflap bracket.

 

[PistolsFiring]

So there are two different versions of the Territory MT.

Good write up. Thanks for the information.

 

[MiamiTrailBoss]

Also I will add my setup as a point of reference - I have the Readylift front level also, but I removed my lower spacers so i'm actually only an inch over stock. I wanted to be as nice to my CV joints as reasonably possible. Otherwise i'm stock in suspension. My wheels are 17x8.5 with 0 offset and the tires are 315/70r17. I had to remove the mudflap bracket but then I bolted the mudflap back up unmodified, without the bracket and i've got a solid inch of clearance at full turn. 295/70R18's are just a tiny bit smaller in both diameter and width than 315/70R17's so if that's the size you want you should be fine with at least a 1" level and removal of the muflap bracket.

Thank you for the explanation. Im new to the 4x4 world ao i was just thinking a 1.5” leveling kit and 35” later on. Im not about to do crazy mods to the bank’s truck so i’ll go with my new tires and quiet ride for now. Next mod wouls probably be a light bar as the local boat ramp has poor lighting and some trails in the everglades look tempting.

 

[MiamiTrailBoss]

This isnt where im going with my truck.. but just thought id say this truck looks bad ass… its a popular look in Miami

 

[Jmzvet]

Im not hating on it but It’s not something you’ll see a lot of on this forum..