Help Me Make the Perfect Cruiser

[callum007]

I''d be going for the 10.5.... every time i'd run a skinny deflated tyre over a wide one.. cos unless your on the beach lots, in forestry you should find that you can dig through the slop on top better with the skinny one..

[extreme_treeman]

Your driving a truck that weighs considerably more than your old Hilux, so it will be more prone to disapearing in soft stuff.

If you drive in a lot of soft ground, like Pee gravel and soft river beds, then you want to spread the weight of the vehicle as much as possible.

The best way to do that is to fit the widest tyres you can, and then let the pressures down to about 10PSI before you head off the road.

A Narrow tyre is best suited to digging through a soft layer in order to reach hard/dry ground underneath, such as clay or greasy paddocks. Thats the reason why Simex's are narrow in there range, and are recommended to be fitted to quiet narrow rims in comparison to general mud terrains.

Thanks for that.........given that most of my offroad stuff will generally be clay, mud, snow and scree etc........I'm thinking then that norrow is the way to go.....not often I am in the likes of peastone...river crossings are the norm.....but normally high country rivers.

So if I go 35x10.....what size rim am I going....7inch....or 8inch......

[turoa]

another option to consider is maxxis trepador radials. They are a fantastic tyre. They definitely would be much better onroad than a creepy and look quite aggressive offroad. They also have sipes in the lugs for wet roads which the BFg's dont.

I would highly reccomend them as they clear very well and look to drive well onroad. The sidewalls are a bit softer than a creepy but I have yet to hear of one slashed

[callum007]

good thought tu's... go the 7" rim for a 10.5..

[extreme_treeman]

Hey ALl,

I can confirm that the OME kit provided by Pete Munro is actually a 50mm.....so that will arrive this week and be fitted.....I should be able to get photos on here by midweek next week.

Now, I have been to the tyre boys this morning.......and nobody but Simex does a 35x10.5x16.

Options I have are Maxxis Creepy in 35x12.5, or BFG in 35x12.5....seems like that may be my only choice.

[wopass]

Options I have are Maxxis Creepy in 35x12.5, or BFG in 35x12.5....seems like that may be my only choice.

personally i would say the creepy, better for the heavier truck and work well in all types of soils and rocks and pretty good road wear as well. but your in the south and i have no idea about the sorts of terrain you have down there... but D.B does and has so ask him

[extreme_treeman]

Also, whats involved in 'flipping' the centre of the rims...doesnt that achive the same thing as buying offset rims?

[Steve_t647]

You can spin the welds off in a lathe and change the rim offset, funny thing is you will find out how out of round the rim is it also increases the leverage on the rim's and hubs this has caused rim's to split the centres to crack and puts a lot more strain on the kingpin bearings pitman arms and power steering box.

With the amount of driving, type of terain, loads put on it and wanted relyability I would suspect the problems would be more trouble than benefit, if it was a toy it could be forgiven but in working 4wd's all the Australian mines and the Kiwi ones I know of have stopped doing this because of risk changing a tyre because a rim has cracked

[extreme_treeman]

You can spin the welds off in a lathe and change the rim offset, funny thing is you will find out how out of round the rim is it also increases the leverage on the rim's and hubs this has caused rim's to split the centres to crack and puts a lot more strain on the kingpin bearings pitman arms and power steering box.

With the amount of driving, type of terain, loads put on it and wanted relyability I would suspect the problems would be more trouble than benefit, if it was a toy it could be forgiven but in working 4wd's all the Australian mines and the Kiwi ones I know of have stopped doing this because of risk changing a tyre because a rim has cracked

Gotcha...makes sense to me..........offset rims it will be then. If its going to be 12.5 what width rim am I going for? Pete munro said about 10inch? Thoughts?

[skid]

Hey ALl,

I can confirm that the OME kit provided by Pete Munro is actually a 50mm.....so that will arrive this week and be fitted.....I should be able to get photos on here by midweek next week.

Now, I have been to the tyre boys this morning.......and nobody but Simex does a 35x10.5x16.

Options I have are Maxxis Creepy in 35x12.5, or BFG in 35x12.5....seems like that may be my only choice.

BFG also do a 255/85 R16

or theres a few folks who do a 235/85 R16 also, which may be something to look at, but they only come out around 32/33"

[rokhound]

BFG also do a 255/85 R16

Also 285/65/16. But same deal as above. 33". You may be able to get something like a 305/85/16. That would be getting up there on the 35" sizing.
Reading these types of tyre size works like this: the first number is the width of the tyre, the 2nd number is the height of the sidewall (worked out as a percentage of the width), the 3rd is the diameter of the rim size.

[extreme_treeman]

Alright.......so suspension is ordered..........wheels are awaiting suspension............now lets discuss winch.

I have seen on trade me some 12000lb.....15 and 16lb.......also deciding between hydralic and electric.

I thought....the bigger the better...........those Runva winches are resonably priced.......but how are they reliabilitywise?

Hydralic I would think is stronger?....but doesnt go when engine isn't.

Thoughts?

[mike21]

is the winch solely for self recovery ? i'd think a 12000lb electric runva would be plenty. i run one admittedly it is slow but has never let me down yet and most importantly has always got me out of the sticky situations i get myself into as far as value for money i'd be suprised to see them beaten.i only kno of one person who owns one that bags it

[wopass]

get a genuine cruiser AISIN electric winch mate, better and stronger and probably just about bolt strait on (off an 80 series)

[extreme_treeman]

Does nobody rate the hydraulic?

I see theres an 80seriesone ontrademe at the moment......would just have to make it fit with that bar. Worse case scenario would be I hve to buy an ARB bar.........but would prefer to use what is on there if posssible.


And, YES...winch is only for selfrecovery. Sometimes have to recover some of my staffs trucks though...lol

[Petemcc]

I would stick with a well known brand. The runva's are ok but for the amount you will use it i would look at a superwinch, warn or toyota if you are out on your own you need it to work everytime, you get what you pay for, biggger is better

[rokhound]

I rate hydraulic winches, but they really need a separate drive pump (not one of the ones that drives off the power steer pump), vvega is the man to talk too about that.
Having said that electric is more plentiful and versatile. I personally will not mount an electric winch permanantly to a vehicle, and the 2 reasons for that are: You can use the winch on the front, sides or back easily if it isn't mounted, and Electric winches are notoriously inefficient at keeping the shit out, and this means when you go to actually use it, there is a good chance it will not work. Best way to keep them clean, is to keep them inside.
There is also always talk about hydraulic and pto driven winches need the engine running to work. Yep, that is true, but how long do you think the electric will run when it is under stress with no background charging going on. So I find that a somewhat irrelevant argument.

[Steve_t647]

I rate hydraulic winches, but they really need a separate drive pump (not one of the ones that drives off the power steer pump), vvega is the man to talk too about that.
Having said that electric is more plentiful and versatile. I personally will not mount an electric winch permanantly to a vehicle, and the 2 reasons for that are: You can use the winch on the front, sides or back easily if it isn't mounted, and Electric winches are notoriously inefficient at keeping the shit out, and this means when you go to actually use it, there is a good chance it will not work. Best way to keep them clean, is to keep them inside.
There is also always talk about hydraulic and pto driven winches need the engine running to work. Yep, that is true, but how long do you think the electric will run when it is under stress with no background charging going on. So I find that a somewhat irrelevant argument.

I agree with all Rokhound said, the electric winch you can also attach it to a tree or post and have a battery to it for a short time to winch if you have to say pull the 4wd from the side, operation the Hydraulic will not get as hot as an electric winch but you have to have a pretty good pump but with the right setup they will pull you at 25 - 30KMH and will not stall just slow right down. You do have a few oil lines that could rub or split, PTO you have split pins that can break.

Anyway along with the winch you have the option if wire or plasma rope, the plasma rope is a great option if you are recovering yourself, light easy to handle and no recoil (or very little) unlike wire, if I was offroad or working on my own I would be using plazma as you can tie it if it breaks and is easier to handle. If you drag things around (eg. drag a hay bale accross a padock where the 4wd is stationary and the plasma is over a rock or similar) wire would be better but as long as you look after the plasma it lasts well enough.

[darinz]

You can spin the welds off in a lathe and change the rim offset, funny thing is you will find out how out of round the rim is it also increases the leverage on the rim's and hubs this has caused rim's to split the centres to crack and puts a lot more strain on the kingpin bearings pitman arms and power steering box.

With the amount of driving, type of terain, loads put on it and wanted relyability I would suspect the problems would be more trouble than benefit, if it was a toy it could be forgiven but in working 4wd's all the Australian mines and the Kiwi ones I know of have stopped doing this because of risk changing a tyre because a rim has cracked

Gotcha...makes sense to me..........offset rims it will be then. If its going to be 12.5 what width rim am I going for? Pete munro said about 10inch? Thoughts?

It makes no difference how you achieve the offset you want. ie wider offset rim from new or a modified one. Flipping the centre just changes the offset so if you buy a -40 offset 8" it is proably very similar to some flipped centre wheels anyway.

For a 12.5 if you want it to hang on at low pressure then use an 8" wheel. This is outside manufacturers recomendations though!!!

The winch is pretty simple. Get yourself one of the new 9500 winches from either Come-Up or Warn. They are more than big enough for your truck and a a far superior winch to any of the other brands. Why start cutting corners at the winch when you are doing everything else correctly and not with the cheapest available. There is a big difference to what will do the job and what is right for the job. The Oz 4wd monthly did a test recently and the Premier winch (Come-Up rebadged) won it overall!
Hydraulic would be ideal but are you going to use it enough to justify it? Electric is very good because of the ease of installation, the ease of maintenance and for occasional self recovery they are simple to use.

[Petemcc]

if you are going to make it removable then make it so you can leave it on the front it you want it. Sometimes if you are doing lots of recoverires its not practical to be taking it off for 5 min then putting it back on. Often removable setups stick out quite alot and cant really be left on for driving.

Pete

[vvega]

I rate hydraulic winches, but they really need a separate drive pump (not one of the ones that drives off the power steer pump), vvega is the man to talk too about that.
Having said that electric is more plentiful and versatile. I personally will not mount an electric winch permanantly to a vehicle, and the 2 reasons for that are: You can use the winch on the front, sides or back easily if it isn't mounted, and Electric winches are notoriously inefficient at keeping the shit out, and this means when you go to actually use it, there is a good chance it will not work. Best way to keep them clean, is to keep them inside.
There is also always talk about hydraulic and pto driven winches need the engine running to work. Yep, that is true, but how long do you think the electric will run when it is under stress with no background charging going on. So I find that a somewhat irrelevant argument.

you can get a 12v electric powerpack to run the hydro winch for a non engine running recovery if need be

[extreme_treeman]

Ok........Suspension kit is here.......its going in on Friday. Bad news is I dont get to see it again until Thursday.....I am heading to the North Island on Business......lol.

So you guys will see it when I see it....I'll take pics then.

As far as the winch is concerned......I agree....it needss to be a good brand. So I'll explore that more when I get back.....although the concept of not mounting it permanently has me thinking...........but I just cant get my head around...finding a way to have it easily removeable....front and back...........I understand the logic of it....but suspecta hand winch and high lift jack (which are standard in all my vehicles ) may serve the same purpose?

have looked at the tyres and wear patterns on the truck from the 33s that I have on it temporarily,....(without the suspension lift)....and no rub except on the exhaust ...so thats quite easily fixed. I'm hhoping that the lift and 35s will have as little problems....will no soon enough.

[Sadam_Husain]

Someone was banging on about the extra stress wider offset rims put on your wheel bearings and kingpin bearings, I had my centres flipped on my rims about 18 months ago which increased my track by about 130-150mm (cant remember exactually) and twice I've had my top kingpins work there way loose

[skid]

getting back to those tahs

maybe if ya were looking at new rims................

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Car-parts-accessories/Wheels-tyres/4x4/auction-203708838.htm

[extreme_treeman]

Thanks Skid.....I hadn't seen those.

IS that a relatively common size? I woudl like the optiono of going to something else after the wswampers if I didn't like them........but 17inch rims might make that an issue? The truck is on 16's now....smaller isnt an option with the brake size.

[rokhound]

That's a good price on the swampers, but on tarmac they ride like shit, handle like shit and have a really shitty life expectancy.
As a 2nd set for really ugly work though, I reckon they are hard to beat (that is why I have 2 sets of swampers )

[Bulletproof]

You made the comment you want a perfect cruiser but this raises the Question.

Perfect for what ?

It is impossible to have a perfect work truck and a play truck at the same time.

A work truck needs springs to carry weight ,a play truck is flexible with no overloads etc, so you can have the best of both worlds.
Therefore everything is going to be a compromise and the tyres as well need to be something that does both. I personally would stick with a good set of radials and let the pressures down when needed.

Cheers Richard

[callum007]

those swampers were bought off Pete at Otago tyres only a week or so, he had them on trade me for $1 reserve as he bought them for his STX and they didn't fit... i'd buy them and use them till they bald as they're cheap..

[KiwiBacon]

but you have to have a pretty good pump but with the right setup they will pull you at 25 - 30KMH

Tell me more about this high speed hydraulic winch. I'm looking for such a beast right now for a stationary application.

[vvega]

You made the comment you want a perfect cruiser but this raises the Question.

Perfect for what ?

It is impossible to have a perfect work truck and a play truck at the same time.

A work truck needs springs to carry weight ,a play truck is flexible with no overloads etc, so you can have the best of both worlds.
Therefore everything is going to be a compromise and the tyres as well need to be something that does both. I personally would stick with a good set of radials and let the pressures down when needed.

Cheers Richard

can you get away with removing the overloads if your not carrying load ?