Power Wagon Registry

Just got some new BFG AT KO2s on the truck. Oddly, I'm hearing a fairly loud scuffing sound, only under acceleration, coming from the rear tires on pavement. We're talking very mild acceleration here. It's slightly pronounced in turns, but not much. The sound is exactly like the scuffing sound of turning the steering wheel while stationary on pavement. But if course that sound is constant while accelerating, and the sound immediately ceases when I take my foot off the gas. I talked to the shop that installed them and was told this is the nature of the KO2s and there nothing abnormal going on. I'm not necessarily suggesting they're wrong, but since I haven't experienced this before, I'm still a little unsure.

Fellow KO2 owners, have you noticed this? Any thoughts?

RideLong wrote:Just got some new BFG AT KO2s on the truck. Oddly, I'm hearing a fairly loud scuffing sound, only under acceleration, coming from the rear tires on pavement. We're talking very mild acceleration here. It's slightly pronounced in turns, but not much. The sound is exactly like the scuffing sound of turning the steering wheel while stationary on pavement. But if course that sound is constant while accelerating, and the sound immediately ceases when I take my foot off the gas. I talked to the shop that installed them and was told this is the nature of the KO2s and there nothing abnormal going on. I'm not necessarily suggesting they're wrong, but since I haven't experienced this before, I'm still a little unsure.

Fellow KO2 owners, have you noticed this? Any thoughts?

My OEM duratracs did that while accelerating and turning (think pulling into traffic) when brand new. The loud scrubbing sound went away with some wear on the tires.


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Interesting. Do you recall about how many miles on the tires before the sound went away?

RideLong wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 20, 2018 4:16 pm

Interesting. Do you recall about how many miles on the tires before the sound went away?

Nope, once I figured out it was tire noise I stopped paying attention to it. I'm a form-follows-function sort of person and I'm kinda deaf anyway so things like tires noise don't bother me.

lol thanks

what PSI you running and whats in the bed? also, what size tire?

60 in the front, ~48 in the rear with usually a couple hundred pounds of stuff in the bed. Size is 285/75/17. I have started to play with pressures a little but less concerned about it now, especially since I just noticed the transfer case output shaft seal is leaking quite nicely. This truck has not had a great track record for reliability.

Wow, that's some high air pressure unless you are towing a space shuttle. Try 35-40PSI ranges.

RideLong wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 21, 2018 3:04 pm

60 in the front, ~48 in the rear with usually a couple hundred pounds of stuff in the bed. Size is 285/75/17. I have started to play with pressures a little but less concerned about it now, especially since I just noticed the transfer case output shaft seal is leaking quite nicely. This truck has not had a great track record for reliability.

FWIW, I noticed my output seal had a minor dampness around it a year or two ago (probably 15000 miles on truck). Had the dealer look at it when it was in for a recall. They couldnt find any leak or oil I also had them check the loose upper ball joints (been wobbly since about 3000 miles - maybe sooner). They couldnt find any loose ball joints either. WTF. IDIOTS.

FordyceCreekTrail wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 10, 2019 9:46 am

Wow, that's some high air pressure unless you are towing a space shuttle. Try 35-40PSI ranges.

I have been running pretty much the same pressures as him and have had good results. Any less and the tires get a huge bulge and look way too low.

olyelr wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 10, 2019 10:44 am

FordyceCreekTrail wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 10, 2019 9:46 am

Wow, that's some high air pressure unless you are towing a space shuttle. Try 35-40PSI ranges.

I have been running pretty much the same pressures as him and have had good results. Any less and the tires get a huge bulge and look way too low.

X2

There's nothing wrong with running up to the max rated pressure on a quality tire especially on our heavy Power Wagons with our soft suspension.

You CAN run more pressure in a good tire with out the tire falling apart like the Dura Trash. However for such a brutal ride off-road why would you?

FordyceCreekTrail wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:06 pm

You CAN run more pressure in a good tire with out the tire falling apart like the Dura Trash. However for such a brutal ride off-road why would you?

I dont air up my tires for ride quality most of the time. I typically put them to where they have a good contact patch and will wear correctly.

And we wernt really talking offroad pressures anyway. Thats street pressure. Of course they would be lower for off road.

I live off road, and while the high pressure is rougher on road, once I get to my dirt road it was brutal.

My CTD ride is brutal- the Power Wagon @65psi with the flexy D-rated Duratrac sidewalls feels smooth in comparison

But back to the OP's question... I've never heard scuffing on takeoff on multiple sets of KO's or a set of KO2's that I've used on other vehicles. Maybe your pavement friction is a little different where you are.

I put the BFG tires on everything for 20 years. They were my go-to tires. The issue that i always had with them was that the trailing edge of the outer lugs would wear faster than the leading edge and then the tires would become loud - especially on the front. I'd rotate them "X" and they would eventually quiet down for 5000 miles before they wore back to that pattern again and needed another "X" rotation. Running at lower pressures made this wear issue worse.