I have a 91 Mitsubishi Minicab. It's great, I love it. It's used primarily to plow my long driveway & yardwork around the property. My house is on the only level ground on 5 acres, everything else is either uphill or downhill. I have no need of lift, but I DO need a wider tire similar to what my ATV had. I'm looking (longingly) at the Carlisle All Terrain or the 489's but I can't seem to find a straight answer about whether they'll: a) fit on stock rims b) rub the fenders/engine mounts/sunvisors c) require aftermarket rims which will then require lift kits/engine relocation blah, blah, blah. I'm a bruised & bloody knuckled shadetree mechanic. Big numbers quoting offsets & ratios cause major eye glazing. I just wanna know if these tires will fit without any other mods. If anyone can suggest another type of tire that will be kind to my turf, I'd luv to hear about it. I'm presently running stock 12" with Dunlop Graspic on them. Gets me around fine, but the skinny tires going up & down the trails I use are going to gouge out some nasty troughs over time, especially when it's wet. Thanx for your input. Keith
if this truck stays on your place then go to the farm equipment dealer and see what kind of little tractor style tire they sell...there some small implements that use tractor type tires. good luck wyatt
I have the carlisle 489's mounted on factory rims on my truck (90 carry) There was no rub issues on factory height.Tire size 23x8x12. Bought at tirecraft. Hope this helps. P.S. Tires are not rated for the weight of these trucks,I run mine at 15psi,have had them for 8 months
a) They'll fit on stock rims. They bulge quite a bit though, really gives them a balloon tire look. It takes a lot, and I do mean A LOT of pressure to seat the bead. b) My Mitsu is lifted, so there is no clearance issues with the fender openings, but I did have to space them out about 5/8" with washers over the studs on the front, otherwise they rubbed the coils on the struts BIGTIME! c) Aftermarket wheels with the proper offset will make the tire look less 'balloony', plus add points for style. It may be possible to run them without the lift, but there is a strong possibility that they will rub the fender openings. Some guys have taken care of this by cutting the opening, and/or beating the sheetmetal to provide clearance. I've run my truck in some pretty fine, loose sand and airing the tires down to 3 or 4 PSI gives great floatation and traction, at the expense of EXTREME rolling resistance, but that's what low range if for, right? Thats when the tight fit on the bead is a bonus!! To see what the All-Trails look like on aftermarket rims, Badgerland's thread: http://www.minitrucktalk.com/showthread.php?t=4561 Check out this video, my Mitsu is the Camoflage unit. : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEdToJP7a2o
Thanx for the advice guys. I'll go ahead & order the All Trails (All Terrain- whatever!) & mount them on the factory rims (with crossed fingers!). If I find issues with rubbing, my next step will be new front shox which are somewhat tired anyway. I'm certainly capable of installing a lift kit, but there's so many discrepancies in the posts about lift kits regarding rubbing & clearance that I'd really rather stay away from all that. I've got enuff work keeping the rest of the fleet on the road without turning this one into an on-going project. 1992 Mitsibushi 1992 Miata 1998 Volvo V70XC 2002 Subaru WRX
I can tell you that I've had the best luck installing 2" lifts (no greater) on Mitsu's. We've never had a problem with CV-binding. When installing a 2" lift, & 23" or 24" tires mounted on aftermarket wheels, the metal trimming involved is really fairly minute. Simply "curving-off" the corners of the metal is all that is usually necessary and do not view this as a huge project if you have a relatively steady hand and a cut-off tool or grinder. Here's more of a close-up shot of All Trails mounted on SG wheels with a 2" lift installed on a U42T: Notice on the right side of the picture (towards front of truck) - this is where a little trimming is required to allow clearance for turning during suspension load (compression of spring/strut). You can accomplish the same lift clearance by installing a beefier spring up front (albeit more pricey). As far as tire choices go, after alot of testing of different tires, we chose to stick with two choices to cover the needs of an off-road tire: Carlisle All-Trail - best all-purpose off-road tire providing good grip in dirt and some mud while providing a nice ride at all speeds with-out feeling too spongy. Do NOT confuse this with the AT-489! The 489 was never designed to hold the weight of kei trucks and has compromised handling characteristics when driving with any speed. I thought I was riding on marshmallows... The All Trail seems to have excellent wear quality as well and should be a long-lasting tire investment. Really, the only bad thing to say about the All Trail is that because of the design of the lug pattern, the tire will grab gravel and throw it. Kenda Bear Claw - great high grip tire for use in dirt or any soft terrain while still providing a half-way decent ride on hard surfaces at speed. You WILL sound like a mini monster truck if you drive on pavement with the deep-V lug pattern. The Bear Claw's signature feature is its excellent durability with a high tolerance for snagging/tearing on sharp rocks or other objects and strong sidewalls. We REALLY put this tire through its paces during testing in every condition I could find (including deep snow).
Thanx Badgerland. U answered a couple of questions & nice to see a detailed picture as well. I think the All Trail is going to be a good choice for me. I had the Kenda BearClaw's on my ATV & they were very good as U said, but they're not what I want for the mini. Cheers!
KeiEye - One thing you have to keep in mind about winter though: A wider tire will give you more flotation on snow, however it will actually give you less traction on an icy road or hard packed snow. This is due the the distribution of your weight giving you less PSI to the ground. Yes, its a good all around tire. However, if you are primarily plowing your driveway and need traction, a true on-road winter/ice tire will actually be better (being more narrow, proper siping, etc) and it doesnt hurt to stud them. Of course that doesnt help your trail riding problem 1 bit. Lol Of course you could put some chains on those alltrails and be virtually unstoppable. And dont forget: going to a larger diameter tire will rob you of power (bottem and and top end) as well as fuel economy. The 23" is a good choice to try and maintain those things. Moving to a 25 really bogs em down. (Of course this is only applicable if you care about those things!)
What am I doing wrong? I have a 92 Mits and I'm trying to put the All Trails 23X8X12 on it and I can't get them on without rubbing. Stock wheels won't work at all, I got some Arctic Cat take offs 12X7.5 supposedly with a 5-2 offset (don't know where the other 1/2" went) and I still can't even get them close to mounting up?
with out a lift you will never be able to put on 23's. your stock tire height is 21.5". i have a 2" lift and 13" wheel's off a 1981 toyota corolla, there rear wheel drive that's what you need to make bigger tires work. i now have 175-70/13 tires on now (22.5"), and for off road use this is as big as i can go on the front to clear in rough terrain.
My '99 has a 4-inch lift. I wanted many more options for tires choices so I eventually found new 15-inch alloy wheels (7-inch wide) with the required offset: +10 mm (or, 3" offset with 4" inch backspacing). No wheel spacers required. Discount Tire sells them through ebay. If their stock is running low they'll get more. I'm running highway tires right now (Kumho Sense KR26), which can handle most of my driving venues, even around the ranch and work duties. I do have off-road 12-inch wheels and tires (SunF), but they're not rated for highway use and took a lot of weight to balance. The new wheels and tires required almost no wheel weights to balance perfectly, and I have no reason to worry about balance and road worthiness of highway-rated mud and/or snow tires if I want or need them. The wheels I have are here — http://www.ebay.com/itm/191106129528?item=191106129528&viewitem=&vxp=mtr Tires size that goes well with these wheels and fender opening (with just a bit of bumper-corner trimming) is — 195/60R15
? what are the pros and cons of 5.70x12 8 ply skid steer tires? Mostly off road but some on road use to get fuel and beverages
