Accrete's FireRed 07 TACO project
- Thread starter Accrete
- Start date
Accrete
Explorer
Tire size ponderings...
So the rig is very new and we only have about 4k miles on it...
I still find myself wondering what tires we can replace the stock bridgestone dueler h/t. I would rather not lift the truck as it is my wife's everyday driver and she is a weee little one and it's already a big step up for her into the cab.
Most of the trails we find ourselves on are logging/fire/county roads. They are mostly lightly graveled unimproved dirt roads. Within 10 minutes of our house here on the Oregon coast we can be up in the hills and have literaly hundreds of miles of roads we could explore. That said, we would NOT go on these roads if it had recently rained or was in the forcast as I feel with the current tires on the rig (it's more of a wet-hwy tread than anything suitable for offroad) any of the roads would become difficult without using sand-ramps or similar at many places and i've yet to purchase the ramps.
The current size is 265/65/R17. I work at Costco, so one logical choice would be to grab a set of BFG's, we seem to have access to any of the BFG styles/sizes. I'm wondering if 265/75's on the stock 17" rims would work without any interferrance? Anyone know from experience? And what BFG lug pattern to choose? OR would you go with another all together instead of BFG?
Thanks in advance for any comments/tips.
Thom
So the rig is very new and we only have about 4k miles on it...
I still find myself wondering what tires we can replace the stock bridgestone dueler h/t. I would rather not lift the truck as it is my wife's everyday driver and she is a weee little one and it's already a big step up for her into the cab.
Most of the trails we find ourselves on are logging/fire/county roads. They are mostly lightly graveled unimproved dirt roads. Within 10 minutes of our house here on the Oregon coast we can be up in the hills and have literaly hundreds of miles of roads we could explore. That said, we would NOT go on these roads if it had recently rained or was in the forcast as I feel with the current tires on the rig (it's more of a wet-hwy tread than anything suitable for offroad) any of the roads would become difficult without using sand-ramps or similar at many places and i've yet to purchase the ramps.
The current size is 265/65/R17. I work at Costco, so one logical choice would be to grab a set of BFG's, we seem to have access to any of the BFG styles/sizes. I'm wondering if 265/75's on the stock 17" rims would work without any interferrance? Anyone know from experience? And what BFG lug pattern to choose? OR would you go with another all together instead of BFG?
Thanks in advance for any comments/tips.
Thom
Mark's Tacoma
Observer
I know that BFG A/Ts fit the stock non-sport tacoma rims with 265/75/16 and I am almost positive that 265/75/17 fit the sport rims.
Here are 265/7516s on my rig...
Here are 265/7516s on my rig...
Accrete said:
buldyourown
Observer
Accrete said:
I also have an '07 TRD Sport. Personally, I feel that the stock Duellers are some of the better All Seasons that I have ever used. Considering how poorly the stock tires on the TRD Offroad are regarded, I would be very hesitant to swap them.
I've had my truck all over fire roads all summer and I haven't had any issues (I'm only a Prerunner too)
I'm waiting to see how the Duellers do in the snow this winter to see if I'll replace them first.
My point is wait until your tires let you down before you spend $1500 on new shoes.
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
Nice setup! You are on the right path, I really like the shell and privacy setup.
IMO, since you say that your wife drives it as a daily driver I would highly recommend the BFG AT's as the tire of choice. Multipurpose is what you need, the Revo's are a good tire as well. I am from coastal Washington and I ran BFG's on my 4Runner with very good results on snow, muddy trails and wet pavement.
IMO, since you say that your wife drives it as a daily driver I would highly recommend the BFG AT's as the tire of choice. Multipurpose is what you need, the Revo's are a good tire as well. I am from coastal Washington and I ran BFG's on my 4Runner with very good results on snow, muddy trails and wet pavement.
Accrete
Explorer
Greetings, and thank you for your informative reply. I'm definitely going to wait until the tires need swapping before doing so. And we will give them a good working out this year with all the trails to explore in our backyard. Your post gave me a bit of confidence in the tires, more than i had just looking at their street friendly pattern. Thanks for the insights.buldyourown said:
Also, TACODOC, thank you for the kind words and your thoughts on the BFGs in our wet NorthWest climate. Food for thought.
Cheers,
Thom
Here is some more food for thought on the BFG at as an excellent tire for the northwest, Im from olympia wa, and take my truck through all extremes as well as use it for daily driving and they work great and wire like iron, I'm on my second set, the first lasted over 80,000 miles.
these tires are also (IMO) the closest thing you can get to a snow tire and Ive put many a mile on snow covered passes to get to the mountains for my other favorite thing to do...snowboarding!
these tires are also (IMO) the closest thing you can get to a snow tire and Ive put many a mile on snow covered passes to get to the mountains for my other favorite thing to do...snowboarding!
Accrete
Explorer
a first campout report
My wife, son, daughter and i ventured off to Sunset Falls Campground about 30min northeast of Battle Ground Washington. This area has a couple of nice rivers that are known for gold flakes so we enjoy the time there.
We had just about everything just short of the kitchen sink with us so the campsite was maxed out for camping for four adults. Unfortunately, and i'm still laughing over this one, the batteries in my camera went dead by the time i decided i should take some shots of the camp, but here is run down on equipment:
A three room tent including a screenroom for the kids to hang out in. A 10x10ft canopy, 5x5 shower/changing room tent, several tarps for creating floors/shelters (as needed), aluminum table, aluminum kitchen counter/work area, portable BBQ, camp chairs for six (we had other family visit for a day), blue-ice/cooler, three food storage boxes, 2 camp cots, water for four people for four days, firewood for four days, prospecting gear, and all the personal items for each of us. Let me tell you there was not a whole lot of room left for anything in the rig, but it was none the worse for the gear being back there, as such the kids took a second car and followed us to the camp. My wife and i both commented on how well the TACO handled with the added weight back there. We then took the TACO off road to a nearby GPAA gold claim and enjoyed a day panning on a nice creek.
I plan to set up camp in our backyard again testing out some ideas and will attempt to get some pix up here soon.
One thing i am going to incorporate in the camp is some sort of fence such as a bear fence or similar to keep the kritters out of camp, or at least detour them. I found myself taking all the food boxes and packing them back in the truck at night so the racoons wouldn't rumage through them as they had done in the neighboring camp. I am rethinking the food handling/storage and learning as much as possible on keeping the camp "clean" so as not to encourage any snoopy wildlife.
Cheers,
Thom
My wife, son, daughter and i ventured off to Sunset Falls Campground about 30min northeast of Battle Ground Washington. This area has a couple of nice rivers that are known for gold flakes so we enjoy the time there.
We had just about everything just short of the kitchen sink with us so the campsite was maxed out for camping for four adults. Unfortunately, and i'm still laughing over this one, the batteries in my camera went dead by the time i decided i should take some shots of the camp, but here is run down on equipment:
A three room tent including a screenroom for the kids to hang out in. A 10x10ft canopy, 5x5 shower/changing room tent, several tarps for creating floors/shelters (as needed), aluminum table, aluminum kitchen counter/work area, portable BBQ, camp chairs for six (we had other family visit for a day), blue-ice/cooler, three food storage boxes, 2 camp cots, water for four people for four days, firewood for four days, prospecting gear, and all the personal items for each of us. Let me tell you there was not a whole lot of room left for anything in the rig, but it was none the worse for the gear being back there, as such the kids took a second car and followed us to the camp. My wife and i both commented on how well the TACO handled with the added weight back there. We then took the TACO off road to a nearby GPAA gold claim and enjoyed a day panning on a nice creek.
I plan to set up camp in our backyard again testing out some ideas and will attempt to get some pix up here soon.
One thing i am going to incorporate in the camp is some sort of fence such as a bear fence or similar to keep the kritters out of camp, or at least detour them. I found myself taking all the food boxes and packing them back in the truck at night so the racoons wouldn't rumage through them as they had done in the neighboring camp. I am rethinking the food handling/storage and learning as much as possible on keeping the camp "clean" so as not to encourage any snoopy wildlife.
Cheers,
Thom
Accrete
Explorer
a new addition
Here are three pix of the tent we just got for the TACO. It attaches to the rear canopy where we sleep at night. This will make a cozy addition to the campsite.
more fun stuff.
: ) Thom
PS. here is the link to the manufacturer's website and this particular tent's info. You have to scroll down a bit to see the info cuz their page needs some tweaking in the code:
Model 83000 with screen room
Here are three pix of the tent we just got for the TACO. It attaches to the rear canopy where we sleep at night. This will make a cozy addition to the campsite.
more fun stuff.
: ) Thom
PS. here is the link to the manufacturer's website and this particular tent's info. You have to scroll down a bit to see the info cuz their page needs some tweaking in the code:
Model 83000 with screen room
Last edited:
Accrete
Explorer
Our TACO-Liner
We have also added the option of bringing the kitchen sink...
Here are several shots of our 2008 Aliner Ease.
It has all the bells and whistles such as full shower and thetford toilet, dometic sink and stove, queen size bed, full size dinette and 8 feet of headroom at the peak! Dry weight of 2100 lbs, loaded at the scales 2300 with a tung weight of ~325 lbs. Tows behind the TACO like there's nothing there (so says my wife. I've not driven it yet...she's so happy, why should i bother?!)
at a vista outlook near Quartzville Creek Oregon:
in camp at YellowBottom Creek Oregon:
on a logging road heading up to a camp near our home on the Oregon Coast:
it behaves fine with easy off road stuff, this is further up the same trail on the way to camp:
it's easy to tow, we get ~18mpg towing vs 21mpg (V6), we feel very safe with the hard sides in areas known for bear and cougar sightings, and hey, we can take a hot shower at the end of the day!!
: ) Thom
We have also added the option of bringing the kitchen sink...
Here are several shots of our 2008 Aliner Ease.
It has all the bells and whistles such as full shower and thetford toilet, dometic sink and stove, queen size bed, full size dinette and 8 feet of headroom at the peak! Dry weight of 2100 lbs, loaded at the scales 2300 with a tung weight of ~325 lbs. Tows behind the TACO like there's nothing there (so says my wife. I've not driven it yet...she's so happy, why should i bother?!)
at a vista outlook near Quartzville Creek Oregon:
in camp at YellowBottom Creek Oregon:
on a logging road heading up to a camp near our home on the Oregon Coast:
it behaves fine with easy off road stuff, this is further up the same trail on the way to camp:
it's easy to tow, we get ~18mpg towing vs 21mpg (V6), we feel very safe with the hard sides in areas known for bear and cougar sightings, and hey, we can take a hot shower at the end of the day!!
: ) Thom
Accrete
Explorer
Hi Matt and Wil ( : and all : )
One advantage to the roof is apparently in snow country the "A" frame acts just like it's earth bound cousins and the snow just slides right off with no build up. The other is that it is much quieter when the rain falls than a regular horizontal roof. Other advantages are the peak allows the hot air to be further away from your head and easily go out the roof vents. Also from and engineering standpoint it may be simpler in it's design. Less stress than a vertical pop up, and probably less surface area as there are only four pieces, rather than four walls and a roof (totaling 5) with the other designs.
As far as the expandables with (cloth? sided) push outs for the beds? Well just about every camping spot we've been to has signs of bear nearby (and several of them are known for cougar sightings). Living where we do, we never even go out for an evening stroll without our bear spray. . . so my wife would not sleep inside a "tent" (trailer with any cloth walls). That is why we went with the Sportz Tent and Truck-Bed-Sleeper combo rather than a tent to sleep in. And if we are going to a place that a logging truck can get to...we'll bring the TACO-Liner : ) The bed is as comfy as ours at home.
Wil, thank you for the kudos on the site. The net can be a fun (and safe) place to wander and ponder.
: ) Thom
One advantage to the roof is apparently in snow country the "A" frame acts just like it's earth bound cousins and the snow just slides right off with no build up. The other is that it is much quieter when the rain falls than a regular horizontal roof. Other advantages are the peak allows the hot air to be further away from your head and easily go out the roof vents. Also from and engineering standpoint it may be simpler in it's design. Less stress than a vertical pop up, and probably less surface area as there are only four pieces, rather than four walls and a roof (totaling 5) with the other designs.
As far as the expandables with (cloth? sided) push outs for the beds? Well just about every camping spot we've been to has signs of bear nearby (and several of them are known for cougar sightings). Living where we do, we never even go out for an evening stroll without our bear spray. . . so my wife would not sleep inside a "tent" (trailer with any cloth walls). That is why we went with the Sportz Tent and Truck-Bed-Sleeper combo rather than a tent to sleep in. And if we are going to a place that a logging truck can get to...we'll bring the TACO-Liner : ) The bed is as comfy as ours at home.
Wil, thank you for the kudos on the site. The net can be a fun (and safe) place to wander and ponder.
: ) Thom
