WooHoo!! They're finally in!!
As some of you may know, we had been trying to get our hands on a set of 40" Nitto Trail Grappler for some time now but apparently, there simply aren't any to be had anywhere. After making a few calls to see when we might be able to get a set, I found that it would be at least 2 months before we would even have a remote idea on an ETA. Needless to say, Cindy and I decided that we either looked at an alternative solution or bench Moby for the rest of the winter wheeling season and that wasn't something we wanted to do.
After calling up Discount Tire Direct to see what we could get in a 40" tire, we found that the only thing available was a Goodyear MT/R with Kevlar (what a surprise). Having run them in the past, there was no way we would run them again as we found them to be without question, the WORST tires we have ever run. Of course, this is not to say that we didn't want to love them as they really are a great "looking" tire but, we could never get them balance right, found them to track funny on pavement, found them to be unpredictable on the rocks and found them to have weak sidewalls. So, I asked if there was any chance they could help me get a hold of a set of Toyo Open Country M/T's. These are great tires we had run in the past, ones that we loved and now that they are offered in a 40x13.50R17, they should practically be just like Nitto Trail Grapplers. After all, Toyo is the parent company of Nitto and make their tires in the same factory. And, being that we don't know of anyone who's run this new size, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity for us to test them out.
As luck would have it, we soon found that "Discount Tire Direct" does NOT sell Toyo's but that our local "Discount Tire Store" might be able to help us out. After making a few calls, our rep let us know that he might just be able to scrounge up 5 tires from around the country and so we ordered them up. Today, we got a call saying that all 5 were finally in! Here are some shots that we took from this morning
Being that it would be near impossible to load up five 40x13.50 Toyo's in Moby, we decided to employ Rusty to lend a hand.
Here we are picking up the new tires at our local Discount Tire store.
Back at Camp WAYALIFE with Moby's new shoes.
Looks like they're gonna fit just fine.
Stacked up in the garage until we can get them mounted on Moby's new wheels.
Oh, did I just mention something about new wheels for Moby? As luck would have it, FedEx just came by a few minutes ago as well and dropped these off - A set of brand new ATX Chamber Pro II
Yeah baby - look at that BLING!!
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with the ATX Slabs Moby is running now, we figured that if we're gonna run a new and different set of tires, maybe it was time to run a different set of wheels as well. Of course, after installing a set of Chamber Pro II's on Rubicat, Cindy and I fell in love with them and knew we had to get a set for Moby as well. Anyway, just thought I would share and will be sure to post up pics of what it all looks like after we get them installed. Now - I just gotta find some time to install them :crazyeyes:
UPDATE 04/06/15
You know, some days are just better than the rest and really, today just happened to be one of those days. Being that I have so much to do on Moby to get him ready for our upcoming Moab trip, Cindy decided to take it upon herself to get our new bigass and super heavy 40x13.50 Toyo MT's mounted onto our new big and heavy ATX Chamber Pro II's!!
Here's a shot of all the wheels and tires ready to get installed.
Cindy installing the new valve stems.
Working the new wheels onto the new tires.
Flipping the tire over and positioning it on top of a bucket.
Here she is pounding the bead lip onto the edge of the wheel to help provide proper seating of the ring.
And the best part right here, me taking a photo of her working tirelessly as she slowly goes around tightening ALL the bolts by hand until they are at the proper torque spec! My arms and back are killing me just watching her
Finishing up by filling up the tire with some air until the back of the tire is seated on the bead.
The 1st of 5 done.
And here are ALL 5
Yes my friends, Cindy is a keeper
INSTALLED
Just finished mounting everything up - check it out!!
Just went on a test drive and even at 80 MPH+, no shimmy or vibrations what so ever and there's not an ounce of weight on any of the wheels. Toyos ROCK!! :rock:
As some of you may know, we had been trying to get our hands on a set of 40" Nitto Trail Grappler for some time now but apparently, there simply aren't any to be had anywhere. After making a few calls to see when we might be able to get a set, I found that it would be at least 2 months before we would even have a remote idea on an ETA. Needless to say, Cindy and I decided that we either looked at an alternative solution or bench Moby for the rest of the winter wheeling season and that wasn't something we wanted to do.
After calling up Discount Tire Direct to see what we could get in a 40" tire, we found that the only thing available was a Goodyear MT/R with Kevlar (what a surprise). Having run them in the past, there was no way we would run them again as we found them to be without question, the WORST tires we have ever run. Of course, this is not to say that we didn't want to love them as they really are a great "looking" tire but, we could never get them balance right, found them to track funny on pavement, found them to be unpredictable on the rocks and found them to have weak sidewalls. So, I asked if there was any chance they could help me get a hold of a set of Toyo Open Country M/T's. These are great tires we had run in the past, ones that we loved and now that they are offered in a 40x13.50R17, they should practically be just like Nitto Trail Grapplers. After all, Toyo is the parent company of Nitto and make their tires in the same factory. And, being that we don't know of anyone who's run this new size, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity for us to test them out.
As luck would have it, we soon found that "Discount Tire Direct" does NOT sell Toyo's but that our local "Discount Tire Store" might be able to help us out. After making a few calls, our rep let us know that he might just be able to scrounge up 5 tires from around the country and so we ordered them up. Today, we got a call saying that all 5 were finally in! Here are some shots that we took from this morning
Being that it would be near impossible to load up five 40x13.50 Toyo's in Moby, we decided to employ Rusty to lend a hand.
Here we are picking up the new tires at our local Discount Tire store.
Back at Camp WAYALIFE with Moby's new shoes.
Looks like they're gonna fit just fine.
Stacked up in the garage until we can get them mounted on Moby's new wheels.
Oh, did I just mention something about new wheels for Moby? As luck would have it, FedEx just came by a few minutes ago as well and dropped these off - A set of brand new ATX Chamber Pro II
Yeah baby - look at that BLING!!
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with the ATX Slabs Moby is running now, we figured that if we're gonna run a new and different set of tires, maybe it was time to run a different set of wheels as well. Of course, after installing a set of Chamber Pro II's on Rubicat, Cindy and I fell in love with them and knew we had to get a set for Moby as well. Anyway, just thought I would share and will be sure to post up pics of what it all looks like after we get them installed. Now - I just gotta find some time to install them :crazyeyes:
UPDATE 04/06/15
You know, some days are just better than the rest and really, today just happened to be one of those days. Being that I have so much to do on Moby to get him ready for our upcoming Moab trip, Cindy decided to take it upon herself to get our new bigass and super heavy 40x13.50 Toyo MT's mounted onto our new big and heavy ATX Chamber Pro II's!!
Here's a shot of all the wheels and tires ready to get installed.
Cindy installing the new valve stems.
Working the new wheels onto the new tires.
Flipping the tire over and positioning it on top of a bucket.
Here she is pounding the bead lip onto the edge of the wheel to help provide proper seating of the ring.
And the best part right here, me taking a photo of her working tirelessly as she slowly goes around tightening ALL the bolts by hand until they are at the proper torque spec! My arms and back are killing me just watching her
Finishing up by filling up the tire with some air until the back of the tire is seated on the bead.
The 1st of 5 done.
And here are ALL 5
Yes my friends, Cindy is a keeper
INSTALLED
Just finished mounting everything up - check it out!!
Just went on a test drive and even at 80 MPH+, no shimmy or vibrations what so ever and there's not an ounce of weight on any of the wheels. Toyos ROCK!! :rock: