Wheels and tyres

[Terry]

Hi,

I was wondering what the three of you are organising in the way of wheels and tyres for the trip? Are you all running the same rims, tyre sizes, how many spares are you carrying each and what tyres are you intending to use?

I am doing a bit of thinking for DS's tyres at the moment and was thinking others watching the progress of your builds might be interested also to see what you are planning and why.

Terry

[spider]

Hi Terry,

I did get the SP85's for the wife's Moke to trial. I haven't had time to do many miles on them yet, however, what I have learned so far;-

Grip - I really could not believe the difference they made. It was huge, really huge. Where you'd be going up a light gravelly slope, spinning all the way (after a run up) and not even sure if you'd make it, now, no spinning what so ever, no run up and may even be able to stop and start off again. Truely unbelievable.

Noise - I expected them to be noisy on paved roads, but surprisingly, they are no worse than a normal road tyre, however, off road they are noisy. Every little stone they do flick up in the wheel arches.

Construction - apart from the tread pattern, they do have a very solid, strong side wall, so may not damage as easy as some tyres. May not. Unfortunately the only compound that I could get these in was 'Soft'. I was hoping for a 'Medium' or 'Hard'. I understand 'Mediums' are still made, but 'Hard' are not. So I expect life to be short and it is for this unknown quantity that I won't be running with these on this trip.

I also would not run with these if I was doing sand or fine soft ground driving, they'd be hopeless, would dig in on these surfaces, but I think you'd already know that.

I am considering SP83's if I can get them in a medium. I'll only be carrying one spare and I think the other two guys are carrying a spare each. I'll also have a repair kit.

Just a little further on spares. I would have changed my wheel studs from 3/8" to 7/16". I'm sure you've broken wheel studs on trips, a fairly common nuisance problem I recon, and I feel going just 'one size up' would cure this problem, however I haven't done that as the spares my fellow travels have would no longer fit my Moke. I don't think it fair that I also ask them to up-grade, because I have and this is also not the only trip that I hope to do.

Getting back to tyres, if I don't run with SP83's, I'll look in to light truck tyres (Pete Power found some) and heavy construction road tyres. A larger portion of this trip will not warrant expensive off road tyres, however, when off road, I need to balance that against what is needed.

[Halfpint]

Hi,
I'll be running with std sunraisiers and only carrying 1 spare.
We will have puncture kits as well.
With Tyres, I'll be using a Maxxis brand and going with a MA 751.
http://www.indigo-tyreservice.com.au/site/product_info?style=MA-751


A bit of a review, more from larger vehicles though. But still a good indicator.
http://www.productreview.com.au/p/maxxis-ma-751-bravo-series.html


My friend at Indigo Tyre Service tells me they will be well suited, being designed for a 70% on road and 30% off road.
The tread is fairly aggressive but not sure about road noise. I'm told their not too bad
They are being fitted now, and should have 2 here this week.


Cheers

[sa mokin]

Im running Dragway Mags with 185/70-13 inch tyres - dont know what brand and don't care - I thought I would be in the control group to see whether tyre selection has any bearing at all into the reliability of the cars on the trip.

[spider]

Hi,
I'll be running with std sunraisiers and only carrying 1 spare.
We will have puncture kits as well.
With Tyres, I'll be using a Maxxis brand and going with a MA 751.
http://www.indigo-tyreservice.com.au/site/product_info?style=MA-751


A bit of a review, more from larger vehicles though. But still a good indicator.
http://www.productreview.com.au/p/maxxis-ma-751-bravo-series.html


My friend at Indigo Tyre Service tells me they will be well suited, being designed for a 70% on road and 30% off road.
The tread is fairly aggressive but not sure about road noise. I'm told their not too bad
They are being fitted now, and should have 2 here this week.


Cheers

These look good - I didn't know that we could get them in our size.

Under serious consideration.

Thanks HP

[Terry]

Something that came up when I was at Tony's the other day. Spares. When you went up, how many did you guys carry and what would you suggest an appropriate number of spares that we should carry?

Each of the Mokes, three, had one spare tyre but Andy was running different rims and light truck tyres while Kinga and I were running 3 Toyo's for the dirt and road tyres for the bitumen. We had two punctures, sidewalls, and I killed a set of road tyres on the way up due to an alignment issue until i got to Roma.

On our trip to Birdsville last year South Australia had the worse roads, Queensland the best, so really not sure what you can expect up to Birdsville if you are going up the Track.

When on the Cape, the main roads are solid and tend to be mostly hard, but when you get off the main road heading down the side tracks and check out the sights the surface changes to white beach type sand that has lots of twigs and bracken and with the low tyre pressure it makes the sidewalls vulnerable.  On the main road we ran at 22-24psi and I had a little play in a patch of really soft stuff at 10psi and that was when one twig jumped up and staked the tyre.

On the main road up you can do it with road tyres and I doubt you will have a problem but once you detour into the sights or go exploring that is when you will really appreciate sidewall protection.

So to answer your question as to how many, at least one each and if you have the room and weight allowance consider one or two more between you and maybe a tube or two. I carry a sticky bit tyre repair kit also and at least one tube but when the sidewall gets staked the tube is the only thing to get you out of there.

Terry

[spider]

Terry, I still haven't as yet done anything about tyres but will very soon have to, or there'll be sparks all the way to the Cape!

One thing that will influence my choice more than anything that you maybe able to help with here: Creek Crossings on the Cape. When you went up, what types of crossings do you find most of, Sand, Mud, Rocks, combinations?

[Terry]

Terry, I still haven't as yet done anything about tyres but will very soon have to, or there'll be sparks all the way to the Cape!

One thing that will influence my choice more than anything that you maybe able to help with here: Creek Crossings on the Cape. When you went up, what types of crossings do you find most of, Sand, Mud, Rocks, combinations?

Concrete, bridges and a boat.

Seriously there wasn't any you couldn't do in a Smart car if you want to but that was on the main road up. Archer River was a concrete floodway arrangement and a lot of the smaller crossings had been cemented through the base and the deeper ones they were installing large diameter concrete pipes, 3 or 4 per crossing and building the road over the top of them so we had a coupe of places we crossed on the 20m bypass track but they were nicely graded and recently made while the work went on installing the pipes. A cyclone a few months earlier had knocked out a lot of the crossing so they had ben repaired for the long term in mind.

On the track to the top there was one creek where we came across two English guys in a rent a Camper with the video camera out as they ploughed the 4wd Brits bucket through water lapping at the top of the wheels. I wandered through the crossing on the other side to them and then drove the Moke through with the water barely getting the rims wet. I think the English guys probably removed that bit of footage before they got home.

At Fruit Bat falls the crossing you can easily get to on the OTT is a dirt and gravel base but nothing the locals even slowed down for and depending on water levels you should be able to drive through it. At the other OTT crossing we camped at further north, the crossing was large boulders rounded off by the river so it was more about picking a way through and man handling the Mokes if you dropped into the hole.

The Jardine was an expensive 2 minute punt ride across.

For tyres I think the biggest risk is side wall damage in the soft sand.

Terry
 

[spider]

Terry, thanks heaps! 

I'll likely run with Road Tyres, but still haven't as yet made up my mind.

[spider]

OK, I received some experienced advice from a bloke who regularly does some of the Bash events. On his advice I have had fitted the Goodyear Wrangler DT's. I've only done a few Kms on them - on and semi-off road and I am immediately very impressed. I'm not at all sure how they will be in the wet on paved surfaces, but I'm sure to find out!