Elwenil
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Low as in you will be reving the engine pretty high trying to do 60 MPH on the highway.
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Question about HMMWV Beadlocks
- Thread starter 86M10086.2L
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AJMBLAZER
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When talking about gearing low = high numerical gears (4.56 in this case) sort of like 4low in the transfer case means you are adding in more gearing reduction via the transfer case (2.62:1 instead of 1:1 in 2 or 4 high).
4.56 gears and no overdrive are about perfect for 38" tires and regular driving. The military wanted these things to tow up to about 7-8000lbs and keep up with convoy speed (35mph). So GM simply geared them really low for max towing ability and didn't care if they couldn't/shouldn't go over 55mph on the road with the stock 31" tall tires. However for the rest of us in the 55mph and up world that means we need taller tires or an over drive transmission to make our vehicles more practical. Many have swapped in over drive auto transmissions but I got a better deal on larger tires (easier too). A typical civilian Chevy truck of the time had gears ranging from 3.08:1 to 4.10:1.
NDT's are decent tires but they are basically a 60 year old design. There's a reason they aren't the first choice on modern wheeled combat vehicles or civilian 4x4's any more. Tire tread technology has passed them.
STA does make a 9.00-16 tire with a more "modern" tread pattern that I was considering as a fall back in case I couldn't find my 11.00R16 Michelins.
I've read the reviews from the Power Wagon/M37 and Gladiator/M715 guys of a lot of the 9.00-16 tires and they seem to work well but I also noticed a lot mentioned they feel soft in the corners of regular driving. This would make sense as they are all bias plies (hence not 9.00R16) and most have a load rating of somewhere in the 2000-3000lb range. These military 4x4 truck's are all in the 6000lb range at a minimum so some of those old 9.00-16 designs just weren't meant to hold up a big truck at speed or corner well (obviously). Not saying they aren't safe but they weren't meant to be used under daily drivers at freeway or even lots of 55mph use.
CGarbee's M37 tire discussion is FULL of good info about this stuff and the 9.00-16 tire choices out there. Be aware though that it is a few years old now and some of the info is out dated. I found the prices to be low and the availability of some of the tires (the Michelin radials specifically) to be either non-existent or very rare.
http://www.garbee.net/~cabell/tires.htm
http://www.garbee.net/~cabell/tirechoices.htm
http://www.garbee.net/~cabell/photos5.htm
My plan for Big Ugly when I was considering 36" tall narrow tires was either 36x12.5R16 Interco Super Swamper TSL Radials (they're infamous for actually being about 11.5" wide) or their Q78-16 TSL bias plies (about 35.5" tall and 10.5" wide). If those two didn't work for some reason the STA Super Lugs I mentioned earlier would have possibly worked.
Supposedly there's now a 10.50-16 STA tire of some sort but I haven't been able to track down any info on it. Not really looking anymore...just curious.
Word of advice:
With the taller tires, even when relatively narrow like my 11" wide Michelins, the sidewall of the front drivers' side tire will hit the drag link while turned to the right if you use the stock wheels or wheels with similar backspacing. I replaced my stock turn stop on that side with a longer 3/8" fine thread bolt and all is well so far. Lost a bit of turning radius to the right but nothing horrible and this time I won't chew up my sidewall or drag link.
Oh yeah, if you want an idea of how much trimming needs to be done to fit HMMWV tires on a stock height M1008 check out my CarDomain site:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/364830
Note that my HMMWV bias plies were on GM OEM 16.5x6.5 wheels and not HMMWV bead lock wheels.
Go to page 2 to see my truck with the 38x11ish 11.00R16 Michelins. Note that I did more trimming than was necessary...the grinder talked me into it.
4.56 gears and no overdrive are about perfect for 38" tires and regular driving. The military wanted these things to tow up to about 7-8000lbs and keep up with convoy speed (35mph). So GM simply geared them really low for max towing ability and didn't care if they couldn't/shouldn't go over 55mph on the road with the stock 31" tall tires. However for the rest of us in the 55mph and up world that means we need taller tires or an over drive transmission to make our vehicles more practical. Many have swapped in over drive auto transmissions but I got a better deal on larger tires (easier too). A typical civilian Chevy truck of the time had gears ranging from 3.08:1 to 4.10:1.
NDT's are decent tires but they are basically a 60 year old design. There's a reason they aren't the first choice on modern wheeled combat vehicles or civilian 4x4's any more. Tire tread technology has passed them.
STA does make a 9.00-16 tire with a more "modern" tread pattern that I was considering as a fall back in case I couldn't find my 11.00R16 Michelins.
I've read the reviews from the Power Wagon/M37 and Gladiator/M715 guys of a lot of the 9.00-16 tires and they seem to work well but I also noticed a lot mentioned they feel soft in the corners of regular driving. This would make sense as they are all bias plies (hence not 9.00R16) and most have a load rating of somewhere in the 2000-3000lb range. These military 4x4 truck's are all in the 6000lb range at a minimum so some of those old 9.00-16 designs just weren't meant to hold up a big truck at speed or corner well (obviously). Not saying they aren't safe but they weren't meant to be used under daily drivers at freeway or even lots of 55mph use.
CGarbee's M37 tire discussion is FULL of good info about this stuff and the 9.00-16 tire choices out there. Be aware though that it is a few years old now and some of the info is out dated. I found the prices to be low and the availability of some of the tires (the Michelin radials specifically) to be either non-existent or very rare.
http://www.garbee.net/~cabell/tires.htm
http://www.garbee.net/~cabell/tirechoices.htm
http://www.garbee.net/~cabell/photos5.htm
My plan for Big Ugly when I was considering 36" tall narrow tires was either 36x12.5R16 Interco Super Swamper TSL Radials (they're infamous for actually being about 11.5" wide) or their Q78-16 TSL bias plies (about 35.5" tall and 10.5" wide). If those two didn't work for some reason the STA Super Lugs I mentioned earlier would have possibly worked.
Supposedly there's now a 10.50-16 STA tire of some sort but I haven't been able to track down any info on it. Not really looking anymore...just curious.
Word of advice:
With the taller tires, even when relatively narrow like my 11" wide Michelins, the sidewall of the front drivers' side tire will hit the drag link while turned to the right if you use the stock wheels or wheels with similar backspacing. I replaced my stock turn stop on that side with a longer 3/8" fine thread bolt and all is well so far. Lost a bit of turning radius to the right but nothing horrible and this time I won't chew up my sidewall or drag link.
Oh yeah, if you want an idea of how much trimming needs to be done to fit HMMWV tires on a stock height M1008 check out my CarDomain site:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/364830
Note that my HMMWV bias plies were on GM OEM 16.5x6.5 wheels and not HMMWV bead lock wheels.
Go to page 2 to see my truck with the 38x11ish 11.00R16 Michelins. Note that I did more trimming than was necessary...the grinder talked me into it.