Super singles front/Duals on rear?

[Maxgussam]

I was talking to a guy last night that claimed to be an ex-motor pool Sgt. in Germany years ago.

He told me that the best off-road results they ever got on an M-35 was when they used the 14.5 XL Michelins and 11.00 duals. He said they tried this combo vs. a truck with all singles, and the truck with the different type tires always did better.

Would this even work? According to the info that I can find here, the XLs are 2/10s of an inch shorter than the 11.00s. Is that enough to cause driveline damage or problems? If not, I suppose one could carry a 11.00 as a spare and it would work on the steering axle as well as the rears.

If it would work, I like the idea of keeping the duals on the rear in case of a flat, of course it wouldn't matter on the steering axle. But the extra traction super singles on the steers would provide would be welcome.

I would be interested to read any thoughts that those more experiencd than I might have on this subject...

 

[M1075]

Yeah, it works good and looks good. I did it a few years back. 14.5R20 xls on M35A3 wheels in the front and dual 11R20 in the rear.

 

[gimpyrobb]

That might be the best HE got, but the army did plenty of tests and said that a singled out truck works better off road. I just singled mine yesterday, so I cannot comment either way.

 

[yeager1]

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce-modification-hot-rodding/9462-new-tire-setup-deuce.html

 

[tm america]

ya it works but singled is better on and off road

 

[Maxgussam]

That might be the best HE got, but the army did plenty of tests and said that a singled out truck works better off road. I just singled mine yesterday, so I cannot comment either way.

I am aware of the results of the Army's "tests".

However, having participated as an evaluator in a couple of USMC weapons trials, I can say that the weapon that we felt was far and away the best, was not selected.
I have no idea why, but to this day, I feel that the lobbiests at the DoD had something to do with it. I do know that the weapon has since been replaced with a system very similar to the one we reccomended.


Perhaps the military wanted to simplify by only using 1 tire size on the vehicle.

 

[gringeltaube]

.....................................
.........................He said they tried this combo vs. a truck with all singles, and the truck with the different type tires always did better.
................................

....with all singles, ...what size???
What he said might only apply if the one with 6 singles had 11.00R20s all around....?
I bet in soft sand a 14.5 singled truck like the A3 will do better than one with that combo!(6 tires on only two tracks vs. 10 on actually 6 tracks!)

With both being basically off-road tires, the Michelin 14.5R20 XL (MPT type) performs much better in soft sand for example, than its cousin 11.00R20 XL, and not only because of its 3" wider thread...! (It also has to do with their capability of running on extrem low TP...)

For me that is the #1 reason they choose them for the A3 version.

G.

 

[tm america]

i made the switch i ran it for three years with duals and about a year with singles and can tell you from experince singles are way better less rotating weight means faster and easier to stop plus better gas milage.more weight per tire means better traction and from there it turns into the size of the tire bigger tires have more weight capacity and if you switch to xls or zmls they have better tread pattern that give you better traction

 

[Maxgussam]

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce-modification-hot-rodding/9462-new-tire-setup-deuce.html

Thanks!

I'll bet that this is what that old Sgt. was talking about!

 

[tm america]

when i switched mine i had got stuck the week before with duals and i was able to drive right through with singles same size tire

 

[tm america]

this is the hole see how the duals are just floating

 

[Maxgussam]

....with all singles, ...what size??? G.

He said they used the 14.5x20 tires in the front.

I suspect that the truck was outfitted like the photos in the earlier thread.

By the way, sorry for the repeat...that thread did not come up in my search results!