I was going to ask how your MTRs performed in the snow. Thanks for the feedback; what tires & wheels are you considering? Aside from your tires did your 80 meet/exceed your expectations?
Honestly the biggest changes I'll be making after this trip will be carrying additional chainsaw gas and bar oil. I carry a professional 66cc felling saw and even with that and an additional two saws from the other trucks it was slow going.
The 80 ran really well. I might look at changing how the cooling system works though. While I had no overheating problems, with the truck idling from time to time while we were clearing trees the fans only kick on when the coolant temp reaches 200, which means a lot of the time there's no airflow inside the engine compartment if the truck is stationary like you'd have with a mechanical fan. Even with the ambient temp at 22 degrees, my intake temp was regularly climbing to 150. Obviously not a problem in the snow, but probably an issue when it's 110 degrees outside in Moab.
I had some fender flare contact in the rear at full compression which I'll look in to. Not super worried, as the wheel will touch the DVS rear bumper before doing any real damage, I was just a little surprised. I'll drop the rear springs out and see where I am with the bump stops. Might be that going out with all the gear in the back squatted the truck more than I was expecting.
Not sure on tires and wheels. If it's a dedicated set of snow wheeling tires I'll grab some Irok radials, which are the gold standard for snow wheeling. I'd thought about cutting my MTRs, but I'm actually really happy with them on the pavement, they're apparently decent in the rocks and I have no vibrations up to 100MPH. Seems like I should leave that set up alone.
I'd like to run double bead locks so I can reliably run ~4psi. The Jeep I was with lost an inner bead once while we were out which we fixed no problem, but it'll always be an issue at super low pressure. Hutchinson Rock Monsters will work, but they're heavy. Going to keep looking to see if I can find others. I found a couple of small custom outfits making dual ring bead locks, but they were in the $1,200 range each and that's way out of the budget for a dedicated set up. If I can't find a good double bead lock that I like, the new Methods have their new bead grip retaining machining on the inner side of the rim, but jury is out on how much difference it really makes.
The 108 Beadlock Wheel boasts a rugged 9 spoke design with a debossed Method logo on the spoke. It’s our first wheel to feature both Beadlock and our patented Bead Grip® technology. The added bead seat on the inner lip creates unmatched tire security. With extra material added to high-stress...
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