Noob question. I have a pretty much stock 84 long bed w/ 31s. I was wondering how much air should I run in my tires while on the trail?
Thanks!

 

I like 5-10lbs. Seems to be the consensus in my neck o' the woods. I had a tire come off the bead that way, but it took somebody tuggin' on my rear bumper kinda sideways like. You'll get better grip @ 15-20lbs. even, if that's what you wanna try first, keeps 'em on the rim better just not MAX grip. Man, all I can tell ya(or anybody readin' this) is AIR DOWN. Opens up a whole new realm of possibilities, stated MILDLY.

 

It all depends. I can do most of the easy trails around here with 50psi (street pressure). Just depends on what you are wheeling. a lot of it is personal taste and sidewall strength. and welcome to YT.

 

I haven't really had a problem with street press. yet, but I was also hoping to soften the ride a little. Call me soft if you want but that is a STIFF ride!
and thanks for the input and welcome!

 

That's the other advantage. What comes with it is spongy handling, squirmy, floating type feel, depending how low you go. Your neck will thank you.(Got me thinkin' of the time when I got to bouncin' around so much I almost cracked my drivers-side door window with my temple. Then there's the time I nearly compressed my spine when I got launched head first into the roof of my cab. Good times.)

 

Ahh another colorado dude! welcome, It depends on tire and rim type and demensions. like a 15x10 on a 33x12.5 wont hold the bead as well as it would on a 15x8

 

And the tire construction/tread pattern. The best thing to do is air down to 20 psi or so and see how they do, then go to 18, then 15, etc - at some point you will see a pretty dramatic increase in the tires' performance - that's where you want to be.

IMHO, 5-10 is too low for most situations. As the pressure decreases, you decrease your ground clearance, and increase the risk of rim and sidewall damage.

 

You got a good point there. 5-10lbs. in my 35x12.5's on 15x10 rims, is what I found I like, I think I might even go lower if I had beadlocks. This is mainly because my tires LOOK full even that low, so I still get good ground clearence. Bigger tires do this on small rigs, from what I've seen.

 

I like 15, enough so it wont come off the rim and very cushy.

 

I've actually never gone below 15 and i can't wait, ive really never been stopped by an obstacle(still a newby wheeler) with damn lockers and a geared tcase, it is down right scary!

 

You run your tires at 50psi on the street.
Holly crap, that's most like way too high.





Fred

 

Good Lord, 50 PSI?!? I run ~25 on the street.

The first time I took the rig offroad I was running street pressure at 30-35 PSI, and lowered it to 25 for the trail. After that I knew that was too much air. I then used Banned Ric's staun deflators that were set to 12 PSI. After running 12 pounds on the trail, I will not look back. Now I run 20-25 PSI on the street. Ride is so much better on and off road with these pressures.

BTW, I run 15 x 8 wheels and 33 x 1250 x 15 Mud Terrains.

 

you must be reading the max pressure off the tire or something cuz 50lbs is outrageous, my tires are always at 31lbs on the street, on the trail i was going down to 20ish, no lockers so im not doing crazy terrain...

 

Most tires have a max pressure of 44 PSI. Unless it is an 8 or 10 ply rated tire...

 

50psi?! Having that much pressure will decrease the life of your tires, bushings, and suspension.

 

i know, i just couldnt think of any other reason to run 50psi..

 

I don't know about the bushings and suspension... and tires are probably cheaper than gas nowadays!

All that said, I would think you would be way past the diminishing returns at 50psi. I have been running 35-38 psi lately on the street.

 

cool, thanks for all the replies, I think im gonna go with TC's idea and start with 20psi.

 

50psi is entirely too much pressure for any normal street radial aside from heavy duty tires used on 3/4 or 1 ton trucks!
You should use 35psi at the most IMO!

 

i run 35 on the street, and 15-20 on the trails depending on how wet it is, if its crazy soppy i run 15, if its dry and dusty, i run closer to 20