53's on an LMTV

16.00 tires have a larger diameter. They wont clear wheel wells in operation. Tires will hit.

One of my trucks has larger tires that "fit", until I turn and hit a bump or flex.

"Fit", even though that should not be a subjective word, often is.

I would try to either flex out the suspension while turning or use the kneeling hydraulics at least and see how it looks turned both ways.

In my case, I would not consider tires that cannot use tire chains, in case I ever go North enough to need them. If you care about chains, add that variable to your "fit" calculation.

I am curious what everyone comes up with.


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I'm not sure that I would want to use the truck in an environment where I needed chains again. I have lived and worked in Northern Vermont, Northern NY (the real north, at the Canadian border and not just barely north of NYC) and Colorado. I have been an Active Duty Army Engineer in winter climates as well (reference Fort Drum) where chains were used a lot...on these trucks specifically, and I do believe chains are a pain in the A**. Unless I was skidding logs again or had my atv out ice fishing, I'm not entirely sure chains are a worthwhile consideration for my use of the LMTV as fun weather truck, overland vehicle, and general bug out rig (once shelter is complete).

That being said, I have a set of snow chains for my LMTV. They fit fine on the rears and have a potential to hit on the fronts when turning if articulated at all (reference the broken corning of the fender flair on previous picture of post), they severely limit speed, and really tear up what ever you are driving on. The truck did well in my experience in all snow conditions without chains, as long as driving conditions were not exceeded. The chains did make this thing in to a tank, and no drift or snow pile was big enough to stop me on the snowiest of days though haha.

I am still hoping that someone with an LMTV and access to some 16r20s will take the time to give them a try though, if only for the satiation of the community.

Guys, I saw this truck along the highway near Scottsboro, AL a few weeks back. I talked to the guys in the shop. The truck belongs to a local fire department. I believe they are building a brush fire truck... That all said, their first modification was to add a set of 53's. I thought it looked pretty good. They will probably have to modify the rear fenders a bit to handle articulation. The fronts looked surprisingly able to handle that, but not sure about articulation while turning. Sorry I have no data, but did find one with a full set installed for your viewing pleasure.

Here's another one I found on the interwebs...

The pictures are big help, that is exactly what my tape measure showed as well. Might be a little tight while turning, but space could be made. I was thinking a simple solution for the back mud flap would be to just mount it on the other side of the bracket, or just make a "soft one" like we use on the buffalo (essentially a 8' piece of mud flap draped over the wheel well and supported by 3 brackets).

I just noticed in the pic that this truck has DEF fluid and smog mod installed. I wonder why they spent that kind of money on it. I live in Ca. and they don't even require it to be on the truck. I know that system is many thousands of $$$$. I'm curious why.

Duckworthe said:

I just noticed in the pic that this truck has DEF fluid and smog mod installed. I wonder why they spent that kind of money on it. I live in Ca. and they don't even require it to be on the truck. I know that system is many thousands of $$$$. I'm curious why.

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That pic was posted before and if recall info correct was stated to be a BAE commercial truck demonstrater? Was not a CAT engine but a Cummins as well.

Duckworthe said:

I just noticed in the pic that this truck has DEF fluid and smog mod installed. I wonder why they spent that kind of money on it. I live in Ca. and they don't even require it to be on the truck. I know that system is many thousands of $$$$. I'm curious why.

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Commercial vehicles are not emission exempt, military vehicles are exempt.

buffalorunner said:

Would really like to hear what happened and how this turned out. Did you end up with 16.00R20's on the truck. Looking at replacing my tires soon, and seriously hoping the 16.00R20's were a good fit. The little bump in road speed is all I'm after, really just in search of a more comfortable cruising RPM at 50ish mph.

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I've not had a chance to finish this. I got three tires mounted and the valve stem broke on one so I got discouraged and haven't got back to it.

Thats a sd brazos. Made for civilian market to meet emissions. The tires are 14.00s or 395s on it I think.

It might be a Brazo, but those are 16.00R20's. There is a set identical sitting outside the COF next door that they use for PT. I will take of picture of the tires tonight when I leave for the gym. The 14R20 is not quite so wide.

I dont think Michelin made XL tires in 16.00

Below are the pictures of a GoodYear 16R20 in the XL (AT) pattern (which I assume is the same pattern we are talking about, because these look a little different), but they have 4 lugs running accross the tread area, and the ones pictured on the BRAZO only have 3. Leading me to believe they could be 14R20's on the BRAZO. But 16R20's in this pattern exist, I have never seen any mounted though and not sure what these came from. Like I said, the unit next door does PT with these and I think they are brand new. Seems like a waste...

Unless this is a totally different pattern that I haven't seen yet (very possible), then I'm playing football while you are playing baseball haha.

Never seen that one before.

Here is a link to a nice PDF from Goodyear with tire sizes listed.
https://www.goodyear.com/cfmx/web/gov/pdf/military_tire_brochure.pdf

The tires on the white truck would almost have to be the 16.00R20 AT-3A M (22 ply) 155-022-003 51.6" x 17.4". Not a common tire to see.
It lists the 14.00R20 at 49.2" tall.

Will a 53 fit in the spare rack?

TNriverjet said:

View attachment 678640

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This is a Michelin XML. They didn't come in a 16.00R20 but they did come in a 475/80R20 which Michelin states to be a 50.1" tire.

buffalorunner said:

View attachment 678716View attachment 678717View attachment 678718View attachment 678719

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This is a Goodyear AT-3, the new version of the AT-2. These come in 16.00R20 as seen in one of the pictures.



The Michelin XL also came in a 16.00R20. The first HEMTTs used them. They haven't been used by the military for a long time though and any you run across through surplus will be crispy. They suffered the same blowout problems as the 14.00R20 XLs...but with a bigger boom.

This is a steyr 12m18 with 16' Tires. The Position of the Front Axel is on the lmtv more to the Front/fender
sorry can't put the link in. YouTube steyr 12m18 16.00 excap
1 Looks so nice with big Tire, like a Truck for men's
2 good Solution to down with the rpm.

Any news or pictures?

This is a fmtv i think with 14.00tires. But Thats only about 6.3% larger.
http://www.military-today.com/trucks/m1083_mtv.htm