Power Wagon Registry

I've had my truck for two months....I've had 3 flats. On the positive side I'm becoming a real pro at plugging tires. However, I'm pretty tired of it. 2 could be plugged and one couldn't and needed the whole tire replaced. (Side note, a buddy got two flats on his truck during a trip so flat tires are just following me everywhere).

I've seen basically everybody going with the toyos in 315. I know that my dad had some toyos (open country) when I was in high school and I wasn't overly impressed with them. They seemed to wear quickly/unevenly and really sucked in snow and ice. But maybe that was his fault. I live in Wyoming and deal with 9 months of snow and ice.

Anyway, I've read through some posts and most guys don't like the Nittos or Coopers??? I've owned a set of each and loved them both. Is anybody using anything other than toyos that they swear by??

Also, I'm really not sold on going with the 315. Again, I live in Wyoming and still need my truck for lots of highway miles. I'd hate to lose more mpg. I've been reading that people GAIN gas mileage with 35s but I have a small brain and that doesn't make sense to me.

I guess in closing, if a toyo in 315 is the best choice than I'll do it. But if anyone has any recommendations in either 33s or 35s I'm all for it. Also if somebody could explain in dumb people terms on how you could get better gas mileage with a bigger, heavier tire in all ears.

- Rookie PW owner

Dick Cepek. Toughest tire I’ve ever owned.
They may be made by cooper. But they make them to different standards.

Re mileage....

A larger, heavier tire takes more energy to start rotating. That makes mileage go down.

A larger tire travels farther per revolution. A truck on larger tires goes down the road with fewer engine RPM given the same speed and drive ratio. That makes mileage go up.

If you do more city driving, larger tires tend to drive mileage down. If you do more constant speed highway driving, larger tires tend to drive mileage up.

It’s heavily influenced by the type of driving you do and your driving style.

Most of my miles are highway miles, but on two lane highways with hills, tight curves, slow vehicles to pass, etc. I’m accelerating and decelerating all the time. 35s made my mileage worse.


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Are the OE Duratracs only that bad, or is Goodyear in general going downhill? I have run MT/Rs on my jeeps and been pretty happy with them, but those aren’t 7000lb trucks, either. When my stock Duratracs are worn out I was also wondering what to get next. That being said, I haven’t had the issues others have had and I only have 10k miles on them. For winter performance they are awesome on the ice we get up in Alaska, so I may keep a set around for winter if I go another direction when the stockers wear out.

Best of luck finding a good upgrade for your rig!

No they're trash. All the guys running the stock tires at PWIM this year had multiple blowouts. One guy while driving down the freaking road in town!!!

Thanks low sky for giving me the specifics in "dumb guy" terms!

Alaska, I had wranglers on my precious truck (gmc 2500) and never had a problem. I did destroy one but it was when I had very little tread left. That was the only flat I had.

As far as it being just the stock OEMs I have no idea if it's specific to that. Researching it on line there's plenty of guys that swear the oems are junk and the tires you can buy otherwise are of good quality. But after this experience I'm not man enough to ever try again. I'm upset enough that I may in fact call good year just to see what they say. I mean hell, my truck has 22,500 miles on it. I've put 4,000 on it myself and had 3 flats. Also...every single one of these have been on county roads. Sometimes not smooth, but I've been cruising along at a good clip when all of the sudden they go. im paranoid enough that when I'm on dirt I put my dash display on my tire pressure read out and look down every 10 seconds. I was cruising 30-40 mph when I noticed I was at 32 psi. This hole was right through the tread. Mind blowing really.

I put on 35x12.5 BFGoodrich KO2s on my 2015 and I am very happy. No rubbing at full lock or when the sway bar is disconnected. They are really only 34" tall as per BFGoodrich's website. The KO2s are a little heavier than the stock tires and like Low Sky says I get a little worse mileage around town and just about unchanged mileage on the highway. Good traction in rain and snow (as much as we get in NM). I have a little over 25K miles on this set and they are about half worn. I know lots of folks on this site don't care for the KO2 but for me they are the right tire.

I bought a replacement for my first Duratrash that exploded and ruined a rim at Discount tire, and a week later I was getting out the plug kit. Seriously these trucks should come with tire repair kits. Coopers I dont like. KM3s I am loving.
I almost called Ram and Goodyear, but they wont care. They know the tires are trash.

heres some real talk. 35s will increase the braking distance. 37s increase it even further. to me this was very noticeable when i went to 35s. maybe you wont care.

i wouldnt go any larger than 35s with 4.10 ratio or 6th gear will be useless. even with 35s the trans spends alot of time shifting between 5-6 on the smallest of hills. because of this i usually manually lock out 6th

been using mastercraft mxt 35x12.5 load range E for the last 5k mi and theyre wearing nice and pretty dang quit imo, considering the type of tread they have. made by cooper and similar to stt pros

I took the stock tires off and sold them with 500 miles.

Worst truck tire I've ever had. I threw mine in the trash and put on Mickey Thompson ATZ P3s. It's like driving a different truck.

It seems like the Duratrac durability has been going down hill since 2014. The newest model trucks are reporting the most issues by far - with multiple flats - especially on dirt roads. My Duratracs (probably manufactured in 2013) have been rock solid on and off road, even with numerous trips at 26,000 pounds GCWR...

They stamped the tread pattern into the new seats. LOL!

Reloaderguy wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:19 am

They stamped the tread pattern into the new seats. LOL!

Very likely a financially motivated decision... Perhaps something that Goodyear suggested in return for providing ultra low costs for the OEM tires to Fiat... Nobody loves a tire so much that they would want it's tread pattern in their seat!

its all about ROLLING RESISTANCE
soft or hard tire?
knobby or smooth tread?
High PSI or low PSI? Contact patch comes into play.

all comes into play.
duractracs have alot of rolling resistance with the tread and design. i would believe the toyo rt in a 35 has less rolling resistance then the 33 duratrac with the same psi.
there are guys out there with 37s running 50PSI+ claiming more MPG then the stock duratracs.
a 37 should have much more contact area with much more rolling resistance then a stock duratrac but not if the PSI is too high.
More PSI, Smaller contact patch, less rolling resistance. at a price of harsh bumpy ride and bad tire wear

POk3s wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:53 am

every tire company will have truck tires that someone will eventually blow out. wrong PSI, rogue branches, or hidden boulders.

Duratracs are the perfect tire for jeeps because they are lighter trucks and these are lighter tires. they still see alot of sidewall punctures.

people dont actually understand what happens when you stick 37 toyo MTs on a stock JK dana axle. they look for lighter tires in the general jeep world.

our trucks are HD and can handle a HD carcass Tire. Toyo MT will take you to the end of the globe and back with alot of road noise.
ive found the Toyo RT to be a great tire with great handling characteristics and low road noise. they are tougher than K02s under our rigs.

when it comes to winter and snow/ice.... your further limited and most toyos will end up sucking.

I like Toyos on heavy trucks. Running AT-IIs on the PW and the Tundra, Nitto Grapplers on the GMC. The Nittos are fine on the GMC, and a lot of guys used to like them on PWs. Unless something better comes along, I'll probably stick with Toyos for as long as I own these trucks.

Re mileage and big tires, an overlooked detail here is wind resistance. Two factors are at play, one being the width of the tire. Wider tires offer greater wind resistance and that kills mileage. Pizza cutter tires will mitigate that, but reduce flotation in sand, mud, snow. And pizza cutters will be lighter, but watch the load ratings. The other factor with wind resistance is that a taller tire creates a bigger void under the truck and that creates a lot more turbulence and drag at highway speeds.

I'm thinking of running the HANKOOK DYNAPRO MT RT03 next after my Toyo's. Toyo's have been nice and strong, but they wear damn fast if you do a lot of highways. At least the MT's are. NTS007 on here has been running 4 sets of the Dynapro's and has given me a lot of great feedback about them. And they're nearly half the cost.

I thank you guys for all your input. I'll digest it the best I can and make a decision I feel is best for me. I like stock and I like simple. The one thing that has not been simple is flat tires!!! Having to air down the second I hit dirt, and being nervous the whole time is also not simple. I just find it almost downright offensive that you have to buy a truck like this, pay for taxes, tags, etc....and then buy new tires.

Also, does anyone have a jeep they want new tires for!? Hahahaha

A few thoughts from a fellow WY'er. My 2012 started with the BFG ATs (not the new KO2). I changed to 35 Toyo RTs a while back.

Goods:
Looks much better 33s just look tiny on these trucks. And good, extra clearance under the diffs, etc.
Toyos much more rigid and heavier. Along with a Thuren trackbar, there's no hint of wiggle/wobble on uneven roads, etc. that I used to feel
RTs are wearing really well. I have about 8k miles on them with very little wear. And that that includes half the miles towing 5-8k trailers. At this rate, I'm guessing I'll get 40-50k on them if they continue to wear evenly.
Traction on wet and ice is not terrible for a pretty aggressive mud pattern. I siped them which moved them from "mediocre" to "pretty good".
Tires seem tough. I've put at least 2k of those miles on bladed gravel roads with lots of granite chips on them and they're holding up great, even with the siping.

Not so goods:
Mileage, especially on the 5.7 dropped about 1-1.5 mpg on average. The Toyos are just super heavy and you feel the extra rolling mass.
Gearing, even with 4.56s, as someone pointed out can be a little annoying, especially on hills. I sometimes just put it in tow/haul mode in those cases anyway. I have a tuner on it, so I just need to adjust shift points a bit but haven't gotten to it. It sounds like with the 6.4 the 33-35" tire change isn't quite as noticeable.

Hey aheiser thank you very much! The sheer differences in weather and road conditions that we have to deal with in this state make tire choices tough. Some years I drive on snow packed icy roads for 4 straight months straight and sometimes it's for 4 days. Getting a tire which weakness is ice is concerning...but I also bet if it is worse....it's not as much worse than any other aggressive tire.

i hear the duratrac has good snow traction? maybe you should check them out... even studdable.

My siped RTs were rock stars in solid sheet ice. Rumor is they suck on ice until you sipe them.

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TankerZak wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 04, 2018 8:30 pm

My siped RTs were rock stars in solid sheet ice. Rumor is they suck on ice until you sipe them.

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Rumor has it wrong.

It's only the stock size duratracs that don't hold up. I've ran 315's on another truck and had great luck. And I know some guys that have replaced the stock ones for a different size, and it's night and day.