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35" duratracs

digglesworth

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,789
Location
illinois
I got my 5 315 Duratracs from discount tyre for $1305 mounted and balanced, tax title and license included. And they bagged up my 5 mudders and got them in the back of my 3 for the ride home. They are great all around tyres. Did real well with them in Moab. I have about 30K on them and plenty of tread left. I do a 5 tyre rotation every 4K miles or so. No feathering and they are still quiet.

One thing Discount did was minimize the weight needed by spinning the tyres on the rims to reduce the amount of weight needed. And instead of pounding on a large weight , they split the amount in half and put on 2 smaller weights. Smaller weights tend to stay on better and if you loose one , you've only lost half the weight. Tyres should stay balanced longer with trail usage.

I had my current tires balanced that way a few months ago at the local ford dealer. They were the closest place that used the "road force" balancer.... It was like $89 bucks though... I thought about seeing how much they'd charge to mount all 5 on my oem rims and give em that service. That's if they'll mount 315s on a 7.5" rim. They kinda seem like they'd catch that and use it as a technicality. I wish we had a local discount tire around here. I'd be all over that price. Closest one looks like it's about 90 miles from me.
 
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digglesworth

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,789
Location
illinois
I'm bangin my freaking head. I've called around to a bunch of tire shops here and I'm not having good luck. Auditors said $1720. Firestone said $1774. Called the ford dealer that did my road force balancing service and they'd charge me $20/tire to mount em and another $119 or so for the balancing service. $220 JUST for mounting and balancing. The cheapest I've found online is around $1400. I'd save myself around $100 by going that route. Or I could see about driving the 90 miles one way up to the closest discount tire.
 

chaos254

Well-Known Member
Messages
577
Location
United States
I ordered mine from discount tire direct when they had a special.... $100 off a set of 4 and a $60 Goodyear rebate. I was lucky enough to have a buddy mount them for free. I don't see the need for road force balance unless you can't get them to balance normally

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digglesworth

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,789
Location
illinois
I ordered mine from discount tire direct when they had a special.... $100 off a set of 4 and a $60 Goodyear rebate. I was lucky enough to have a buddy mount them for free. I don't see the need for road force balance unless you can't get them to balance normally

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I think l just make thedrive up to discount tire and be done with it. im putting oem wheels back on with these tires so ill be going back to hub-centric vs lug-centric. that makes me feel a little better that they'll balance out ok. the guy said they'll spin the tire on the rim if the balancer is calling for a lot of weight.
 

Blake-O

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Location
Maryland
Sounds good. I did a lot of research outside of the forum and the Duratrac came up a winner for snow traction. Huge bonus for me in terms of accessing my cabin in WV after snow storms.
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Got the 315 Duratrac tires mounted on the H3 today as well as a dual tip MagnaFlow cat back exhaust system. Torsion bars adjusted and H3 is leveled. Rides WAY different. Will take some getting used to. Front tires do rub a bit when turning.

I'm concerned it will be a huge issue when wheeling due to need to turn tightly in many spaces. Anyone run the stock rims with spacers to eliminate the rubbing? Any other solutions?

Installing the Air-Doc tomorrow and giving the H3 a good cleaning.


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digglesworth

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,789
Location
illinois
The rubbing is a common problem with 315s.... The t bar crank will effect the tie rod angles, cv angles and so forth. Just make sure they are within tolerances. I've seen people use spacers on stock rims to gain clearance with the Rancho knuckles. I'm going the other way. My aftermarket rims stick out 1.6" further than stock. I'm afraid if I put 35s on, I'll flex the suspension and the tires won't clear the fenders. With oem wheels, I know the tires will have room to tuck up in the wheel wells. You'll like the airdoc. Another good mod to do with it is the ported throttle body. It's great for increasing throttle response.
 

Blake-O

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Location
Maryland
The rubbing is a common problem with 315s.... The t bar crank will effect the tie rod angles, cv angles and so forth. Just make sure they are within tolerances. I've seen people use spacers on stock rims to gain clearance with the Rancho knuckles. I'm going the other way. My aftermarket rims stick out 1.6" further than stock. I'm afraid if I put 35s on, I'll flex the suspension and the tires won't clear the fenders. With oem wheels, I know the tires will have room to tuck up in the wheel wells. You'll like the airdoc. Another good mod to do with it is the ported throttle body. It's great for increasing throttle response.

Thanks for clarifying comments. Guess I'll hold off on spacers for now. Also have a weird rubbin


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Blake-O

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Location
Maryland
The rubbing is a common problem with 315s.... The t bar crank will effect the tie rod angles, cv angles and so forth. Just make sure they are within tolerances. I've seen people use spacers on stock rims to gain clearance with the Rancho knuckles. I'm going the other way. My aftermarket rims stick out 1.6" further than stock. I'm afraid if I put 35s on, I'll flex the suspension and the tires won't clear the fenders. With oem wheels, I know the tires will have room to tuck up in the wheel wells. You'll like the airdoc. Another good mod to do with it is the ported throttle body. It's great for increasing throttle response.

Thanks for the clarifying comments. As far as the tolerances go, I really have no idea how to check that on the tie rods or CV joints. I basically leveled the truck.

Guess I will skip spacers. Never considered tire clearing wheel well. I do have a VERY strange intermittent rubbing sound coming from passenger side rear tire/wheel well when slow rolling like 10-15mph and turning to the left. Driving me nuts!! I can't seem to determine what is going on and I don't see obvious rubbing marks. Is there any flex in rear wheel components where I might have something worn and need replacing. Anyone know if the axle move front to back "slightly" under normal conditions? I'm at a loss.


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digglesworth

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,789
Location
illinois
Measure from the center of the hub nut (axle) up to the bottom of the fender. You wanna stay around 23.5"... That will keep the cv shafts and tie rods at acceptable angles. Many members have the experience with setting it higher but found out it causes excess stress on the steering rack and cv shafts.
 

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,674
Location
Scottsdale
Anyone know if the axle move front to back "slightly" under normal conditions? I'm at a loss.
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It should not move at all. The flexy things I can think of: sway bar bushings and end links - make sure nothing broke there. Could hit stuff under certain conditions if you broke a link. Leaf spring bushings: not that flexy but if somehow destroyed . . . not sure how it could make the sounds, but you asked for flexy stuff :)

Make sure the u-bolts are tight and nothing's moving.
 

Blake-O

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Location
Maryland
It should not move at all. The flexy things I can think of: sway bar bushings and end links - make sure nothing broke there. Could hit stuff under certain conditions if you broke a link. Leaf spring bushings: not that flexy but if somehow destroyed . . . not sure how it could make the sounds, but you asked for flexy stuff :)

Make sure the u-bolts are tight and nothing's moving.

Thanks. Happened again tonight. Backing into the garage, cutting steering to the left to make the turn, heard a loud sound in rear end passenger left side. Sounds like tire rubbing mud flap across tire lugs and like its about to get ripped off. I immediately stopped, straightened wheel and then pulled forward a bit. Got out and looked, didn't see a thing. Good 1" or so clearance between tire and mud flap lip/edge. Very puzzling. Guess I need to get it on a lift for a better look. Something has to be shifting or I've got rear end issues.


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SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
Thanks. Happened again tonight. Backing into the garage, cutting steering to the left to make the turn, heard a loud sound in rear end passenger left side. Sounds like tire rubbing mud flap across tire lugs and like its about to get ripped off. I immediately stopped, straightened wheel and then pulled forward a bit. Got out and looked, didn't see a thing. Good 1" or so clearance between tire and mud flap lip/edge. Very puzzling. Guess I need to get it on a lift for a better look. Something has to be shifting or I've got rear end issues.


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sounds like the rear is locking up - even open differentials can occasionally do that. What's happening is the inner rear tire is going the same speed as the outside tire... something has to give. A lot of times you'll get popping from the front suspension, but (as long as there's no rubbing evident) you can also get the sound you describe from the rear. If you're really, really concerned - pop off the rear cover and make sure all teeth are accounted for on the ring gear.... it's also a good time to change the rear diff oil
 

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,674
Location
Scottsdale
Perhaps dumb question, but you aren't accidentally in 4 High Lock are you? That's more front end noise, but it's a simple check.

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Blake-O

Well-Known Member
Messages
46
Location
Maryland
New Duratrac tires came in handy last night as I arrived at my cabin after dark. Roughly 4-6" of snow and another 1.5" of frozen iced snow on top of the snow. I thought it was going to be interesting climbing up the hill to get into the cabin when I got out of the H3 to unlock the gate and at 230#'s I could walk across the snow without falling through. I could even jump up and down quite a bit before breaking through. My thought here was I was gong to need to bust through the top layer to get some initial bite and then let the Duratracs do their thing chewing and spitting out the snow as I clawed my way up to the cabin. They performed flawlessly. Great tires.


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