Hankook Dynapro Mud Terrain for Fuso Fg

[haven]

Kym Bolton has now driven his EarthCruiser camper more than 30,000 miles across Asia, Europe and North America. The camper was originally outfitted with Michelin XZL tires. Writing in his trip blog, Kym reports that the XZLs worked well in gravel and sand, but wore out quickly on pavement or dirt roads. Read Kym's note here
http://www.goannatracks.com/Home/Wh...ttle,_Rosebud_Battle,_T-Rex,_Into_Canada.html

Recently, Kym replaced the XZLs with Hankook Dynapro Mud Terrain (MTRT03) 37x12.5 on 17 inch rims. The new tires are quieter and brake better than the XZLs. It remains to be seen how well the tires perform off-road, and how durable they turn out to be on a relatively heavy vehicle. Kym's Hankook tires are rated as 129Q, meaning about 3900 lbs per tire, with top speed of 95 mph.

I haven't found these particular tires for sale in North America just yet. The closest MTRT03 I see is a 37x12.5R18, rated at 123Q.

 

[ytmonty]

Awesome tire!! run 35x12.5/15's on my '93 montero. I live in the Yukon, northern Canada and the only thing I did to them was get them siped. Really helps for traction during our loooong winters. helps in summer too for rock crawling. These tires have outlasted 3 other vehicles(currently on #4) 60k or so on them. I'll probly end up replacing them this coming winter with the same tire. Not sure how they will hold up to such a heavy vehicle, but they've done right by me!! wouldn't trade them for any other tire!!

 

[Gifu]

I saw somewhere that these tires _used_ to be rated at 129Q (pre-2011) and now they are rated at 123Q. Difference of like 200kg I think?
Thinking of using a set of the 37x12.5x17 on a 10,000 lb motorhome. rated at 3700lbs each, should suffice, right??

 

[Bandicoot]

Should be but will depend on the axle loads front and rear. And some "interpretations" of the law state that the tyres need to be rated for the rated axle load, not the actual (measured) axle load across a weighbridge. There can be a big difference between the two and this is tricky when going from duallies to SRW. It is worth getting this right, as if you were in an accident and a tyre blew out and this was considered to be a contributing factor to the accident, then your insurance may not cover you, and in a worst case, you might even be charged with a criminal offence if someone in the accident was injured. This is probably a worst case situation but not completely improbable. Having said this, my EarthCruiser Canter FG front axle is rated at 2600 kg (5730 lb) and rear axle at 4300 kg (9500 lb) and I run (now) Goodyear Wrangler MT/R 37x12.5 which are rated at 1600 kg each (3530 lb each). When fully loaded with 320 litres diesel and 200 litres water and everything else for long-term travel ("expedition weight") the EC runs at about 5.3 tonnes max (11,700 lb) [less as fuel and water reduces] with a 48.5/51.5 weight split front/rear axle, so I have about 2570 kg on the front axle and 2730 kg on the rear axle. IF the vehicle is 50/50 balanced "left and right" then I'd have half the axle weight on each wheel or 1285 kg on front wheels (rated at 1600 kg) and 1365 kg on rear wheels (also rated at 1600 kg).
The other important thing is the wheel (rim) rating. I've seen rims that are not rated to the rating on the tyres.

 

[whatcharterboat]

?............ It is worth getting this right, as if you were in an accident and a tyre blew out and this was considered to be a contributing factor to the accident, then your insurance may not cover you, and in a worst case, you might even be charged with a criminal offence if someone in the accident was injured..............
The other important thing is the wheel (rim) rating. I've seen rims that are not rated to the rating on the tyres.

Hi Rick,

Speaking about Australia only..........it is also important to note that all vehicles will have a tyre placard stating the correct tyre size. For trucks you are only allowed a small tolerance within what is stated on the placard. To my knowledge all reputable motorhome manufacturers building under the Second Stage Manufacturers (SSM) system will have organised their own ADR compliance and supporting engineering and if ever an issue occurs like noted above then that falls back to them.....so all is above board and considered safe by Federal Transport.

However if an individual with a truck over 4.5ton fits bigger tyres without that compliance (or even a state registered engineer's certificate) and an issue occurs such as above then what Rick says about the consequences is true.....but regardless of whether the wheels are built to an Australian standard.....and regardless of whether the tyres and rims are load rated.....the size of tyre that the manufacturer of a "heavy" vehicle has stated was changed and the truck no longer complies with ADRs.

Before a truck manufacturer can introduce a new model, they have to undergo very strict tests on braking performance, speedo accuracy, noise levels, emissions, etcetera to prove that the truck meets all ADRs ....... taller tyres effect many things especially braking. A truck with a "legal" single wheel conversion (and bigger wheels) still needs to meet the relevant ADRs.

I know I sound like a broken record but we have two trucks coming into our workshop this week with " illegal" single wheel conversions......put off the road until rectified. Expensive and coud have been avoided. ...of course it could have been worse the vehicle was in an accident.

 

[westyss]

Barring all the legalities, on some particular trails I have been on where a climb up a small ridge with a bit of a lean to one side at the same time will change the center of gravity enough to add a much greater load on one axle and if deflected enough onto one tire.

On those trails I have always appreciated having way over rated tires, now I have no idea of the built in tolerance over the rated numbers for the tires but I am happy to not blow the tire off the rim or worse, especially in the middle of no where.


Edit: Oh yeah, like my avatar pic, much of the weight went to the left rear tire here.

 

[Flys Lo]

Hi Rick,

Speaking about Australia only..........it is also important to note that all vehicles will have a tyre placard stating the correct tyre size. For trucks you are only allowed a small tolerance within what is stated on the placard. To my knowledge all reputable motorhome manufacturers building under the Second Stage Manufacturers (SSM) system will have organised their own ADR compliance and supporting engineering and if ever an issue occurs like noted above then that falls back to them.....so all is above board and considered safe by Federal Transport.

However if an individual with a truck over 4.5ton fits bigger tyres without that compliance (or even a state registered engineer's certificate) and an issue occurs such as above then what Rick says about the consequences is true.....but regardless of whether the wheels are built to an Australian standard.....and regardless of whether the tyres and rims are load rated.....the size of tyre that the manufacturer of a "heavy" vehicle has stated was changed and the truck no longer complies with ADRs.

Before a truck manufacturer can introduce a new model, they have to undergo very strict tests on braking performance, speedo accuracy, noise levels, emissions, etcetera to prove that the truck meets all ADRs ....... taller tyres effect many things especially braking. A truck with a "legal" single wheel conversion (and bigger wheels) still needs to meet the relevant ADRs.

I know I sound like a broken record but we have two trucks coming into our workshop this week with " illegal" single wheel conversions......put off the road until rectified. Expensive and coud have been avoided. ...of course it could have been worse the vehicle was in an accident.

Just to add to what John stated, for Australians, if a vehicle is involved in an accident that results in death, or serious injury, it will almost always be inspected for modifications, and weight tested as part of accident investigation. Almost all accidents involving a government vehicle or on a worksite (regardless of injury) are inspected to a similar degree of scrutiny.
If your vehicle is outside of the tolerances for tyre size (this depends on weight class/state), or there are other modifications outside of ADR's/DOTARs specs you may be liable not only for covering all the costs of the accident - and its likely your insurance won't cover you for a modification they don't know about - but also criminally charged. For an accident involving a death, this means manslaughter charges.

Rather sobering.

 

[Flys Lo]

Barring all the legalities, on some particular trails I have been on where a climb up a small ridge with a bit of a lean to one side at the same time will change the center of gravity enough to add a much greater load on one axle and if deflected enough onto one tire.

On those trails I have always appreciated having way over rated tires, now I have no idea of the built in tolerance over the rated numbers for the tires but I am happy to not blow the tire off the rim or worse, especially in the middle of no where.


Edit: Oh yeah, like my avatar pic, much of the weight went to the left rear tire here.

This is why military vehicles have an "off-highway" weight rating, and an "on-highway" weight rating. Depending on the vehicle, they vehicle payload rating may be exactly the same for both, or in some cases it is halved.

I don't know of a civilian vehicle that provides similar off road/on road weight ratings, so one can only assume they test for both during development. I would still leave some safety margin anyway.

 

[westyss]

This is why military vehicles have an "off-highway" weight rating, and an "on-highway" weight rating. Depending on the vehicle, they vehicle payload rating may be exactly the same for both, or in some cases it is halved.

I don't know of a civilian vehicle that provides similar off road/on road weight ratings, so one can only assume they test for both during development. I would still leave some safety margin anyway.

I am sure there is a safety margin but that's the big question mark, how much safety margin??

The military would be a good way to calculate what they use for a ratio between rim and tire rating to weight of vehicle, that would have been determined by engineers etc. Seems like the application has similarities with overlanding.

 

[Gifu]

Funny you bring up military; I'm now leaning toward the surplus H1 24-bolt beadlocks. They are pretty much a bolt-on wheel (for my Dodge 3500 4x4 motorhome; edit: forgot which forum this is... they cannot be recentered for you guys... Sorry). I can get 5 wheels with 37" goodyears with 90% tread for $1300 delivered.

 

[Czechsix]

Funny you bring up military; I'm now leaning toward the surplus H1 24-bolt beadlocks. They are pretty much a bolt-on wheel (for my Dodge 3500 4x4 motorhome; edit: forgot which forum this is... they cannot be recentered for you guys... Sorry). I can get 5 wheels with 37" goodyears with 90% tread for $1300 delivered.

What do you mean they can't be recentered? Trailworthy does all sorts of stuff, I'm getting the 24 bolts done for the corporate 14 and D60 on the suburban...

 

[Gifu]

Yes they do.
What I meant to say was: I forgot which sub-forum I was in. I read somehwre that Trailworthy can not recenter H1 military wheels to the Fuso style pattern. Not sure why... Maybe lack of demand?

 

[Czechsix]

Yes they do.
What I meant to say was: I forgot which sub-forum I was in. I read somehwre that Trailworthy can not recenter H1 military wheels to the Fuso style pattern. Not sure why... Maybe lack of demand?

Hmmm. I might have to give them a call...I've got a pallet of the 24 bolts sitting here, thought I might save some for future builds like an FG. Maybe they'll go on a trailer better though.

Hey, Mog - whaddya know about this?

ETA: good thread here on this...can be done http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/86579-My-Hummer-wheelset-experience

 

[mog]

What do you mean they can't be recentered? Trailworthy does all sorts of stuff, I'm getting the 24 bolts done for the corporate 14 and D60 on the suburban...

They can recenter to the Rockwell pattern the Fuso uses, BUT the offset is way-way off if you are trying to get the front and rear axles to have the same track.

 

[Czechsix]

They can recenter to the Rockwell pattern the Fuso uses, BUT the offset is way-way off if you are trying to get the front and rear axles to have the same track.

Same problem with all setups though, right? ATW has the same issue, either you're going to be a few inches off, or you're going to have to carry two different spares.