Topic: Remember running 31s?

[H8PVMNT]

Are any of you guys old enough to remember when 31" tires were still big?    How about 33s?

I rember when 33s were big and 35s were just HUGE.   Those were the good old days for sure.  Funny enough, most of the best trails today were pioneered with relatively small rubber and maybe 1 locking diff.  Those guys had to really drive!

I am going to buy either set of 31s or a set of narrow 33s for my 1980 longbed sleeper mild trail/dd truck.  If you were going to run small tires on a rig like this what tire would you run if you wanted them to be fairly indestructible and good all around for everything from high speed dirt to mud, rocks and snow?

[bleakhorizon]

yup lol... i also remember my first lifted rig... 84 bronco II had a 6" lift and 31's that rubbed lol.....now there are stock rigs with 35's lol

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Hey I like your sig picture.  My buddy Ian and another guy were the first ones to dig under the cedar log enough to fit a Toyota under according to him.  That was back in the 90s when mostly only dirt bikes wheeled it through.  He was running 34" tsls back then . Not really hard but it sure is a cool trail driving under the log and all.  I miss TSF.  I want to take a few Montana buddies back to wheel up there and camp at the beach sometime.

[HDcruiser]

My first 4wd was a 1947 willys jeep. I had 31's with a power lock and drove it everywhere..I think i spent more time being towed for the first year than i did driving it on its own power.    I used to wish for 33's, and would tell my self that 33's would be the biggest tire i would ever need.  Well several jeeps later and about 15years later, here i am with 37's and want to step up to 40's..  funny how that works..

[bleakhorizon]

def love it up here....  only 30 minutes away for me lol...

btw.... found a pic of the beast lol



and another of ceder tree lol.. it is definitely one of those places that will not survive the test of time... mainly because of the natural material that will eventually rot away... it needs all the attention it can get.

those are 33s however

[muddytaco]

when i ran 31s on my tacoma i literally ran every single name brand tire they make, i have to say bfg mud terrains out last and out perform every one of them the next closest thing in my opinion were maxxis buckshots, way cheaper and not bad performance, i ran everything from good year wrangler rsas to boggers, and thats all i got to say about that 

[emsvitil]

As if it were only yesterday...............


 

[fade]

Ha I remember it like yesterday had a 3" bl s10 with 31s and a welded rear thought I was hot stuff. And then my last truck was a sas 91' truck with 36s and that was pretty decent, I wanna sas the runner with 33s and will probably end up going with bighorns or toyo m/ts even though their a lil on the $$$$ side they go for a long run.

[86bobbedtoy]

my first was a 79 3"bodylift 5"suspension and 35's
open F&R painted yellow.

if i saw the same now days, I would point and laugh.
I wheeled the piss out of it tho

[SloCrawler]

im rocking 31" boggers for now. haha

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

There is a truck in Great Falls that has the total vintage '80s show Toy build complete with like 4 chrome shocks per wheel, a step side bed, a V-8 and like 44" ground hogs...  Sadly its even a first gen.  That would have picked up all the chickies back in the day though...  I'll try to get a pic to post.

[8D3TOY]

I remember when I was getting a set of 33's put on my 1/2 ton Chevy at richard Cepek and this old dude strolls up to me and says "I don't know why your puttin such big tires on half ton axles, you are askin for trouble."  This was back in the day when there were five Toyotas out front sitting on 40" Gumbo Monster Mudders and Ground Hawgs.  For a good all around everything tire in that size I personally would go with a BFG product.

[250f4life]

I remember those days well. Had a ford ranger with 3inch BL and some 31 sport kings. I thought I was something. My buddies had full size chevys and 35 mud kings, I thought they were unstoppable. My yota started on 34ltb, 35 bfg mt, 36tsl, 37 Pitbull Rockers, 38sx's, and now 40 Mt/r's. 

[46&2]

No, however I do remember when 35s were considered "huge" when I was in high school.

It was funny, we recently went to get some brand new 31x10.50 BFG ATs at Sams Club in Sacramento for my old lady's 93 Extra cab. When I went in to order and pay for them, the guy asked me why I wanted such a "big, gnarly tire" and asked me "are you from the mountains or something?" He then asked me if I take it offroading and I was giggling imagining what he'd say if I brought my 4runner in to buy some 37s.

So I guess to some people, an all terrain in a 31 flavor can still be considered a "big", "gnarly" tire.

[Rocksurfer]

Yeah I remember how bad-ass I felt when I stepped up to 33's from 31's and then thought I was king when I put some 35's under my 84.

[*ROKTOY*]

DAYS OF A BYGONE ERA.

[Ironloki]

had 31x10.5 BFG KM's on my 96Taco.. it went everywhere, stock. i miss that truck. more importantly, I miss the 3RZ  

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Remember the old buckshots with the old style sizes... NR-78, I think it was like a 31x9.50.  I had a set on my pickup when it ws brand new in 1994.  They rode awesome.

[Snowtoy]

Yes, I do I remember those days.  Suspension technology was pretty much limited to stock, lift springs didn't flex at all.  Some were starting to run 35's, but most ran 33's and anyone on a rock trail w/44's would have been a laughing stock.  There certainly were a lot less people on the trails then as well, if you saw anyone at all it wasn't more than 5 rigs all day, no one was in a hurry, and everyone was friendly.  Unfortunately just like the tire size that has all changed as well.

I was by no means a pioneer of the trails, but I was a pioneer of wheeling Toyota trucks, and likely one of the first to take an IFS rig down Fordyce creek trail(Sierra Trek for those who know it through the event/magazines).  Back then it was Cruisers V. Jeeps, and they both believed the trucks didn't belong on the trail.  Here are a few thumbs of my pristine 7 month old dent/scratch free(at least at the beginning) rig w/open diffs running 31's on the upper section of Fordyce Creek Trail in August of 1990.

Top of Which hill 3(Or squeeze rock as I came to know it)

A lot of the old mining landmarks are now gone, and bypasses have been added since then.  However, even in stock form I made it with almost no body damage.  I had 3 2" long primer deep scratches over the right rear tire, and one dent in the lower air dam which occurred just as we were getting to committee crossing.

Unfortunately that is where the good luck ran out.  Committee X-ing was flowing rather high and fast, the 4' hole in the  middle swallowed the truck and it floated before it hit a rock hard enough to blow the right rear bead and ank up to the door handles.  If I was righting a Mastercard add it would be something like this, "One new truck: $25k($41-61K in todays dollars), one 9hr tow bill: $1200($2-3k) , one dealer repair bill: $4470($7300-11k), 8.5 hours to go 1.5 miles in the forest: Priceless.   I can laugh about it now, but having to abandon a brand new truck in the woods for 5 days w/o a clue of how to get it home, let alone repairing it, wasn't an enjoyable experience at the time.  Fortunately back then nobody touched abandoned rigs, unlike today where they part them out shoot them fool of holes or set fore to it.

Funny, it is about 3 weeks shy of 20yrs since that outing, and while I have 1000's miles and hours of trail time behind me, I can remember it like it was yesterday.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Fordyce on stock IFS with 31s...  and the pics to prove it!  That is exactly what I'm talking about.

[4x4yota]

thats awesome that the good stuff I remember when I would go wheling with my dad he had his 82 toyota 4x4 short bed w/2" add a leaf F/R and 31" ATs and we ran trails all over CO and my uncles jeep was always teh coolest cuz he had the grand cherokee (w/coils) 5" lift & 33s and that was extreme to me but my dads yota went everywhere that jeep did...


my uncle still has that jeep and I have my very own 81 toyota 4x4 short bed and Im stock suspension and 33s and now we still all wheel together we have good times together. I have friends that have built rigs and some are way over kill and some do it just cuz other do it I go by what works and whats necessary not whats popular andthats how it should be...

last time I was wheeling (couple weeks ago) there were all these guys in big jeeps and they were just rude and had no respect for fellow wheelers or the trail

[WHITE_TRASH]

Do I remember 31's on my rig?  Nope...  My first set of offroad tires were 32" tsl radials. 

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

I had those 32" tsl radials on my '94 back in 1996.  Boy did they feel big with stock gears and IFS!  By the time I was done they had big flappy peices of lugs hanging off of them...

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

last time I was wheeling (couple weeks ago) there were all these guys in big jeeps and they were just rude and had no respect for fellow wheelers or the trail

I know, common courtesey and common sense good manners on the trail these days has gone down the toilet...  So has driving skill. Too many a-holes with too much $$ I guess.

[Snowtoy]

You can thank rock racing, Top Truck Challenge, and the evolution of suspension technology for that.  While The TTP and Rock racing events are fun/exciting to watch, that type of driving style and attitude towards rock crawling doesn't belong on public trails anymore than driving a Nascar race car on the street does.

Eventhough Jeeps and FJ's didn't think the mini-trucks belonged on their trails when I started wheeling, at least they respected us, and eventually accepted us, for our driving skill.  However, had we showed up with the "Go Big or Go Home" "Throttle Down" attitude that is so prevelant amongst the newbies(since 2000), it would have been a whole different story, and they would have been right to tell us to get lost.

[4x4yota]

all I have to say is if you want to be an @$$ then go play in top truck challenge and rock racing dont ruin it for the rest of us

[laskt9]

ah i remember running them on my truck. for a day. until this happened.

[crazykooter]

Thats a interesting way to clearance your fender well.   

[laskt9]

my friends logic on that was a little flawed

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

I kind of like the discussion that was going on ths one so I thought I would revive it.

Here I am wheeing the 35" and up course at out local rock crawl venue with my treadwright 31s on the work truck...