Military Tires

paradisePWoffrd

paradisePWoffrd

Recovering Project Junkie
Joined
Nov 5, 2005
Location
Newton, NC
Just looking to see if anyone had any experience running military tires on their tow rig?

Id really like to go to a taller tire then the 305/16 i have now, & military tires seem to be a cheaper option.

Looking at the 11r16s or 37x12.5x16.5.

How did they handle the weight? How do they wear/ride? How tall do they actually measure? Any other comments?
 
The radial Goodyears are a decent tire. I forget their weight ratings, but I believe they're a load D tire. The Michelins, however, they're a pretty extreme animal :D

I've had the XZLs and the XLs. XLs are loud, period. Large, directional, bulky ass tread blocks. They look great, but the XZL is a way better tire to me. If I HAD to run XLs, I would invest in a tire groover and cut some reliefs so they wouldn't wear so bad from the tread not flexing...sorta like a tractor tire thats been run on the asphalt a lot.

11.00R-16s are rated at 4805 lbs per tire at 80psi. :rockon: Mine measure something like 37.75 or so. Everybody always gave me crap about the max speed limit being 62mph on them, but they're rated at full weight, max inflation. Normally there would be 8 of them on an LAV that weighs 32000lbs +/- a little. That's quite a bit different from my 6400lb pickup truck. I think the speed limit is really more of a liability against heat build up and blow outs.

If you ever wear a set out, you might as well get a new truck because its liable to be wore out too. As long as your alignment is good and they wear evenly, you should never have much of a problem with them. I've hauled some pretty heavy loads with mine and I usually run 45psi up front and about 40psi in the rear. I might bump the rear up around 50-60 if it's really heavy.

Mine ride great..they always have. They're freakin Michelins! Not loud at all as long as they wear evenly and don't chop out. They don't sway much even though they have plenty of sidewall (which isn't as thick as you'd think!). They're kinda prone to being slightly out of round and they're a tad heavy. However, they ride great and balance very well provided you have them on a good rim. My prefered method of balance is about 10 oz. of high(er) density (i.e.: green, 10k count) air soft BBs. You can get the big tub of them from Wal Mart for like 15 bucks, divide it 4 ways and go on about your business. I've done regular rim weights, sticky weights, and most recently liquid balance....but believe it or not, the BBs were the most effective.


The best part is, if you have a 3/4 or 1 ton truck, you can just rock them on the stock rims if they're 16s. I'm running mine on 16x8 Weld Outbacks and they're probably one of the highest capacity rims I could manage to find and the tire still dwarfs their load rating.


Did I miss anything? :lol:
 
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ai158.photobucket.com_albums_t115_Croatan_Kid_The_20Cummins_phonepic1.jpg

That's somewhere in the neighborhood of 16k total weight in that picture. There's plenty of tongue weight, a 6BT in the bed of the K30, another one under the hood of it, the Silverado is 6k, and that's a very heavy 10k rated trailer. Rear tires have 40 psi.

XL directional tread in the top picture. XZL tread in the bottom picture.


ai158.photobucket.com_albums_t115_Croatan_Kid_The_20Cummins_Picture051.jpg
 
I ran the ones that measure 40x12 on a 20" rim. They are super heavy with load range L. They road amazingly smooth on my Excursion. Never put an ounce of weight on them and smooth as can be doing 80. Towed really nice compared to my 44x19 Boggers. LOL I ran 37x12x16.5 HMMV Tires for about 5 years. Really soft and wore out pretty quick. I have pics on here of my set up under that towrig pics thread.
 
The Michelins are radial. Can't think that I've ever seen a bias ply Michelin.

They're about 130 lbs on a 16x8 steel wheel. Not really too much different from a comparably sized off-road tire. I was also hesistant about their flexibility in the sidewall area, but I had to get my truck in my 8x7 shop door one time and much to my surprise they air right down and flexed well. The sidewalls are durable, but not impossibly thick. The bead area is pretty thick and they can be a pain to mount if you don't lube them up real good, otherwise, no problems.
 
I run the 37" goodyear militarys on pretty much everything including my tow rig. They do ride a little stiff but they are on a lifted 1st gen dodge so that doesnt really matter. They are only a load range D rated at 3850 lbs at 65 psi, but to tell the truth they perform pretty well. For such a tall sidewall they have pretty good sway control. Granted my steering is a lot tighter than most dodges with these tires i can take corners pretty well with the tall tires and they handle a heavy load pretty well. Now they arent the best wearing tires but for $50 each with great tread you cant beat them. Im getting 10,000 to 15,000 miles out of a set starting around 80% tread so not to bad. Im happy enough with them that im considering making mine a dually using them in a dual rear setup.
 
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