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Overland build - tyre and suspension

265 75 or 255 85


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AntonOverland

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Hi, new to the forum. I have a 95 that 8 have completed one large trip in so far down to Morocco in 2019 running old standard suspension and standard 265 70 general grabber at3. The trip went well bar a cracked tank and the rear suspension sagging but know I have the want for something a bit more ready, especially in the height department.

I have read a few post on 33s and I don't want the hassle of a BL so the 285 75s are out. I am therefore looking into the 255 85 toyo mt (becauses they have good reviews and at 120 a corner I will have £245 more to spend on diesel than if I went for km3) interested to know if anyone has experience running 33s and how they compare to 265 75 as another option.

SL I have seen a few on here using the peddlers and Monroe from roughtrax, being reasonable in price and less talk of sagging over the ironman. Does anyone with the peddlers know what the rear springs are ratted to interns of exra load carrying capacity. I have the rear seats in and so there is probably 100kg over the rear axle in the boot space.

I added a pic from the trip, as can see very standard, even has the side steps still on, which will come off soon. To clarify, the truck didn't necessarily struggle on the trip but I definetly felt that I was a little low on some of the rockier passes. All in all I felt the collie did remarkable and on a solo trip its reliability for the most part remained good.

Cheers
 

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I ran my 95 for years with standard ish suspension and 265/70/16s. Extra ground clearance is the bigger need than suspension height and articulation. On old saggy suspension you will have lost a bit of front ground clearance but not on the rear due to the way IFS vs beam axle works.

I did switch to the pedders/Monroe set from Roughtrax but don't think the pedders springs have a weight rating like ironman etc do. Certainly getting rid of the old improved things. Mine weighed in at 300kg over kerb weight and the new suspension dealt with the load perfectly, although a bit of a hard ride when empty. With only 100kg of extra weight I wouldn't worry too much as the standard payload is 800kg ish so your not putting a lot of extra strain on it.

For tyres, have you considered going narrower and taller to improve the ground clearance? I was looking at 235/85/16s or maybe a 255
 
Hi Mark, I looked at the 235 but after seeing people can get a 33 under with only a lift I keep gravitating towards it. Not sure why, probably too much time spent watching the 4wd action boys in Aus.
I will be putting the tyres onto new rims and keeping my old 265 70 as fall back spares if it turns out I don't like the 255. Also got the bug after weeing these guys did the nortg to South Africa with this set up

Toyo MT Tyres 255/85R16, London UK to Johannesburg RSA 18278.6kms later - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

My suspension sagged so much during the trip I had to resort to "helper" springs off a Nissan patrol being fitted in Zagora whilst they welded up the fuel tank. The main height issue was the rear diff, generally wheel placement got me around this but without a spotter it became a bit tedious

Difficult choices when parting with cash, especially if your Northern.

Did you notice any sag whilst the springs settled?
 
265 75 appeals because of the smaller driveline impact, more tyre choice and easier to get a spare in places like Morocco
 
From the helper springs I'm guessing you went to Ali's garage in Zagora, hope he didn't charge you too much. Ali and Said are good friends of mine :)

235/85 is a standard size so pretty easy to find in Morocco, although tyre choices are generally getting much better until you need something unusual then its needs shipping from Europe

I spend half the year in Morocco and if you were using Chris Scotts book you may have done one of my routes ;)
 
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Haha, yeah it was Ali, no it was cheap for all the fuel tank work and springs it was £190 so couldn't complain at all! He was a great help. If the restrictions lift I may drive down to have some work done. I'm based in Portugal for the rest of this year so only a short drive to the ferry. Hoping for a late October trip.

I used Chris book for some, was disappointed that now quiet a few roots are impassable (I tried to get to the French tunnel until I hit a huge gorge where the road had collapsed, but the journey was fun) some have now also been paved but in general was a great book, I used wikiLoc too which was good. I had been to Morocco in 2014 in a Nissan micra wher ei did the Agoudal to tounfit piste that is now closed so new that a 4x4 return would be needed. I enjoyed the Ramlia crossing very much as well as many of the classis routes like the gorge to gorge in the atlas. The cirque de jaffa was a bit disappointing though. I was expecting the impossible! The next trip I will go further towards the SW an area I haven't been to yet. I travelled a few pistes with 2 patrols on 33s and they made many obstacles with ease where I had had to use momentum and risk the damage.
 
Ouch I paid 40euro for helper springs and the same again for a day of welding, mentioning me gets a good discount ;).

Chris can't keep up with the speed the roads are being improved and the bad flooding last September caused a lot of damage. Theres 2 Cirque de Jaffar routes, the easy one a normal car can do then theres the Jaws of Jaffar that can be a beast after bad weather. The easy route was improved a few years back to make it possible in a normal car. The Tounfit piste has a asphalt detour but its not as exciting. Local knowledge really helps finding the good pistes now, the guide books and wikiloc just can't keep up with weather damage and new roads.

I've been out since March and still here waiting for the borders to reopen. Should be back in late September with a couple of groups doing the far east and then an ultra long distance Western Sahara route
 
I was happy with the price, especially with the extra tank work that wasn't too easy with everything rusted in place and considering how much UK work costs I am happy to give a bit extra to their pockets. Everyone I meet is friends with Ali and can get a discount if you mention there name

True on local knowledge, I instead would use Chris book to ask the locals and then, in most cases take their advise. Although you have to be careful, some Germans I met got stuck after following local advice. The locals were more than Happy to recover them, for a good price....

What size are you running. 265 75?
 
That's a pretty regular scam on the Taouz to Zagora piste particularly at the Oued Ziz crossing and Tafraoute Sidi Ali about half way. First couple of times getting work done at Ali's I paid more but now get local prices. Whatever you pay its still a lot cheaper than the UK and better work. Any suspension bushes, cv boots etc in Morocco are garbage though unless they are genuine parts

I stuck with 265/70/16's and never found any where I couldn't get through unless the piste was blocked or missing from the side of the mountain. I had planned to go up to 255/85/16 but decided to sell the 95.

If your on Facebook join the Overlanding West Africa & Morocco group and Overlanding North Africa groups, lots of great info and much better than the other groups covering Morocco
 
Cheers for the advice Mark, I'll give the Facebook group a look, must be a ton of useful info on there.

So if you had kept the 95 you would have followed your plan and made the jump to 255 85?

Choices choices choices...
Im thinking I will order them and by keeping the original 265 70 I will be able to swap back if I find myself doing lost of road miles and then if I go on a specific trip or I fancy a weekend wheeling then I can pop on the 255 85 boots. Looking on here it also seems that a fair few 80s are running that tyre so I could always shift them on if need be.
 
Yes, I would have gone taller but hadn't finally decided on the size but the 255's were looking likely. Any added ground clearance is always a bonus and more important for overlanding than articulation or really huge tyres imho
 
Great. I think I'll push the button.

Out of interest I spoke to pedders about the roughtrack kit and they say the 7769 rear spring is the heaviest duty spring that they do for the 95. They however reckoned that loaded I should expect to see 30mm at the rear and I should use spring packers if I wanted to regain the height. Does that concur with your experience?
 
Not sure which springs come with the Roughtrax kit but I had no sag on them with my 300kg load. I only did about 10k miles with them on but some of that was running as a support vehicle for Chris Scott on a long desert route with a passenger, extra luggage and 80 litres of spare fuel for me and the bike so closer to 450-500kg load.
 
Sounds up for the job then! I checked and compared the spring rates to the OME 2891 which is there +150kg rear spring. OME rates it at 210lbs and the pedders roughtrack are 198lbs so not too far off
 
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