16.00 tire life

[Lonnie]

Does anyone have an idea how many miles a 16.00 is good for?

I did not know how long these last.
Primary road use unloaded...

Thanks in advance.

 

[two.fiveM35]

Rear one last a while, I have had rear one on for 3-4 years and probably 75-80% left. The fronts are a different story, replaced them a couple years ago, and probably only put 700 miles (a rough estimate) on them. It hurts me to make a sharp turn and see black rubber dust in the ground.

 

[cidrich]

I have ran a set that started out new with tits on them for around 18000 or more miles on my bobbed deuce. they still have about 75% tread left. I have rotated them 1 time. Dont know how long on a 5 ton. I have the XZLs. I have a friend that has a 5 ton with the goodyear on it. He has had it for quit a few years. I dont know how many miles are on them but he has driven it alot and on long trip and they are still in good shape. I hope this helps.

 

[NDT]

I've never seen one worn down so I think no one knows! Has anyone ever put 60,000 miles on a HEMTT?

 

[wreckerman893]

I replaced a rear 1400 on my M927. For some reason it wore out fast. It had good tread when I got the truck, although it had a slow leak, but after 200 miles the tread was down to the wear bars. The good news is that for now there are a lot of 1400 and 1600 tires that are cheap (for what they are).

 

[Lonnie]

Thanks for the info... I was wondering as commercial tires are good for over 100K, but since these are an off road design, I did not know if it was 10K or 100K. No idea how to gauge it.

I do notice the scuff marks from turning enough to make me concerned.

For those with 16.00's what pressure are you running? Mine seems to bounce quite a bit in the rear due to a lack of weight.

 

[thegreydog]

I have been searching site for a few weeks trying to find correct PSI for 16.00r20 and haven't found anything. I would like to know also.

 

[Lonnie]

I am still tying to find the sweet spot for pressure.

With the M818, when empty, there is no weight in the back.
On rough surfaces, I get a bounce from it, since the suspension does not move, the tires become the only suspension.
I was told to run in the 30's rear & 50-60 front.

Currently I have 50 front & 40 rear. 40 is better than the previous 45psi.
On brake application, the rear bounces over rough surfaces. I am dropping down to 35 to see how it rides.

My assumption is that I would not have a problem with them at max inflation as they would be rock hard, but the centers would be the only part of the tire touching the ground.
Currently the edges are only lightly touching the ground.

 

[RustyM923]

The Michelin Inflation Chart shows the required pressures for each weight. http://www.tiregroup.com/Catalogs/PDF Catalogs/Michelin.pdf Page 65 is what you're looking for. The minimum pressure listed is 65psi, however you can extrapolate the pressure for lower weights by graphing the data.

For example, the 16.00R20 LRM XZL is published to carry 13,500 lbs at 100psi (135 lbs per psi of pressure). At 85psi, it's listed as 11,800 lbs (138.82 lbs per psi of pressure). At 70psi, it's listed as 10,100 lbs (144 lbs per psi). As you can see, the amount of load per PSI of pressure increases (per the chart) as the pressure is reduced.

My truck weighs about 21,000 lbs unloaded. Given most of the weight is up front, I'd guess the front axle is about 10500 and the two rears share the other 10,500 (2,625 lbs per tire unloaded). 70psi with that little weight on each tire (and no shocks) is going to be rather bouncy.

The key would be to weigh your truck individually to determine what weight each tire is carrying. Personally, I'd add about 10 lbs from what I come up with for the safety factor and raise further from there if I added a load. Unfortunately, my CTIS says I get 70F and 70R for highway...oh well.

 

[MWMULES]

Just make sure you know when your brakes are dragging!

 

[Beerslayer]

I have been running my 1600-20 XZLs at 35lbs for a year and a half. Seems just about right.

 

[Lonnie]

Good to hear. Didn't have it out on the road again, so I did not experiment with other pressures.

I'll give it a shot & see what happens. Its hard to believe how much air they hold. Takes 30 seconds to bleed off 2lb.

 

[Lonnie]

Just an update.... took the pressure down to 35 & it definitely rides nicer.
What I don't like is how it is now grinding the corners off the rear tires from turning.
Seems like the mid axle is the worst.

The outer lugs are taking a beating... the insides & the fronts are sharp & square. Took the pressure back up as I do not want to buy tires anytime soon.

 

[thegreydog]

35 lbs all the way around? I was going to do that in the back and do 45 in the front? Thoughts?

 

[Lonnie]

I have 55 front & it seems good.
Any scuff marks on the front tread look even for the most part.

Wonder if a set of shocks in the rear would dampen the pivoting of the rear suspension.
Seems like bumps cause articulation between the 2 axles which does not cancel out quickly.
I can see this in the rear view mirror. I truthfully do not think my rear springs flex at all.

 

[5tonman1971]

I found if you do mostly highway to remove the front drive shaft and you get a lot better mpg and tire life

 

[Lonnie]

I heard about removing the front shaft & I was also reading in the one of the Deuce sections about doing lockout hubs (or pulling an axle shaft) on 1 rear axle.
Seems a little drastic, but I'm sure it helps.

Funny thing is my front tires do not appear to be getting tore up.
I figured the fronts would take a beating considering how much weight is on those 2 tires.

 

[ichudov]

Could it be that you are driving in 6wd all the time? That could explain short tire life.

 

[Lonnie]

Yes I am, but in the 809 series 5 tons they are full time 6x6 unless you remove a driveshaft.

 

[cwc]

Wonder if a set of shocks in the rear would dampen the pivoting of the rear suspension.
Seems like bumps cause articulation between the 2 axles which does not cancel out quickly.
I can see this in the rear view mirror. I truthfully do not think my rear springs flex at all.

I think one of the modes of vibration is rocking of the axles through the pivot. In this mode the tires are acting as springs, and the entire assembly is rocking as a spring-mass-damper system, with, as noted, probably not a lot of damping. This system has similar characteristics across the pivot point, i.e. similar axles and tires on the two rear axles. When this this assembly gets to rocking, the motion tends to be perpetuating since the reaction of one tire feeds into the reaction of the other. When trying to suppress vibration in a symetrical system, one tactic is to introduce some sort of asymetry. So for my M925A1 with the 14.00R20 Goodyear AT-2As, I run different pressures on the rear two axles, say 45 front and 35 rear, and I think this has helped. I would be interested if anyone else sees any improvement from doing this.