Target carrier (12 Viewers)

[J Mack]

for two very mediocre guys

That insult would have meant a lot had you got your permission slip signed to get off the porch and join the party so you could deliver it in person verses sitting in your armchair typing on a keyboard.

You should get back to droopy drawers and the back seat drivers and try to get it finished up and join @cruiserjunktion and I on a man trip next year.

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

That insult would have meant a lot had you got your permission slip signed to get off the porch and join the party so you could deliver it in person verses sitting in your armchair typing on a keyboard.

You should get back to droopy drawers and the back seat drivers and try to get it finished up and join @cruiserjunktion and I on a man trip next year.

100% true in every way

 

[bobm]

That insult would have meant a lot had you got your permission slip signed to get off the porch and join the party so you could deliver it in person verses sitting in your armchair typing on a keyboard.

You should get back to droopy drawers and the back seat drivers and try to get it finished up and join @cruiserjunktion and I on a man trip next year.

Ya, your ****ing drawers weren't Droopy in your Mr B.I.G. outfit were they

 

[boots4]

It's definitely rewarding when your hard work pays off and new camping goodies perform better than expected. Every time I've heard someone report on transitioning to a fridge/freezer it's always been positive, now if only I could get mine installed and be able to share that experience. Sadly we've done no camping this year as it's been a house project summer and I've got a thing or two I want to change on the rig before getting back out. Really glad to hear the report on the mech fan and that you're likely keeping the cummins installed.

 

[PabloCruise]

We are talking about planning a South Dakota trip for next year...

Hopefully the Black Hills Cruiser Classic will be back in business next year.
The fire tower run looks a lot like the MacGruder Corridor pics you posted, and last year they made it an over night run

 

[J Mack]

Really glad to hear the report on the mech fan and that you're likely keeping the cummins installed.

Thank you Boots,

I really like this Cummins engine and feel like I gave electric fans an honest attempt but for my setup I believe a mechanical fan is my only option, in hindsight I don’t know why I rested the idea of a mechanical fan for so long and spent so much time and money chasing my tail with the electric fans especially when @scottryana reached out to me early on in my build to warn be of the exact problem that Fireman had with his 4BT in his 55 that ultimately caused him to remove the 4BT and go with a different engine. In reality I think I was buying into the 4BTswaps hype that these little engines don’t run hot and had to learn the hard way that everything on the internet might not be true.

I was intentionally trying to make the 4BT run hot on this trip mashing up long fast hills holding the EGT’s between 1200° to 1300°, boost 30 to 35 PSI, A/C on for extended periods of time and you could see the clutch fan working on the temp gauge every time the temp would start creeping up and you hear the fan getting louder the temp would head back down.

 

[J Mack]

I’m finally ready to make a tire and wheel change, I’ve never liked these wheels and have made a few halfhearted attempts to get something more stock’ish that will accept a factory hubcap but something else always seems to come up like smashing the quarter panel or ripping the door off and the wheel project gets put back on the shelf.

Looking at the internets and it looks like the Tacoma and Jeep guys have convinced a few of the tire manufactures to make a 35” tall skinny tire (10.5” and 11.5”) wide recently so this got me interested in perusing a wheel change again, unfortunately all the new tall skinny tires are for the 17” rims all the new off road cars have and I’m not convinced I’m going to like a 17” rim on an older classic like the FJ55.

I talked to Budnik Wheels about building me a set of 17” “factory” wheels that will accept a hub cap but they are about 6 months out before they can start and the more I try to picture a 17” wheel the more I’m convinced I’m not going to like it so before I shell the $$$$ for the Budnik’s I’m going to put some cheap 17” wheels and tires on and see if it grows on me. Hunting around for tires and talking to the tire dealers 15” tire selections are getting fewer and fewer as time goes on and everything seems to be going to the 17” so if it doesn’t look completely stupid this might actually be a good time to make the change.



US Wheel is going to make me a 17”X7” wheel with 3.5” back spacing in their Hot Rod series smooth wheel and I found a cheap Kenda Klever R/T 35/10.50R17 tire, I’ll be into all five wheels and tires for less than the cost of a single Budnik wheel making this a more reasonable test. I ordered the wheels black thinking the larger wheels will be less noticeable dark but in a perfect world they will look good in a factory light grey so I plan to paint them a few different shades of grey just to see how they’ll look in lighter colors.

 

[tucker74]

16x8 version with a 315/75 ... interested to see the tall skinny

 

[scrapdaddy]

Funny you brought this up. I'm needing new tires, too and thinking about 17" wheels. I have to grind the 4 runner calipers to fit my 16" wheels, so 17" would be a solution. I'll wait and see what yours look like.

 

[Pigeaten]

I’m finally ready to make a tire and wheel change, I’ve never liked these wheels and have made a few halfhearted attempts to get something more stock’ish that will accept a factory hubcap but something else always seems to come up like smashing the quarter panel or ripping the door off and the wheel project gets put back on the shelf.

Looking at the internets and it looks like the Tacoma and Jeep guys have convinced a few of the tire manufactures to make a 35” tall skinny tire (10.5” and 11.5”) wide recently so this got me interested in perusing a wheel change again, unfortunately all the new tall skinny tires are for the 17” rims all the new off road cars have and I’m not convinced I’m going to like a 17” rim on an older classic like the FJ55.

I talked to Budnik Wheels about building me a set of 17” “factory” wheels that will accept a hub cap but they are about 6 months out before they can start and the more I try to picture a 17” wheel the more I’m convinced I’m not going to like it so before I shell the $$$$ for the Budnik’s I’m going to put some cheap 17” wheels and tires on and see if it grows on me. Hunting around for tires and talking to the tire dealers 15” tire selections are getting fewer and fewer as time goes on and everything seems to be going to the 17” so if it doesn’t look completely stupid this might actually be a good time to make the change.



US Wheel is going to make me a 17”X7” wheel with 3.5” back spacing in their Hot Rod series smooth wheel and I found a cheap Kenda Klever R/T 35/10.50R17 tire, I’ll be into all five wheels and tires for less than the cost of a single Budnik wheel making this a more reasonable test. I ordered the wheels black thinking the larger wheels will be less noticeable dark but in a perfect world they will look good in a factory light grey so I plan to paint them a few different shades of grey just to see how they’ll look in lighter colors.

 

[Pigeaten]

Had these 35 s on the first Pig i ever bought, they were FJ cruiser 17" rims, but they needed spacers- Lost my butt on that pig, guy put a cheap paint job on it, my first pig, my eyes were glazed over for looking at it. expensive lesson

 

[RUSH55]

Interesting that you’ve found indications that the markets are going away from 15’s.
I was going through searches earlier in the summer for both wheels and 35” tires in 15, 16, and 17” sizes and found the availability and selection of 15’s far beyond anything in any other sizes and the prices much closer to what I consider reasonable.

 

[riderjgs]

Jim...Krylon’s Smoke Gray appears to be closest to the OEM color for factory steel wheels. Used it on previous Cruisers and couldn’t tell the difference. Inexpensive way to test that color option. But then I paid $25 each to have spray cans of Cygnus White made up locally when I painted my FJ 40 OEM spoke wheels so what do I know!

 

[J Mack]

Interesting that you’ve found indications that the markets are going away from 15’s.
I was going through searches earlier in the summer for both wheels and 35” tires in 15, 16, and 17” sizes and found the availability and selection of 15’s far beyond anything in any other sizes and the prices much closer to what I consider reasonable.

I’ve only spent a day or two digging in to the trends so to say I’m a bit behind the times is an understatement. This is what I see going on currently.





Maxxis RAZR AT,

1 offering in 15”, 14 offerings in 17”

RAZR AT | Maxxis Tires USA



Toyo Open Country A/T III,

7 offering in 15”, 27 offerings in 17”

https://www.toyotires.com/product/open-country-at3



Nitto Trail Grappler M/T

1 offering in 15”, 12 offerings in 17”

Trail Grappler | Nitto Tire



BFG KM3

8 offerings in 15”, 14 offerings in 17”

Mud-Terrain T/A® KM3



Good year MTR,

4 offerings in 15”, 15 offerings in 17”

Wrangler MT/R® With Kevlar® Sizes & Specs | Goodyear Tires



I talked to several places looking for the new 35x11.50R17 Toyo Open Country A/T III and asking about other options in similar sizes and was told mutable times the manufactures are putting more of their resources in the 17” sizes and in so many words “phasing” out the 15” tires. I only know what I was told and what I see on the manufactures sites appears to back that up, I cannot tell you any of it is fact.

I will tell you that I found the Kenda 35/10.50R17 for $175 and most of what I read was positive, for that kind of money I'm willing to take a chance on the 17" tire to see if I like the look. If not I'll mount them on a spare set of buggy rims and do 4 wheel drive burnouts till they pop on the Angry Pig.

Kenda Klever R/T KR601 Rugged Terrain LT35X10.50R17 121R D Light Truck Tire - Walmart.com

Buy Kenda Klever R/T KR601 Rugged Terrain LT35X10.50R17 121R D Light Truck Tire at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

 

[J Mack]

expensive lesson

Story of my Pig life....

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

35x12.5x17 BFG KM3
17” FJC steel wheels

Measures 34”x12” mounted on the Pig


I’m interested in a skinny 35” for sure.
Interested to see how tall they measure mounted

those Nittos look like the old BFG MTs. I dig it. Never really liked the Wranglers and they always measured small.

I got a good deal on these 96% tread 35”s and my pops worked at BFG plant making tires for 33 years.

 

[sahelzer]

JMack, reading thru Nolan’s thread in Tires and Wheels Tech and some local research seems 8” width is minimum recommend width for 35/315 tires. Sure with local hook-up exceptions to this rule could be made. I’m looking at Wheel Vintiques 16x10 rims for same Steelie with hubcap look on my FJ55. Now you got me thinking 17”

 

[bobm]

@npulver has 17s on his Pig . Pic of 17s on my Ford! Only 16.5 inch tires that can be had are used Humvee tires that cost a fortune $$

 

[RUSH55]

Cooper® Discoverer® STT PRO™: Truck Tire | Cooper Tire

Discoverer® STT Pro™ lets you go where others won’t. With Rock Climber Sidewall™ Technology helps conquer the toughest obstacles. Stone Armor™ Technology helps defend against sharp rocks and debris. Uniquely formulated rubber compound for outstanding performance in wet and dry off-road conditions.

us.coopertire.com

https://procompusa.com/tires-product-details.aspx?pt=101509&pl=109194&pqq=2284&pqa=14134

Here’s a couple more to add to the list. All the standard fare 15” sizes are there up to 35”. Yes, many less available in the metric sizes below 33” for 15’s. Looking at 35’s specifically or even 31’s and 33’s for most of the rest of this crowd, all the manufacturers are still producing for 15’s. For how long, who knows? I’ve been hearing them talk about phasing out 15’s for at least 10 years - still a fair sized market. Nothing wrong with planning ahead though. When they start talking about phasing out 17’s, you probably will have a hard time getting tires period. Well, some of us anyways...

 

[fj55-100]

Interested 17s may fix my brake overheat