Tall Skinny Mud Tires Who's got them?

[morgan71]

Well I have had this truck for about a year now and its finally time to build it or sell it. Its a 67 GMC rebuilt 350, SM465 and NP205. All that stuff was swapped in by the previous owner. I bought it to do a body swap onto but after further investigation this body is in really good shape. It was an Arkansas truck so not much rust at all. I guess What I need is some good ideas of where to start, something to do to get this thing started off. Maybe someone could photoshop this thing for me. I have been looking for a set of wheels and tires but havent found anything I really like just yet. I was thinking some mt classic wheels 16x8 with some tall skinny tires mud terrain tires. Could you guys post up some pics of tall narrow tires?

[Mudder]

Not many trucks around here with tall narrow tires. Most of that kind of tire is found on boggers. Most of the street/off road trucks have a wider tread.

[DirtyLarry]

I run’em Q78x16 Super Swamper TSL. Q78’s are close to a 35.5 x 10

Best dang tire you can buy for my type of wheeling. The tire is the perfect height, narrow enough to keep the fat full-size truck on the narrow wagon/Jeep trails in the high country and they cut through the snow like a razor blade plus they do not rub the fenders. Not to mention, tall skinny tires give an much better overall driving experience than wide tires that leave a truck wondering all over the highway at cruise speeds.

The tall narrow tires even wear halfway decent….even Super Swampers. Been running this set since 2001 and just got a fresh a few weeks ago from 4 Wheel Parts that will be mounted next week for our big desert trip coming up in July. Wide mudders are over rated for real world wheeling in my opinion unless you are running the tank trap at the local mud bog.

Also ran 9.00 X 16’s in the past with the same feelings but the Q78’s are about an inch or so taller.

I run tall skinny's all terrain's on a 2005 Silverado HD as well. They are 255/85R16 Cooper Discoverer S/T, which is a 33 x 10. Great tires so far. I like them much better than the 285/75R16's on my other Silverado.



Fresh meat

[onlyifihadachevy]

if you really want a tall skinny tire run that or the skinny 35 bogger they make and i think running the wider tires helps being for stable on the highway at least the ones mounted on wider rims. But when you get the wide tire and a narrow rim and tire looks like it has a big tube in it or is sucked in then you get a little scary.

[Dooley]

I run 255/85-16 BFG Mud's on this truck,(33.3" tall) with stock wheels. No lift kit or body trimming needed. No rubbing anywhere.

[powerdriver 1958]

Not so skinny on this right now but will be going to a skinnier bogger when my money lets me these are 38' Super Swampers 12.50 on 16.5 10' wheels

[Yukon Jack]

Here's the skinny tires on my K5 but they aren't that tall

[Walts_restoration]

I run a 235/85/r16 mounted on factory optioned 16x5.5 steelies, 5x5 bolt pattern. Although my trucks not a 4x4, ive been looking for one to either swap frames on or make my truck and retire this one (shes alot rougher now after years of daily driving, this is when i first put the wheels and tires on). I also run the factory dog dish hubcaps. If i trail my 86 k5, i will also be looking at talls and skinnys, but that will be after a lift and 3/4 ton swap.



as it sits now

[morgan71]

Are those 16.5 bias ply YUKON Jack? Those are the style I want. I found some 900-16's on ebay but they are like 37 inches tall, a little too much for my future 4 inch lift. Heres the link for them. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/900-1...4506.m20.l1116

[84 400]

yeah nothing like tall skinnys in the snow!

[Yukon Jack]

No, my tires are 16"s - these are General tires that are pretty old even though they have tons of tread. I know this specific tire is not a tire that General currently makes.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by morgan71

Are those 16.5 bias ply YUKON Jack? Those are the style I want. I found some 900-16's on ebay but they are like 37 inches tall, a little too much for my future 4 inch lift. Heres the link for them. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/900-1...4506.m20.l1116

9.00 x 16’s are not 37” tall. My dad ran 9.00 x 16’s on our K20 wrecker from the late 70’s through the mid 90’s and they came in around 34.5”. I supposed overall diameter will vary depending on the tire manufacturer. Although 11.00 x 16's may be close to 37" if you can even find them these days.

My dad only ran “Super King” tires which were a tube type bias ply commercial version of Gumbo Mudders. I ran an old worn out set from the wrecker on my K10 in the late 90's for a while in college and they are definitly smaller than Q78's I currently run.

Here are a two crummy pictures of them.

Picture from around 1981 or so.


Picture from around 1989 or 90.


Still have the truck today and still wearing a very old dry rotted set of Super King 9.00 x 16’s today although the truck has been parked since 1997.

[Walts_restoration]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

9.00 x 16’s are not 37” tall. My dad ran 9.00 x 16’s on our K20 wrecker from the late 70’s through the mid 90’s and they came in around 34.5”. I supposed overall diameter will vary depending on the tire manufacturer. Although 11.00 x 16's may be close to 37" if you can even find them these days.

My dad only ran “Super King” tires which were a tube type bias ply commercial version of Gumbo Mudders. I ran an old worn out set from the wrecker on my K10 in the late 90's for a while in college and they are definitly smaller than Q78's I currently run.

Everytime i see either your truck or one of his, especially that wrecker, i cant help but admire. Ive got a thing for tow trucks i guess, trucks that are built to work and carry a purpose.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Walts_restoration

Everytime i see either your truck or one of his, especially that wrecker, i cant help but admire. Ive got a thing for tow trucks i guess, trucks that are built to work and carry a purpose.

Thanks! I hear ya. I tears me up to see our old wrecker just sitting boiling in the sun. Dad bought it brand new from Williams Chevrolet in Colorado Springs in December 1977. Heck, I learned how to drive in that truck. I want to bring it home so badly but my wife will go bananas when I do as she knows it will become the next money pit. She knows I will eventually do something with it though as there is a lot of sentimental value I have tied to it. The build is inevitable

Once I get rid of this stupid Corvair van hiding in behind my garage I should be able to go get it. I even have a 454HO with only 4,000 miles on it out of my K10 from when I did the 8.1L swap waiting to go into the wrecker. The wrecker currently has a 427 tall block from a medium duty truck that the old man spun the bearings in after I moved away to Detroit. That tall deck 427 will pull down a house but will probably cost a fortune to fix. Now I am home….I want the truck and dad want me to have it too!

Here is me next to it before it was a wrecker. Picture probably from 1978 sometime. Looks to have the original 7.00 x 16's then.

[DirtyLarry]

Not a very good picture of a set of a Kelly Springfield Safari 255/85R16 tires on our old 1991 chassis cab GMC K3500 tow truck (we were a Kelly Springfield tire dealer at the time). The tires sucked and so did the truck. GM IFS does not work well in a 1 ton 4x4 wrecker. No wonder why all the wreckers today are Ford Stupid Duties.

This truck was totaled in an accident with only 19,000 miles on the clock when I got rear ended by a semi on I-25 in 1992. The economy was bad then, like today, and dad never replaced it and continued to run AAA calls with the ’78 K20 wrecker until 1997 when the business when south and he shut down the shop and retired.

This truck carried the heritage from our original wrecker even down to the 70’s Colonial Yellow paint accent and tall skinny tires.

[Walts_restoration]

Ended up finding a picture of our 300k mile farmtruck, 350/th350/203 3/4 ton 4x4. Not sure what tires, but im guessing stock sized 7.00x16s sound right.



I still love that tow truck, would be worth it to get it back running i think, you have lots of history with it, but id keep the wrecker part just for fun! Im just like my old man, i like the oddball stuff, whether it be a 57 ice cream truck, 56 v8 bus gm claims they didnt build (said they only built v8 buses starting in 57, but v8 in the vincode), 68 c40 tilt cab another gm said they didnt make, and lots of other oddball stuff, oh and our 64 c40 wrecker!

How much did your q78x16s set you back if you dont mind me asking? and what width of wheel do you have? I love the look of stock steelies and dog dishes, why i ask, and i was thinking about looking for some 16x10s or having a set widened. What brakes you running under them too? Heck, do you have a build thread i can just start posting these on, dont want to hijack tall and skinny thread.

[DirtyLarry]

Odd ball stuff is cool!

4 x Q78’s were $878 delivered to my door by way of 4 Wheel Parts via UPS. Pricy tires but the truck is just a toy that gets very low mileage per year. The last set last 7 years, which still have a bit of tread wear and will become spares for our trip to AZ.

If you are interested in Q78 Swampers, you better hurry. It sounds like Interco might ditch the size due to low volumes. My 4 Super Swamper Q78’s came from 3 different 4WP locations while the date code on one tire goes back as far as 36 months. I actually got one tire one day, another a few weeks later and two more after. I ordered them in May.

The wheels are 16x7 Discount Tire house brand elceapo Alcoa knockoffs. I am wanting to change to black steel wheels soon as the whole shinny thing has got to go on this truck (the whole urban bling bling thing ruined my fondness of anything shinny)

No build thread, my ’78 K10 has been 14 years in the making. PM me some time if you have any questions.

[dammitmitchell]

can i post "non directionals?"

[msgross]

Not mud tires but these are AT's 33x10.5x15 on MT classic II's.

[special-K]

Here`s 255/85-16s on a`92.I had to go to 285/75s when I replaced these because BFG M/Ts were the only ones we could locate that were still made.Too bad for a great tire size.Noticeably less rolling resistance compared to 285/75s...less fuel consumption.Isn`t that what the world needs these days?

[bowtier]

34x10.50x16 Swamper LTB's. If you want tall & skinny in a swamper, the LTB's seem to have the best choice of sizes.

[morgan71]

Larry I like those q78's. Are they Bias? I am thinking I am gonna stick with radials as I will be towing a heavy trailer from time to time. I see the have the tsl in a radial 35/10.5/16. They arent cheap though.

[gerfunken]

I've seen some military based (non-directional) tires here which would fit the bill....

http://www.stausaonline.com/military/index.html

[57NAPCO]

I like tall skinny, my 65 bug

7.50X15

[68,69 K20]

^ Love that bug!!