Tires for Elk hunting

[Azdon]

Most are on 1/2 tons. Only 1 is running them on a 3/4 ton. He recently put them on, so no reports from him.

 

[Wiscohunter]

I called Toyo and BFGoodrich and they told me what PSI to run based on my truck. For example, the Toyo At was recommended around 50 psi, while the KO2 was recommended to be run at 48. This was based on 10 ply tires.

Toyo said you can air down for off road, but they won't make recommendations since you can do it, but it's not recommended.

 

[Coldtrail]

I'd be interested to see a puncture resistance test on the P,C,D,E tires but can never find one. I've run E's on 1/2 tons forever, love them for towing & hauling but really don't see much of a increase in puncture resistance, seems like something that punctures a tire will puncture about any tire. Years ago it was pretty common to run C's on a 1/2 ton, we ran loaded construction rigs that way on gravel all the time and didn't seem to have an abundance of flats, if we did it was screws, nails. I don't think LT C vs LT E would prevent that? I recall needing tires in a hurry before a hunting trip in WY and they screwed up and put Ps on, I was already home and I didn't have time to swap, ran those all over the hills and back home on gravel for 40,000 and never got a flat.

i still run E on a loaded F150, but sometimes wonder if I'm falling for the more is better deal? 3/4 & 1 tons are obviously a different deal though.

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

I'd be interested to see a puncture resistance test on the P,C,D,E tires but can never find one. I've run E's on 1/2 tons forever, love them for towing & hauling but really don't see much of a increase in puncture resistance, seems like something that punctures a tire will puncture about any tire. Years ago it was pretty common to run C's on a 1/2 ton, we ran loaded construction rigs that way on gravel all the time and didn't seem to have an abundance of flats, if we did it was screws, nails. I don't think LT C vs LT E would prevent that? I recall needing tires in a hurry before a hunting trip in WY and they screwed up and put Ps on, I was already home and I didn't have time to swap, ran those all over the hills and back home on gravel for 40,000 and never got a flat.

i still run E on a loaded F150, but sometimes wonder if I'm falling for the more is better deal? 3/4 & 1 tons are obviously a different deal though.

Generally it’s stumps, roots, and rocks hitting the sidewalls rear will blow the weaker tires but not heavier duty ones. I run some very tight trails and it’s not unusual to come home with pieces of wood stuck to the wheel lips. Have not had any issues with my KO2’s. Gravel road don’t require load range E IMO so long as they are relatively packed down with smaller rocks. Once you get into the larger loose chunks and ruts, all bets are off. Metal is going to puncture just about anything.

 

[Coldtrail]

Yep, I've sliced a few sidewalls and suspect that the Xtra ply sidewalls some LT tires have certainly could help prevent that. I've just always looked for an apples to apples tire puncture test in the tread and am surprised there is nothing out there, even right now I have LT E Cooper's on my 1/2 ton and all 4 have been plugged so I'm very curious about plies vs puncture resistance, its not keeping me awake at night, but I'm kind of a Motorhead and honestly never saw any difference in getting lots of flats to no flats by increasing the load range. I'm not a technical off roader, but run good, rough, and baseball sized gravel and muddy 2 tracks on a regular basis used P,C,and E and can't say one was any better or worse than the other in the flat resistance... obviously there are lots of variables in what is going to flat your tires though depending on angle, speed, etc. Make me suspect that is has more to do with the quality of the tire than the load rating.

 

[mwebs]

So let’s say snow travel is your number one concern with your 10 ply tire, which one you getting?

 

[luckydraw2014]

I ran tracks on my Silverado.....E load tire should help with protection. I have the same E load on my trailer too with 75 sidewalls.

 

[Dopedude]

So let’s say snow travel is your number one concern with your 10 ply tire, which one you getting?

I ran into snow and ice last year in the flat tops. Nobody was going anywhere no matter the tire. The only thing that saved us was having chains, so if your expecting snow I would highly suggest grabbing a set.

 

[mwebs]

I ran into snow and ice last year in the flat tops. Nobody was going anywhere no matter the tire. The only thing that saved us was having chains, so if your expecting snow I would highly suggest grabbing a set.

I have chains and everything I need in the truck, been driving around Idaho FS roads for a long time. Just looking for opinions on 10 ply tires that perform well in the snow for daily driving.

 

[jray5740]

FWIW.....I stay clear of Goodyear now days. They have made some serious political statements as of late and I will no longer support a company like that, regardless of political affiliation.

This will sound counter intuitive, but I like the Gladiator MT tires now days. They are 10 ply, I get 40-45ish thousand miles out of them on a 3500 Cummins Ram so they wear ok, and they are cheap in price (like half the price of normal sets on name brand stuff). Never had one blow or go flat, they have deep tread, surprisingly quite on road, and wear well. Look at all the reviews on youtube, you will hear nothing but praise!

 

[HuntinGuy0120]

I ran the Cooper Discoverer STT pro’s for years and love them, boy are they noisy. I use the truck daily for work so I now have the much quieter but still durable Dean Back Country AT and am impressed so far

 

[SelwaySteve]

I still use road tires, usually take offs from folks putting on oversized tires right out of the dealership. 4 chains for the few times it gets bad, and only 1 flat when they re-did the Magruder road a few years back with some ugly sharp rock.
Guys that are more interested in durability have had good luck with Hankook Dynapro MT- they order them on line and have them put on locally.
If all you are worried about is sidewall punctures, going from load range C to E tires is a good first step, and if you get a similar tread, and use similar pressures on road, ride and road noise will be close to what you have now.

 

[bruceleroy]

Perhaps look at your driving tendencies. I drive a Subaru Forester into all manners of off road trails and paths on street tires and have never once lost a tire in over 1000 miles of trails. I understand the load rating difference but driving habits are the most likely cause of the damage.

 

[huntermedic]

I have 5-ply Michelin tires on my F-150 and have put some gashes in the side-walls from two trips to CO and some "off-road" in Wisconsin, which is mostly fields and farm paths. I am looking at replacing my tires before heading out west this fall and since I am going to replace them, I thought I would like to replace them with tires that are less likely to puncture or otherwise leave me standard on some forest road hours from town. It was suggested by a local contact in Montana to put 8-ply tires on my truck. I checked with some local vendors in WI and it seems like they don't really carry an 8-ply tires anymore and was told "ply" is an outdated way to judge tires. The two that were suggested are Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac (looks like probably 6-ply?) and BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 (10 ply?). The Goodyear looks to be a more usable "all-around" tire as most of my driving is on the highway.

I am sure a lot of guys on this forum have experience driving around the forest service roads in the mountains, so any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you

I’m running General Grabber ATXs which are 10 ply and they have been great so far. Similar tread to the BFG all terrains.

 

[sneaky]

Perhaps look at your driving tendencies. I drive a Subaru Forester into all manners of off road trails and paths on street tires and have never once lost a tire in over 1000 miles of trails. I understand the load rating difference but driving habits are the most likely cause of the damage.

You ever driven on a lot of roads in NV? I've been on several that would destroy not only your street tires, but your Subaru itself. Several members of my family drive Forresters and there's no way they would even attempt some of those roads in theirs. It has nothing to do with driving habits, and everything to do with the type and size of rocks you encounter. A lot are unavoidable when that's what the entire road surface is.

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[roosiebull]

i drive small rigs, mostly toyotas in the past, and now my colorado ZR2 (which is my favorite vehicle i have owned) even though i drive small light pickups, i always run 10 ply tires, because i drive lots of gravel, and hate flats. when i bought my last rig (new 2019 tacoma trd offroad) i ran the factory tires for a bit, which were goodyear AT's with kevlar... they didn't last me 5K until i ripped one open with a rock... knew it was gonna happen

i have ran bunches of different mud terrains in the past few years cooper Maxx, stt's, stt pros, toyo MT's, BFG km3, and currently yokohama mud terrains. my least favorite were the toyo mt's, their off road traction was so so, and when they got to about 50% their wet road performance was flat out dangerous, they are slippery on light pickups. tough tire and wore well, but that's all they had going for them for me.

i like the cooper maxx, but they hold rocks worse than any tire i have owned, i couldn't stand it and sold them after about 10K. i wish cooper made the original STT's. those tires were my favorite.

i have not had any standouts lately, my yokohamas are ok, but nothing special. i will probably go with Falken next time, their wild peak MT's look like a good tire to me. i liked the KM3's and STT pros more than the rest, but not by a lot

i don't have a "go to" tire right now, but they gotta be 10 ply with the driving i do, historically if i veer from 10 ply, i get flats. i also don't run tires down to bald, i usually get new ones when my tires get to 30-40% tread, usually about a year and a half i get out of tires. gravel kills tires pretty quick, and i drive a lot of it all year running around fishing and hunting

 

[TX_Diver]

I damaged 2 Goodyear wrangler sra tires beyond repair on my current trip to WY on my 1500. Local shop had some Bridgestone dueler at revo3s that they’d taken off a truck or Jeep recently so going to run those for awhile. Load range e and 10 ply but not super aggressive which is fine with me as I don’t drive off-road that much and put some value on ride and noise too.

 

[Breddoch]

I just put on my 2nd set of Falken Wildpeak AT3W. First set went 3 years 55,000 miles and might could have run them a little longer. They have been a good tire for me.

 

[300-win-mag]

I never had to put on chains, but you should always have a pair of chains with you.

I've been in the nastiest stuff in the rockies and M/T tires worked just fine.

Driver / experience is a big part of it as well.

 

[Carr5vols]

I’ve had 37” ridge grapplers on my f250 for a couple months now and love them. They’ve taken a beating but seem to be holding up well.

I’ve got a smittybuilt 5.65 cfm compressor and it does great.

If you know somebody at the dealership they can reprogram the tire pressure sensors. Mine are lowered to 60. I just deal with the low tire warning when I drop them down off-road.


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Does your 37s rub? I have the two inch level and need a set of tires and can't decide between 35 or 37.