Need advice on tires for FJ62 (1 Viewer)

[rjw08250]

Hello,
I just put a 2.5 inch old man emu suspension on my fj62. I currently have 31 inch K02's but I was thinking about upgrading to the 33 inch KO2's. My concern is that I am going to be putting too much stress on my transmission with the larger tires and that the truck will be become a slug driving around town and hills. I have the stock gearing on the truck as well. Thanks for the help!

 

[Randy88FJ62]

Your concern is correct. You will overheat and blow your transmission. You need a good trans cooler and regear to deal with any larger tire sizes. Period.

 

[rjw08250]

Thanks Randy! I think I will just stick with the 31's

 

[franklin40]

get the 33s and wear that tranny out as fast as you can. then you can justify an h55!

in reality with a good tranny cooler you can run 33s. i did but found it was more of a dog than ever so i re geared to 4:56 which made it perfect again but that’s expensive and a bit of a rabbit hole. i went back to 4:11 when i finally went h55. thankfully i have a 40 that needs 4:56 gears so money not wasted in the long run!!

 

[OSS]

The stopping (or more accurately, non stopping) distance of 33s vs 31s is very noticeable in a bad way. Ditto for body roll.
I'd only get 33s if you're consistently getting stuck or bottoming out on 31s. The way I see it is : if you don't know or have to ask whether 33s are a good choice, you don't need them. The only time to get them is when you KNOW you want them .

 

[Paul DiNapoli]

Hello,
I just put a 2.5 inch old man emu suspension on my fj62. I currently have 31 inch K02's but I was thinking about upgrading to the 33 inch KO2's. My concern is that I am going to be putting too much stress on my transmission with the larger tires and that the truck will be become a slug driving around town and hills. I have the stock gearing on the truck as well. Thanks for the help!

your truck will definitely be a slug. i put 33's on my 88 FJ62 soon after buying it - and I regretted it until I swapped out the auto for the H55. our trucks were not rockets off the line even when fresh/new...with 33's and the automatic - there's an awful lot of foot mashing on throttle pedal to get the mass rolling.'

** edit: my truck had a transmission cooler installed and it never gave me any trouble heat wise, even climbing and loaded with camping gear for a 2 week road trip...so assuming you have a cooler installed - and your transmission is in good working order - dont worry about it.

But I swapped out for the 5 speed and LOVE IT! the 3FE is a nice engine - just with a horrible automatic gearbox. the 5speed wakes it up and they feel downright snappy.

do it!

 

[SteveH]

You sea level dwellers get no sympathy about low-powered FJ62s from us in Colorado!

 

[Paul DiNapoli]

You sea level dwellers get no sympathy about low-powered FJ62s from us in Colorado!

true enough...i spent 2 weeks in wyoming back in august...teton pass @ 10% grade and 8400 feet...i was in 2nd gear crawling up the hill at 30mph. (and probably 2mpg). Colorado and Wyoming have an average elevation ASL of 6700/6800 feet...crazy!


sorry @rjw08250

we kinda hijacked your tire thread. I wish we were closer.... I would consider going back to 31's instead of 33's on my 88 FJ62 - but i'd like to see how well they fill the wheel opening.

I too just installed 2" OME lift - and the 33's fill the opening perfectly - and it looks great. The rubber overdrive has my speedo off by 10%.

I like the idea of going back to 31's for all sorts of reasons - but the truck needs to look good too! would you share a pic?

 

[SteveH]

Sure, and you can repeat how badly I need an H55 to help my wheezing '62 move along .

 

[rjw08250]

true enough...i spent 2 weeks in wyoming back in august...teton pass @ 10% grade and 8400 feet...i was in 2nd gear crawling up the hill at 30mph. (and probably 2mpg). Colorado and Wyoming have an average elevation ASL of 6700/6800 feet...crazy!


sorry @rjw08250

we kinda hijacked your tire thread. I wish we were closer.... I would consider going back to 31's instead of 33's on my 88 FJ62 - but i'd like to see how well they fill the wheel opening.

I too just installed 2" OME lift - and the 33's fill the opening perfectly - and it looks great. The rubber overdrive has my speedo off by 10%.

I like the idea of going back to 31's for all sorts of reasons - but the truck needs to look good too! would you share a pic?

haha all good

 

[rjw08250]

thanks for the replies! I am going stick with the 31's.

 

[Paul DiNapoli]

your 31's look good to me. seems like they fill the wheel opening just fine.

And I will say that I was happy to get the OME lift kit installed so I could once again get my foot to fit on top of the rear tire - inside the wheel arch...i step up on there to load/unload the thule cargo box...and with my original - very very flat - leaf springs + 33's I could not get my foot in there...made it kinda hard to stand up and use the cargo box.

your 31's leaves a bit of extra room for that - even if heavily loaded with cargo.

with 33's and heavy cargo load - it's still tight to get my foot in there even with the 2.5" lift.

 

[php74]

There are countless threads on 31 vs 33. With emu lift 33 10.5’s are the way to go imo, and they definitely will not harm your tranny. Have had 33’s for decades with no issues. I’m sure Toyota figured there’d be much more strain on the worlds toughest 4x4 than an extra few pounds of tire : )

 

[4Cruisers]

Until I parted my '89 FJ62 out as the donor vehicle for my '86 FJ60 build, I was running stock-sized tires (BFG LT235/75R15 ATs). I was happy with the performance but the tires looked a bit undersized. 30X9.50s would work well and look better IMO.