Tire size, wheel Size & Regearing

[Dilldog]

That's a cool set up you have.
As far as the work on the truck goes, replacing shocks is never a bad idea, they are a wear item. But unless the truck seems to be bouncing after you hit a bump, you see wetness on the shocks or you see places in the tire tread that are worn more than others running across the tire the shocks are probably good to go. As far as your tire pictures go, that's from running the tires against things like curbs. So long as there's no bulges or anything deeper than 1/32 or so of an inch I wouldn't worry about it. If you end up with bulges or anything resembling a tear, especially if you see chords, get them changed ASAP as they have crossed into unsafe territory. Also feel the tires after running on the highway for a while. If it's hot to touch it's a sign of not enough air pressure or a failing tire. They will be warm, but if they get so hot you can't keep your hand on the sidewall, something is wrong.
Really sucks about taxes up there, Canadians literally pay twice as much as we do for most car parts.

 

[Amanda C]

That's a cool set up you have.
As far as the work on the truck goes, replacing shocks is never a bad idea, they are a wear item. But unless the truck seems to be bouncing after you hit a bump, you see wetness on the shocks or you see places in the tire tread that are worn more than others running across the tire the shocks are probably good to go. As far as your tire pictures go, that's from running the tires against things like curbs. So long as there's no bulges or anything deeper than 1/32 or so of an inch I wouldn't worry about it. If you end up with bulges or anything resembling a tear, especially if you see chords, get them changed ASAP as they have crossed into unsafe territory. Also feel the tires after running on the highway for a while. If it's hot to touch it's a sign of not enough air pressure or a failing tire. They will be warm, but if they get so hot you can't keep your hand on the sidewall, something is wrong.
Really sucks about taxes up there, Canadians literally pay twice as much as we do for most car parts.

Hi Dillon,

Thanks for the reply, nice to hear from you and shame we could not meet last year, how are you keeping? Glad you like the rig, I have been working flat out on the build and only this weekend did i get a chance to relax a litthe and take the time to appreciate what i have created something lIke 500 hours invested since mid Jan 2020.

I will be take her on the highway tonight and see what temp they feel and let you know.

Do you think if the tyres are not hot I should leave things as they are for now?


what do you think about the shock suggestion, the truck seems to handle fine, i went to a mechanic to get my rear lights installed as i was having issues figuring out the wiring! He said i should inflate my rear tires to 74PSi and keep my front tyres at 34PSi to help with the weight, he also adjusted my headlights! The truck seems fine handling wise , going round corners or in pot holes.

suggested items:- 911501 :: e-Catalog :: MONROE® SHOCKS & STRUTS & 911502 :: e-Catalog :: MONROE® SHOCKS & STRUTS


What about the leveling kit? - Need a Lift? Truxxx Leveling Kits Will Have You Riding High

Its a lot of money to spend, which I dont mind, just dont want to spend it on the wrong things or without careful consideration that it will improve my rig!

Thanks again for your assistance and patienice with a newbie!

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Hi Dillon,

Thanks for the reply, nice to hear from you and shame we could not meet last year, how are you keeping? Glad you like the rig, I have been working flat out on the build and only this weekend did i get a chance to relax a litthe and take the time to appreciate what i have created something lIke 500 hours invested since mid Jan 2020.

I will be take her on the highway tonight and see what temp they feel and let you know.

Do you think if the tyres are not hot I should leave things as they are for now?


what do you think about the shock suggestion, the truck seems to handle fine, i went to a mechanic to get my rear lights installed as i was having issues figuring out the wiring! He said i should inflate my rear tires to 74PSi and keep my front tyres at 34PSi to help with the weight, he also adjusted my headlights! The truck seems fine handling wise , going round corners or in pot holes.

suggested items:- 911501 :: e-Catalog :: MONROE® SHOCKS & STRUTS & 911502 :: e-Catalog :: MONROE® SHOCKS & STRUTS


What about the leveling kit? - Need a Lift? Truxxx Leveling Kits Will Have You Riding High

Its a lot of money to spend, which I dont mind, just dont want to spend it on the wrong things or without careful consideration that it will improve my rig!

Thanks again for your assistance and patience with a newbie!

Amanda, if you can possibly wait until you come down into the states to buy the tires and shock you will save half the cost.
The prices you mentioned are outrageous by my standards. That other half you save will buy a lot of camp equipment including a solar system. I really like that camper build. Good luck, stay safe awhile longer. This will be history before too long IMO.

 

[Amanda C]

Amanda, if you can possibly wait until you come down into the states to buy the tires and shock you will save half the cost.
The prices you mentioned are outrageous by my standards. That other half you save will buy a lot of camp equipment including a solar system. I really like that camper build. Good luck, stay safe awhile longer. This will be history before too long IMO.

Hi Jim,

I appreciate your advice, I think I can get better Shocks etc than Monroe, I hope to be able to get back to the USA and high desert trails, that i was looking forward to exploring. Hope that we meet one day! Keep safe and sane in these crazy times!

 

[Dilldog]

One thing to bear in mind as a Canadian buying parts in the US. You will still need to pay the tax upon crossing the boarder back home unless it is a major failure. Major failure is largely subjective to the RCMP without lots of documentation. Being a truck mechanic relatively close to the boarder I deal with this a lot. I cannot count how many Canadian drivers have run an engine literally to death because turning an engine into scrap and getting it rebuilt in the US is cheaper than a smaller repair in Canada. Perfect example about 2 years ago a driver had a valve drop in a CAT C15 in his Kenworth. It would have cost him 50K for a new cylinder head in Canada. He drove it a further 100 or so miles literally destroying the engine and pulled into my shop, full rebuild with dyno run for 48K.
There are ways to get around this, but you need to land in the right shop to get the right things documented. Its really a shame, I love Canada and would some day like to return and see where my family first homesteaded in the Americas, but man the taxes...
To Add: @Amanda C to answer your questions (sorry got on a tangent there), I think the tire pressure advice is probably sound, looking at your pickup I would run the rear tires at full recommended pressure listed on the tire sidewall, youre obviously under full if not a little over full load. Pressure in the fronts is a little harder to just throw out there, if it seems to be handling fine where its at the tires arent getting hot youre good. As far as the other tire question, I would run em, the damage in those photos appears to be superficial. For shocks, theres basically two companies that make everything, Monroe and Gabriel. I have run both with good results. Honestly unless you are doing serious off road or high performance driving a basic shock is all you need. However since you are hauling around a fair amount of weight I would try to get shocks listed as "fleet". They will be just a little heavier duty but not too much more money. For "lift" on your pickup what I would do is just adjust the torsion bars. If Im not mistaken that vintage of GM pickup should still be a torsion bar front end. Theres an adjustment bolt at the rear of the torsion bar. Typically you can get about 3/4" to 1" of lift using that without too much detriment to the ride. Doing this does reduce the amount of downward travel out of the front end so it can negatively impact ride quality, but that usually only happens when you go beyond about 1" of lift. This is kinda a "back woods" thing to do but I know TONS of guys who have done this because its cheap and it works. I have had GM front ends get 2" of lift just adjusting the torsion bars, you just have to be careful how far you go to make sure theres still some downward suspension travel. Then for the rear I would just throw some add a leafs at it to keep it front squatting so bad.

 

[Amanda C]

One thing to bear in mind as a Canadian buying parts in the US. You will still need to pay the tax upon crossing the boarder back home unless it is a major failure. Major failure is largely subjective to the RCMP without lots of documentation. Being a truck mechanic relatively close to the boarder I deal with this a lot. I cannot count how many Canadian drivers have run an engine literally to death because turning an engine into scrap and getting it rebuilt in the US is cheaper than a smaller repair in Canada. Perfect example about 2 years ago a driver had a valve drop in a CAT C15 in his Kenworth. It would have cost him 50K for a new cylinder head in Canada. He drove it a further 100 or so miles literally destroying the engine and pulled into my shop, full rebuild with dyno run for 48K.
There are ways to get around this, but you need to land in the right shop to get the right things documented. Its really a shame, I love Canada and would some day like to return and see where my family first homesteaded in the Americas, but man the taxes...
To Add: @Amanda C to answer your questions (sorry got on a tangent there), I think the tire pressure advice is probably sound, looking at your pickup I would run the rear tires at full recommended pressure listed on the tire sidewall, youre obviously under full if not a little over full load. Pressure in the fronts is a little harder to just throw out there, if it seems to be handling fine where its at the tires arent getting hot youre good. As far as the other tire question, I would run em, the damage in those photos appears to be superficial. For shocks, theres basically two companies that make everything, Monroe and Gabriel. I have run both with good results. Honestly unless you are doing serious off road or high performance driving a basic shock is all you need. However since you are hauling around a fair amount of weight I would try to get shocks listed as "fleet". They will be just a little heavier duty but not too much more money. For "lift" on your pickup what I would do is just adjust the torsion bars. If Im not mistaken that vintage of GM pickup should still be a torsion bar front end. Theres an adjustment bolt at the rear of the torsion bar. Typically you can get about 3/4" to 1" of lift using that without too much detriment to the ride. Doing this does reduce the amount of downward travel out of the front end so it can negatively impact ride quality, but that usually only happens when you go beyond about 1" of lift. This is kinda a "back woods" thing to do but I know TONS of guys who have done this because its cheap and it works. I have had GM front ends get 2" of lift just adjusting the torsion bars, you just have to be careful how far you go to make sure theres still some downward suspension travel. Then for the rear I would just throw some add a leafs at it to keep it front squatting so bad.

Hi Dillon, thanks for the advice,plenty things to consider, I monitor the tyer temp and handling for the next few days and put off changing anything until i get back to base and hopefully can head south to USA to get the work done, I hope you get to visit family in Canada one day! Ill be in touch again shortly, thanks for all you help and time. :-)

 

[4xphillips]

Hi there,

just thought I’d jump in and add my experience, as I have a very similar truck/camper to you and have done a ton of research as well as some recent upgrades that have been very helpful. For reference, my truck is a 2004 Silverado 1500 z71 crew cab and I have a pop up cab over camper. Here are my comments/observations on the things that I picked up reading this thread.
1) gearing: as others have said, check the RPO code in the glove box. The RPO code starting with “GT” followed by a single digit number will tell you your gearing. My truck for example has GT5, so I googled it and it’s 4.10. 4.10 and 285/70r17 is plenty of power so I’d imagine 3.73 would be just fine as well.

2) suspension/leveling kit/tires. I had torsion Key leveling kit cranked to about ~2.5” of lift running 285/70r17 For a few years. No rubbing. The truck rode absolutely terribly, but I also had shocks that were well overdue replacement so that probably didn’t help. I recently did a coilover swap from Atomic Fab and Performance and WOW what a difference. I didn’t gain any wheel travel, but the truck is actually using the ~6-8” of wheel travel that it has. The kit was $1000 and I installed myself but I don’t know what that means for the Canadian prices.

3) the suggested service: again I don’t know anything at all about Canadian priced but $1000+ for very basic shocks is mind blowing. I just put fox 2.0 on the rear of my truck and the shocks themselves were only $265 for the pair (again, installed myself). And those have also improved ride quality 10 fold since my old shocks were shot.

4)Payload/power. I saw somebody earlier talking about adding 100 HP for off-roading. I off-road quite a bit and my normal camping setup has ~1800lbs in the bed. I have never thought to myself that I need more power out of the 5.3. As far as putting all of the weight in the bed of the truck with your camper, I put some $250 air springs that were direct bolt on and they help a TON with handling and ride quality. I saw that somebody suggested the overload leaf and that is a great idea as well, but I like the air spring because you can deflate them if you take your camper off. Important for me, may not matter to you.

5) wheels. I’ve considered dropping down from 17” to 16” because it does give you some more rubber on the trails, especially aired down. If you go with a torsion key leveling kit or the coilover swap like I did you will still be able to run your stock 16’s. I believe when you start getting into lift kits in the 4”+ range you can no longer run 16”.

I’d say overall you have chosen a great overland rig that is very capable in its stock form, but of course I am bias! your camper is awesome as well. Make the mods that make sense for you. For fire roads and minor off-roading, don’t change a thing. For some more serious off-roading a leveling kit and some bigger tires should get you where you need to go. Just my .02 and I hope that this was helpful!

 

[Amanda C]

Hi there,

just thought I’d jump in and add my experience, as I have a very similar truck/camper to you and have done a ton of research as well as some recent upgrades that have been very helpful. For reference, my truck is a 2004 Silverado 1500 z71 crew cab and I have a pop up cab over camper. Here are my comments/observations on the things that I picked up reading this thread.
1) gearing: as others have said, check the RPO code in the glove box. The RPO code starting with “GT” followed by a single digit number will tell you your gearing. My truck for example has GT5, so I googled it and it’s 4.10. 4.10 and 285/70r17 is plenty of power so I’d imagine 3.73 would be just fine as well.

2) suspension/leveling kit/tires. I had torsion Key leveling kit cranked to about ~2.5” of lift running 285/70r17 For a few years. No rubbing. The truck rode absolutely terribly, but I also had shocks that were well overdue replacement so that probably didn’t help. I recently did a coilover swap from Atomic Fab and Performance and WOW what a difference. I didn’t gain any wheel travel, but the truck is actually using the ~6-8” of wheel travel that it has. The kit was $1000 and I installed myself but I don’t know what that means for the Canadian prices.

3) the suggested service: again I don’t know anything at all about Canadian priced but $1000+ for very basic shocks is mind blowing. I just put fox 2.0 on the rear of my truck and the shocks themselves were only $265 for the pair (again, installed myself). And those have also improved ride quality 10 fold since my old shocks were shot.

4)Payload/power. I saw somebody earlier talking about adding 100 HP for off-roading. I off-road quite a bit and my normal camping setup has ~1800lbs in the bed. I have never thought to myself that I need more power out of the 5.3. As far as putting all of the weight in the bed of the truck with your camper, I put some $250 air springs that were direct bolt on and they help a TON with handling and ride quality. I saw that somebody suggested the overload leaf and that is a great idea as well, but I like the air spring because you can deflate them if you take your camper off. Important for me, may not matter to you.

5) wheels. I’ve considered dropping down from 17” to 16” because it does give you some more rubber on the trails, especially aired down. If you go with a torsion key leveling kit or the coilover swap like I did you will still be able to run your stock 16’s. I believe when you start getting into lift kits in the 4”+ range you can no longer run 16”.

I’d say overall you have chosen a great overland rig that is very capable in its stock form, but of course I am bias! your camper is awesome as well. Make the mods that make sense for you. For fire roads and minor off-roading, don’t change a thing. For some more serious off-roading a leveling kit and some bigger tires should get you where you need to go. Just my .02 and I hope that this was helpful!

Hi Mason, I really appreciate the time you took, it means a lot to me. There is so much to consider and so I gave decided to leave the rig alone until I get back to base. The weather is improving everyday I remain in Vancouver before heading east so I’ll take it slowly and meander home, I have a mechanic who is retired who I could ask to install everthing at a fraction of the cost I was quoted, so monies saved can go into better parts. Hope to meet you one day on the trail and I like your rig too. Best wishes Amanda

 

[Wampa150]

Hello to everyone who previously helped on this thread, it seems like a long long Time ago I posted this question and it was a great learning curve for me then and its still is now but i am in for the long term and willing to learn.

I hope everyone is well and so are your family and friends at this challenging time!

I made it over to Port Townsend in one piece and enjoyed 3 months sleeping on the rear seat of the truck while building my tiny overland house, good news I am now living in my Tiny Overland House (see attached photos!) and currently self isolating in Vancouver, I made it across the border with 2 hours to spare!

I have been continuing the rig build build in Homedepot parking lots and getting there!

Here I have continued my build and I am currently preparing for a trip across canada back to my family and now need your expert advice again!

My question is:-

The old tyres did make it across the USA! However they are now showing signs of wear and tear with small areas (Spots) of rubber disappearing on my front & rear right tyres (please see attached photos)

So I am now looking to change the tyres for my BFG Ko2’s, the question is should I change out my Shocks and add a leveling kit at the same time. I was initially going to just swap the same tyres 265/75/16, however the technicians at KALTIRE in Coquitlam suggested replacing the shocks and adding then level kit. They are recommending the following:

Monroe Reflex Light Truck Shock parts numbers 911501 & 911502 = $1184 CAD

I also indicated a desire to increase the tyre size and they have suggested they could install a BFG KO2 275/70/18 for $2131 CAD and make a trim on the front wheel well/bumper to avoid rubbing on full turn.

They are recommending Truxx leveling kit - $600 CAD

Total spend approx $4284

I look forward to hearing what you would do?

PS big shout out and thank you to everyone who answered my Overland Bound SOS Alert on the OB Map recently regarding helping me install my rear lights on the house in preparation for heading EAST.

Don’t worry about the white showing through. That’s how they make white lettered tires. They vulcanize a white rubber strip on the side, and then black rubber over it. Then buff off the lettered area. Without the pictures, I could tell you it’s happening on the passenger side. Super common due to curb rash. It’s just cosmetic. Home’s coming along nicely

 

[Amanda C]

Hi John,

thanks for taking the time, every comment means a lot, sometimes it gets over whelming, so much to think about overlanding, even urban overlanding has challenges! Hope your well and safe during these stay at home times! Amanda :-)

 

[Dilldog]

Hi Dillon...I hope you get to visit family in Canada one day!...

My wife and I have talked about it, game plan would be to hopefully meet in Brandon Manitoba, go to Shoal Lake where they first settled and then go to Churchill to see the northern lights and some polar bears.