Few pictures from today.

fallvitals · Post by **fallvitals** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:31 pm

http://imageevent.com/rc_racer_007/s10lift

They last 5 pictures at the bottom of the album ar the new ones from today. Too big to post here.

Went checking on some trail cameras. Decided to go exploring out this road my buddy ripped the muffler off his blazer on. Now that I have a vehicle that will make it. The creek crossing was a bit steeper then it looks. I put it in 4wd once in the narrowist part of it. Back tires spun a little. I locked in 4hi just to keep it from spinning, im sure 2wd would have made it no problem.

There was some semi deep rutted out portions in the road I went through, ith standing water. Crossed a few of em no problem, got to one that looked nasty. Im sure I wouldnt have had a problem, but I was solo, didnt want to take the chance of getting stuck. So I turned around. I hit one much hole a little to hard/fast and thought I hit my step bar, but realized im sure it was my 33s rubbing the front fender. I havent put on my fullsize bump stops yet.

So this was the first real "offroad" test of my truck. not that I was offroad but those roads were fairly deep in spots.

14x4 · Post by **14x4** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:50 pm

Great pictures. I can't wait till my truck looks like that!

Horsehammerr · Post by **Horsehammerr** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:50 am

I couldn't make out your front recovery hooks. Are they there ?

fallvitals · Post by **fallvitals** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:22 am

No, lol. I have yet to put em back on... I was about too, then moved out. Been busy busy since. I did paint them, but again.. not on...

Heck I still am waiting for my uncle to find me a spare tire for my truck!

Horsehammerr · Post by **Horsehammerr** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 1:39 pm

Ah ! Thats good, I was hoping blindness was not happening.

fallvitals · Post by **fallvitals** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:07 pm

lol. I also got a nice piece of new conveyor belting from work, I havent even cut that up yet for gap guards. I need to get on to some projects!

Heck I think theres still a few missing screws in my fender flares too.....

fallvitals · Post by **fallvitals** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:34 am

Went up north, 2 hour drive to check on my trail camera, throw up a ground blind, and help dad clear some shooting lanes.

Iv been getting odd gas milage since putting those BFGs on. City has been averaging 13.9 then worked up to 14.2 then 14.4 then after getting gas from a certain station (posibly jsut coincidence?) it fell to 12.2 (this is all city driving). Then it went up to 15.2 mpg. Then on only 50 miles, i topped iot up and i was averaging 11.4 city o_0. Each time i fill it up, its half a tank empty, takes around 9-12 gallons.

Last trip up north right after i got the BFGs on i averaged 17.4 highway, this time was 15.6 highway o_0 0_o

I havent topped it off and checked it since I got home. BUt I am definantly gonna try to do a tune up to it soon,,,, Thats all crazyness.....

But while up there, dad asked if i wanted to attempt to take my truck out the ridge to reach his spot. I said sure. Went through he cow field, up some pretty steep inclines. then into the woods. Got about 300 yards into the woods and there was a fallen tree. Couldnt really go over it. but about that time i stopped going forward and felt the truck sink an inch or so, lol.

Dad asked if he could pull it out i didnt care, so he did. He moved back some, but dug a nice trench. I started bouncing on the back bumper. Made a little differance. But stopped. but after that pulled it forward then back and got out of it.

But I now see what people mean by BFGs sucking in the mud. They caked up and looked more like slicks. heres a couple shot once we got out of the hole and parked it and went in on foot. Doesnt reall do the mud justice, I had to use my ice scraper to et the mud off the windows, lol.

http://photos.imageevent.com/rc_racer_0 ... C04274.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/rc_racer_0 ... C04275.jpg

roadrunner · Post by **roadrunner** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:49 pm

How much air pressure you running in your BFG's? On my truck if I run them anything less than 42psi the mileage goes down as much as 4mpg city and highway or more. 50psi seems optimal.
As to the "sucking in mud", I'll agree there are better out there if you intend to do that a lot of the time such as BFG mud terrain radials. Not very friendly for highway and other "normal" driving wear-wise and noisier too. You have to match the tires to what you want to do with them. For me the BFG AT KO's are the best balance and I don't have much trouble with them plugging up with mud but have found with more wheel speed they will clean pretty well.

fallvitals · Post by **fallvitals** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:59 pm

Ill admit I forgot to check the preasure before the trip. But a few weeks ago I took them from 33psi to 40psi. Im thinking thats maybe where I started to gain a little MPG,,, but then I had those mysterious drops in MPG too.

Yeah, I think I lost some MPG to my tires... but I think i may need a tune up also.... but if I knew it was THIS much I may have went with KM2s... but... idk... I read some bad thing about mug tires in general and rain/snow/icey roads. Which the little hang up we had, wasnt bad at all. Further up the road/ridge it was a lot worst. And I may have gotten through, but I definantly wouldnt have chanced it. We didnt really give it enough gas to spin em fast enough to clean em out. We ddint want to tear up the ground too bad. If we didnt go any where we woulda though! But we got out. All that said. if we got desperate we woulda aired down. I didnt have a mini air compressor in the truck... I should invest in one. But I dont plan on doing that as much as I would like

But I heard the same as you, if you are getting in some nasty stuff you gotta keep em spinning. This one caught us off guard, lol. Ground was soft, but not any standing water.

Ill have to check my preasure. and chaulk the tires to make sure they arent over inflated.. on that topic whats good to use to chaulk em? I used side walk chaulk about a month ago... and that really didnt work out well....

Post by **HenryJ** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:01 pm

Has your speedometer been corrected?

roadrunner · Post by **roadrunner** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:41 pm

fallvitals wrote:Ill admit I forgot to check the preasure before the trip. But a few weeks ago I took them from 33psi to 40psi. Im thinking thats maybe where I started to gain a little MPG,,, but then I had those mysterious drops in MPG too.

Ill have to check my preasure. and chaulk the tires to make sure they arent over inflated.. on that topic whats good to use to chaulk em? I used side walk chaulk about a month ago... and that really didnt work out well....

Perhaps short/long tank fills on the variation? Doesn't take much tank to tank to show a difference in per tank mileage. Take em up to 45psi and then check. You should notice a difference there from the 33-40 you were running. May ride a little rougher but those stiff walled tires need that kind of air to take some of the sidewall flex out and reduce rolling resistance.

I presume by "chalk" your tires you mean write psi on the side? If so I used to go to Office Max or other such store and buy a grease paint pen. It will stay on unless you wash it off with choke cleaner or the like. Perhaps more aggressive than you're looking for. You might go to a local veterinary supply store and buy a grease pen used for marking livestock during vaccination etc. They stay on pretty well but a little less aggressive than a paint-pen.

fallvitals · Post by **fallvitals** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:14 pm

Ill air em up. By chalking them, i mean draw a line on top of the tread, drive a few blocks, and see where the tire is running (over inflated, under, or right).

My MPH seems good. I was good on my GPS, and I have since seen a few radar stations set up at construction zones. I have been on the money.

Thanks for the info.

paintballrocker · Post by **paintballrocker** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:32 pm

fallvitals, do you archery hunt? just wondering

roadrunner · Post by **roadrunner** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 2:14 pm

In my experience chalking the tires as you describe will not be a very good indicator of over/under inflation with the BFG AT tires due to the construction of the tire. The results will not look like other tires as the construction is three ply sidewall and five ply under the tread. You'd be better advised to take note of the max pressure rating on the side of the tire and go within 5psi under up to max as far as mpg's are concerned. Note also I've encountered no adverse effects on wear and drive-ability running aired to the max. Longevity of tread is good also. I've had em on my truck for 4 yrs now and have used them on other vehicles in the past in similar fashion.

fallvitals · Post by **fallvitals** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:08 pm

Thats good info roadrunner. thanks.

Yes, I do bow hunt. Got two weeks of vacation coming up in 3 weeks. And if the weather on saturday ever is nice, ill hunt those till then. Since we dont have sunday hunting here

Post by **HenryJ** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:03 pm

roadrunner wrote:In my experience chalking the tires as you describe will not be a very good indicator of over/under inflation with the BFG AT tires due to the construction of the tire.

I can see where you are coming from , but I still see it as a very good indicator. On the correct size wheel the BFG will work well and wear evenly over a very broad range of tire pressures. In order to find the max you have to start from the top:

Here is a common procedure for finding the correct street pressure for your tires.

Find and empty parking lot.

Inflate your tires to the max pressure listed on the sidewall.

Mark the tires across the tread with a piece of chalk or crayon whatever really.

Drive straight forward several feet, be sure not to turn at all.

Look at the mark across the tread and see which part of mark has worn off.

If the mark has worn off at the center but not at the edges you have too much pressure (duh i already told you max pressure would be too much). Drop the pressure and repeat steps 2-5 until the desired pattern is achieved. Be careful too low of a pressure will rub the mark so always start with too much and work your way down.

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 11:03 pm

I have to go with the procedure even though some members do not agree. I am running "E" side walls on my heep (foolisly) but, a member who makes a living with interco tires told me to break them in by running them at low psi after a trail run. They seem to work well at 9 psi now.

paintballrocker · Post by **paintballrocker** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:40 am

Since we dont have sunday hunting here

i feel you, its the same way here in PA. But luckly my one buddy's uncle married Judy Faulkner, an is now a owner of the Faulkner Chevy dealers around here (haha thats how i got hooked up with my CC). anyways he owns 500 acres in the mountains and lets me hunt, so the end of October im driving out to his house for archery, then back again in November for rifle season.

fallvitals · Post by **fallvitals** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:33 pm

ill try the above tire PSI tutorial this weekend. I think i do need a tune up reguardless, becuase my MPG numbers has\ve gone way down in the past few weeks, as compared the the numbers when I first got my 33s.

Yeah,, i never understood no sunday hunting..... i gues churches, and gun shots. You can't hear a bow!

paintballrocker · Post by **paintballrocker** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:03 pm

ive noticed that even just going from 235/75/15 to 30x9.5 my MPG's decreased, but that might just be from the aggresive tread.

man i cant wait for thursday, going up to the mountains for 2 days for archery

roadrunner · Post by **roadrunner** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:23 pm

fallvitals wrote:ill try the above tire PSI tutorial this weekend. I think i do need a tune up reguardless, becuase my MPG numbers has\ve gone way down in the past few weeks, as compared the the numbers when I first got my 33s.

Tune-up wouldn't hurt but keep in mind as the weather cools in the fall the gas blends change as well which lowers mpg's not to mention the cooler air temps below a certain point aren't very mileage friendly either. Just another .02 worth to consider or allow for.