Let me start by saying I don't have 4wd nor do I plan to ever take this thing "off roading" it might see a few gravel roads but that's about it. My question is about tire size and how it will affect top speed I know moving up tire sizes will give me a little more top speed by bring those rpms down at the cost of acceleration/strain on the engine but at what point do you start going backwards? The engine feels almost a little too snappy and the gearing too short so the downside of pushing bigger tires kinda sounds like a plus. I was thinking about 165/80r13 giving me a overall 23.4 inches-6.5 width, I know you don't wanna go to wide due to friction but was also considering 175/80r13 24inches-6.9 width what are your guys experience?
I run 175/80r13 WestLakes on my van. Works great. The van came with 13x4 Suzuki rims on it from Japan with 158/60r13 tires on it and the larger tires also give a smoother ride. First gear is a granny and 2nd can be used for a lot of startups. Minor rubbing up front on lock to lock turning which I rarely do.
Due to the lack of power of these trucks the consensus around here is to stick with original size tires.
I went from stock size, 145/80-12 to 175/65-14 on my Acty and got more ground clearance, a more accurate speedo and the same 66 MPH top speed. Thirty-eight HP will only push a brick so fast.
I ended up settling on 165/80r13 have yet to see if it’s made a difference as I got a death wobble at 50 now but I knew with a big change a alignment would be needed got a appointment this Friday I’ll report back once I get it squared away. I will say this first gear feels way better before I would put it in first and get a jerking acceleration and be way high in rpm’s and have to jump to 2nd super quick but now it’s very usable.
I have a set of 165/80R12 M/T tires coming next week to replace the stock 45/80R12. I just got the truck, and the tires are dry-rotted. I did get it to 63. The only test I did was due to the tire status. I also have a 2" lift to put on since I am going to put a plow on it. I will post my results after the tire change and then the lift.
Those tires are basically the same diameter, just different widths unless I'm reading the specs wrong. Both are 80 series sidewalls.
I looked up the difference, and the 165s look to be 1.3" larger in diameter, not a huge difference, but should work for what I want. 145/80 = 21.1" diameter, 4.6" sidewall (https://www.calculator.net/tire-siz...&car=80&cws=12&cc=n&cnws=19&ctype=1&x=68&y=21) 165/80 = 22.4" diameter, 5.2" sidewall (https://www.calculator.net/tire-siz...&car=80&cws=12&cc=n&cnws=19&ctype=1&x=65&y=24)
Ah, typo then. Yeah 80 is about as big as you can get without rubbing on most models. I have 165/75x13 on my Every and they are 22.7in in diameter.
Uphill or downhill? That is pretty much your sacrifice with going larger. If you live somewhere where it's perfectly flat, you might gain some by going slightly larger.
