odd tire question (1 Viewer)

[wakesetter]

kind of an odd tire question here. A year ago I bought some used 315's for my cruiser after running 285's for several years. I bought used because I found them at a great price and wanted to see how I would like the gearing/power with stock gears. When I bought them, two were well worn (I put them on the rear), two were newer (which I put in the front) . They have now aged enough that I need new rear tires, especially now that we are in the rainy season. I was discussing this with my brother in law and I said that I was going to just replace the rears for now and maybe do the fronts in 6-12 months. He insists that doing this will destroy my center diff because of the two different sizes of new vs old tires. The old tires are Hankook MT's and I will be replacing them with the same thing.

So, short version of the question, am I screwing myself by only replacing the rear tires?

 

[bigredmachine]

short answer maybe. itll depend on how much of a tread difference there is between front and rear. maybe see if you can fine some other used tires with about the same tread depth as the fronts for now and then get a new set of 5 later, dont forget to change your spare to 315 if your sticking with that size

 

[BILT4ME]

Well, you've already been doing this with a different set on the front.

A 4WD vehicle requires equal tires for highway speeds.

There are a number of "what size spare tire" threads on here to read more in depth.

If all you're doing is slow off road, it will work, but not a good idea for highway at all.
Yes it can overheat the viscous coupler in the center differential (transfer case) and be a problem.

 

[jatree]

I'm in a similar boat trying to decide if it's too late to rotate my new spare in with the used tires that came with my truck. What do people feel is an acceptable tread depth difference?