Tires on the trail

I think swampers run pretty true to size if not a little bigger. http://www.intercotire.com/site33.php

My 33X12.50X15 swampers are as tall as my 35X12.50X15 pro comp mud terrains. The link it to the swamper size chart.

 

That's interesting. Where they mounted on the same diameter wheel?

I'm only going from first hand experience, not a chart. My 42x15-16.5 TSLs on 16.5x9.75 Hummer beadlocks were 40-inches. My 37x13-16 Boggers on 16x8 beadlocks were 35.5-inches. 38x13-16 TSLs on my M-715 are 36-inches. 36x12.50-16 TSL Radial on a 16x7 was 34-inches. 35x14.50-15 Bogger on 15x10 beadlock were actually 34-inches. I could go on. I've run lots of Swampers. The same holds true for other brands. Mickey Thompson Claws, BFG, and others all tend to run smaller.

Other hand, my 40-inch Goodyear MT/Rs are actually 40-inches. Off the top of my head, the other stuff I've run that's been close to sidewall listing are Pitbull, Cooper, Firestone, ..... I'd have to check notes for some more. It's early here and the coffee hasn't kicked in.

Regardless, my point was not to trust the sidewall diameter if he's running 2 dissimilar tires. He should measure, then match the diameters as closely as possible by playing with the air pressures before hitting hard pack terrain with the 4x4 engaged.

 

I agree with everyone here: Thornbirds are for the birds.

I currently run 33x14xR15 Boggers on my daily driver TJ. They're not too much fun on the streets, but once you get off the road they're just about unstopable. As for keeping lateral traction on a hill, I've only ever once come into a situation where that was a problem. It was raining and I was trying to drive across a muddy sloap. Needless to say the Boggers weren't too happy about it and I slid a bit, but it wasn't anything uncontrollable.

As for LTBs, I just finished up helping my best friend do a build on his XJ, where he's now running 34x10.5 LTBs among other things. From what I've seen they're awesome tires. We've put his rig through some serious trials in the last month or so and it's come out with flying colors.

I also like the idea of running TSLs up front and Boggers in the back. I'm not sure how much it'd actually help you out in everyday situations off road, but it seems like a pretty solid idea for providing a bit more lateral stability up front.

One more thing: what about NDTs? I know they're a bit old school, I've never run them offroad, so I wouldn't be able to judge how they perform, but judging by the looks of their tread they can't be too bad! Maybe someone else here could shed some light as how NDTs perform as a trail tire.

Sorry about the long post guys!

- Evan

 

I bought 4 new TSL's this week and am waiting for them to be delivered.

 

I have allways been intrested in regruving the big lugs on the thornbirds. to see if that would make them any good. so far the best all around tire I have found is the swamper. I had a worn out set of 36x12.5 swamper on my jeep and they still out performed a lot of other tires.