I know this isn't how we usually do things in America, but I want to install tall skinny tires on my truck. Why you ask? First of all I don't need them fat and heavy for what I do. I don't want to lower gas mileage. Secondly, the first gear on my '96 HB is so low that taking off from a red light requires high rpm's and fast shifting, if I don't want to get flipped off by a fellow driver behind me. Taller tires might allow for a higher end speed in 1st.

I've seen many European Landrover/Mercedes rigs incorporating this trend/setup. I don't crawl any rocks here on crappy Long Island, New York (sorry "Longuylanders") and only hit mud when I'm lucky to find 5 square feet of it in this urban sprawl.

How about a 245/80/15 set-up? Might this be something someone has tried? Thnaks for any advice!

That would work pretty well. Tall skinny tires are good in mud (they let you get to the bottom), but not good in sand (they dig to china). For snow, tall skinnies should work really well I would think.

I ran a set of 32x9.50 swampers on my truck back in my IFS days....they were awesome offroad. The downside was that they were bias ply

Other tall, skinny radial options:

30.9.50 - made by most manufacturers
33x10.50 - BFG MT and AT. Will work on a Nissan with a suspension lift and rims with factory backspacing.

Tall and thin tires: I have run several brands of serious mud tires that were tall/thin. Awesome on the mud but awful in the sugar sand. Like you said though, less weight to get moving. There is even a town here in FL that most trucks run tall/thin heavy lugged tires...Palatka, FL. They usually use stock rims and mount the tallest mud tire they can fit...many running 34s without lifts on full size trucks. Actually they look pretty cool. SOme of the most popular besides the swamper and the bfg mt are the radial buckshot mudders which are similar to the old "gumbo monster mudder"...showing my age here.

Also thin tires are usually cheaper...looking at my Jeep-Quadretec book...there is the swamper/bias 32 x 9.50 as mentioned above but there is a swamper radial TSL in 31x 9.50-15 for $112.95 which would fit easily on stock HB. However if you want to go with a tire to really make your gear ratio plummet, there is a 34 x 9.50-15 for 149.95...Quadratec advises it was designed to tuck up under the fender flares on lifted trucks. Keep an eye on ebay / motors / swampers / some used deals on there sometimes. Just not for the size I need usally!

Anyway...good luck and stay warm.

I've got Duler ATPII 31 10.50 R15 on mine. Aftermarket rims with factory backspacing. They are a great tire. Very shitty in the sand. Just last weekend I got stuck in the sand.

Tall, skinny tires in Florida?! Maybe for a pavement pounder, but I'd stay far away from them offroad. The mud we have, has no bottom, the more you dig the deeper it gets. Flotation, good for the sand and mud!!

I have some more thoughts on the Florida tire sizes:

given my experience with mud and trails in FL, I would have loved to have put 34x10.50s on my old truck. A wide and tall tire can be mighty burdensome for a 4 cylinder truck to turn, especially in the mud. If you can't spin them in certain mud, they won't clean and you'll get stuck.
If you are into full throttle assaults on mud pits, then I could see where flotation could be an issue, but otherwise, I'd go skinny.

quote:

There is even a town here in FL that most trucks run tall/thin heavy lugged tires...Palatka, FL. They usually use stock rims and mount the tallest mud tire they can fit...many running 34s without lifts on full size trucks.

I remember all those trucks out in Palatka. Those potato farm boys all run those kind of trucks. I remember frequently seeing 'Yotas with body lifts and 34's on stock steelies. I also remember one of those trucks going backwards through a hole that he had just pulled me out of.

Nice to see somebody knows about the spud farming folks of Palatka! AS far as the pavement pounders(cahdealme spoke of)..A few of us who grew up in FL didnt know much about pounding pavement but cut our teeth on "rootin" long before the super swamper was invented. Palatka has some of the blackest and nastiest mud around and the mall is the size of the local "7_eleven", so not much crusin to do! You do have a point about flotation and once you hit the grey-clay...there is no bottom till you hit lime rock. However, them farmers and rednecks may no more than you about running in the woods.

Besides, sno-no-more is from the NE and wants skinny tires!

And as I said, I don't speed through mud holes fast enough for any size tire to have a flotation effect, but when I need to wheel speed, a skinnier tire will allow me to have it.

As for Palatka, I used to live in St. Augustine. I used to love going out there because it felt more like Tennessee, where I eventually moved back to anyway.

St Augustine...nice place. They finally finished that road through Hastings from Palatka to St Augustine. WE cut through to go to St Augustine from Ocala now and then.
Another skinny mud tire that used to be very popular was the 9.00-16 Super Traction or military. We used to have some mud slings and bogs that even heavy full size trucks (w/ 9-16s)did great even in the wet-weather ponds with little bottom to them..It does not make sense, but they did pretty well. I will have to find some old pics and post.

Skinny tires...

Found this on NOR tonight. It's research on skinny tires on expedition vehicles. It does say that they recommend wider tires for soft surfaces, but that the wider trend started with the creation of radial tires in the 70s

Well there you have it, we just won't tell the Palatka boys since they have been doing it their way for decades!

Wow, strange coincidence, but I'm probably moving to the St. Augustine area this summer. Small world isn't it? Anything is better than urban New York! Didn't know its like Tennessee. Just don't know about those gators!

2" body lift and some fender trimmin is all that's needed to fit 33x10.5/15 on a Hardbody. Before I pooched my IFS, I was going to try to fit some 35x10.5 Swampers on there, but now plans have changed (now I need 40s!).