3300 Miles, 250 gallons of gas, 2.5 quarts of oil and one tire... (1 Viewer)

[ardentyota]

Well Sunday night we returned from our adventure of camping and road-tripping to Oregon and back. The LC did quite well for a heavy beast with 240,000 miles on the ticker.

We camped @ Steen's mountain in Oregon for a couple days, then went to Corvallis, Eugene and Newport (we went crabbing...). I gotta say- the LC loves oxygen...

We used about 1.5 quarts of oil on the 15-1600 miles to get there- not to bad IMO and 1 on the way back.

On the way out there, we had an unusual vibration that I attributed to improperly balanced tires (used and old tires, long story, I wanted 285's...) and tried to ignore it. I was looking around for a tire shop to re-balance them, but nothing worked out. So after we spent a few days with the 's family, we started our trek back. Same vibration the whole way. That is until the unfortunate happened...

We're driving along in Idaho (What is it with Idaho??? Hub separations and now this???) about 60 miles outside of Twin Falls when POP! THUD THUD THUD THUD!! Well the was driving and I grabbed the wheel to help her coax it to the shoulder (She didn't realize what had happened). We got it safely to the side to find this on the DS Front:

The tread decided it hated being attached to the tire and let itself go. Only God kept this thing inflated- the steel belting is frayed and shredded. It's much worse than this picture shows.

Well, check your jacks. The factory bottle jack froze up after about 5 turns. Luckily, I brought the highlift along and was able to use it and the DS Rock Slider to change out the tire in about 20 minutes and we were on our way.

Just so you know- NO ONE in Idaho stocks 285's (tried to get another spare as we had 1000+ miles to go) and NO ONE in Wyoming does either. So we made the rest of the trip on our spare.

So- there was no damage to the LC and I get a new set of tires (being installed tomorrow... 315's). The tread did whip the fender a few times, so I'll have to figure out how to clean this up:

Overall, we had a great trip and the LC performed well. Just another testament to an old LC's reliability and longevity.

 

[calfj60]

Sounds like a great trip minus the tire issue.. But then again it will be trip you will never forget ...

 

[Tyler93]

That is some serious tread/carcass separation! I've never seen it like that. I'm glad your wife was driving and not you

 

[ardentyota]

That is some serious tread/carcass separation! I've never seen it like that. I'm glad your wife was driving and not you

LOL. Thanks The did pretty well. I'm just glad and thankful for both of us, our two dogs and unborn child that it didn't fully blow-out. Things could have been much worse.

This was also the 2 hours out of the 23 hour drive that she drove. We had just switched in Boise.

 

[KimoSabe]

R/P group buy will come around again, take care of the rolling rubber first, better to be safe than sorry...

 

[e9999]

glad you're OK

so, are you saying that 315s are gonna be easier to find in the boondocks, or you just couldn't pass up the opportunity...?

 

[Matt16]

retreads?

 

[Brian894X4]

Wow, that sounds like a much more fortunate ending compared to the last guy that blew a tire on this board on a trip. Glad it worked out and glad you got to visit Oregon. I love it here. Been to Steens several times. Quite the remote area and quite the view at the top!

 

[azTony]

There is always a positive... now your getting 315's!!!

 

[ardentyota]

glad you're OK

so, are you saying that 315s are gonna be easier to find in the boondocks, or you just couldn't pass up the opportunity...?

When opportunity knocks... I couldn't justify spending $1000 on 285's when I wanted to go bigger anyway. So I'm spending $1100 and getting the ones I want.

I will make them fit. (we need a smiley holding a torch)

retreads?

Nope. I knew that was going to be asked. These were just old Cooper MT's.

Wow, that sounds like a much more fortunate ending compared to the last guy that blew a tire on this board on a trip. Glad it worked out and glad you got to visit Oregon. I love it here. Been to Steens several times. Quite the remote area and quite the view at the top!

I agree. We were very fortunate. Steens was pretty amazing. I even got to jump off the top:

There is always a positive... now your getting 315's!!!

Yup

 

[crazyjehu]

Odd that 285's didn't have availability for you. I always feared that my 255/85 Coopers were going to be difficult to get quickly if I need to, but the local store here in Cheyenne keeps a stock of 5-10 of them. I always thought that 285 would be better stocked.

Glad to see you made it back ok though.

 

[e9999]

I'm thinking that in places where people do real work with their trucks they more often than not use skinny tires.

 

[mazder]

Try the Mr. Clean Magic eraser on them rubber scuffs?

 

[ardentyota]

Try the Mr. Clean Magic eraser on them rubber scuffs?

Bug and tar remover worked!

Before:

After:

And I got the new 315's! I was trying to find the rubbing:

Slight clearancing with a hammer on the front:

The rear stuffs very well. In this picture, the tire is touching the top of the fender well, and the axle is touching the bump stop. It doesn't appear the the tire touched the inside of the wheel well.

Well, I'm very happy with them- super quiet and smooth on the road. I'll have to go wheelin' to find the real issues, but until then, I don't need to do anything else to run them (except touch-up the wheel paint...).

Oh, and I'm on stock height OME coils.

 

[spencertron]

ome stock height

Bug and tar remover worked!

Before:

After:

And I got the new 315's! I was trying to find the rubbing:

Slight clearancing with a hammer on the front:

The rear stuffs very well. In this picture, the tire is touching the top of the fender well, and the axle is touching the bump stop. It doesn't appear the the tire touched the inside of the wheel well.

Well, I'm very happy with them- super quiet and smooth on the road. I'll have to go wheelin' to find the real issues, but until then, I don't need to do anything else to run them (except touch-up the wheel paint...).

Oh, and I'm on stock height OME coils.

that looks so sweet! right now i'm on 285s with the OME stock height set up and i've been debating if i should do 315s or stick with the 285s for the next set. did you like having them on there? no serious rubbing issues? did you have a winch up front by chance? i do and i'm wondering if that might cause more rubbing. thanks! i'll pm you as well. you have one sweet rig

 

[Dazrin]

Oh, sure. Flaunt your new Duratracs...

I really want some, can you tell?

Glad to hear you made it back from here ok. Although, I am not really sure why you would ever want to leave here.

 

[ardentyota]

that looks so sweet! right now i'm on 285s with the OME stock height set up and i've been debating if i should do 315s or stick with the 285s for the next set. did you like having them on there? no serious rubbing issues? did you have a winch up front by chance? i do and i'm wondering if that might cause more rubbing. thanks! i'll pm you as well. you have one sweet rig

Yeah, I'd run the 315's stock again, but that said I'm now running about 5" of lift. It will rub stock, but a simple 1" body lift will help that significantly though. Yes I had a winch.

Thanks for the compliments.

 

[ardentyota]

Oh, sure. Flaunt your new Duratracs...

I really want some, can you tell?

Glad to hear you made it back from here ok. Although, I am not really sure why you would ever want to leave here.

Absolutely love the duratracs. About 13k miles on them and they have worn vry well. I would not be surprised if I get 45-50k miles out of them.