I used to run BFG All Terrains, but ended up with Mud Terrains. Those Trail Terrains look like a pretty good tire (like you say, not for mud) with the advantage of being quieter on the road.
Speaking of that, I had a CJ7 with studded Mud Terrains. It was a soft top. This was back before laws preventing studded tires in the summer. Any way I drove that over Hoosier pass (continental divide, 11,500 feet) for years. Noisy as hell, sort of a love/hate relationship. But it always got me home.
When I had enough money I moved up to Pathfinders and 4Runners. At least those kept you warm and dry.
I ran All Terrains on my old TJ and my Dakota pickup 20 some years ago. They were great for the snowy winters we get. I don’t think they made Trail Terrains back then, and Mud Terrains were just too pricy for how often I’d need them (mostly during deer season). These days I only head off road a couple times a year so I was looking for a decent compromise tire that would be good all year long. If I ever come into some money I’ll probably order a good set of Mud Terrains or maybe Mickey Thompsons on a spare set of rims so I can just put them on when I’ll need them.
except for mud, the BFG-ATs are a superior tire to the MTs for both on road and off road.
I had MTs (I did sipe them manually to make them more pliable!) on my softtop Suzuki Samurai (900kg IIRC) - and I recall running them with the valve-cores removed in the sand-dunes for a day to soften them up.
Agreed. In this stage of my life I spend a lot less time recreating away from the pavement. Fun times indeed! But now I can content myself with tearing up a farmer’s field every now and then within spitting distance of the road
I’ve run BFG All Terrains (KO2s) on my diesel Grand Cherokee before. I no longer have the JGC and I’m now driving a Subaru Outback Wilderness and I mounted oversized KO2s on it. The OBW has a higher torque transmission compared to the standard OB, and it climbs hills steep enough for me. It also has as much ground clearance as my JGC did. I don’t need or want 4-LO, I’m not into rock crawling. BFG has now replaced KO2s with KO3s but I’ve never run those but I’ve seen them on other rigs and I’m sure they’ll be fine.
Until recently my OBW was my daily driver, and the KO2s are a decent daily use tire. They’re decently good in the snow too so I use them year round, rain, mud, snow, dirt, and sand. I just bought a Porsche 911 and that’s now my daily, but I still have and do love the OBW. It’s a great little car.
I agree with MTs — too aggressive and loud for every day use for my liking. I’ve never run a set of MTs. 95% of my miles are on pavement.
A tip for running AT tires is to rotate them regularly, religiously every 5K or even 4K, else they will start to get LOUD. I actually have 2 spares for the OBW and I do a 6 tire rotation every 4K. I carry 2 spares all the time, one on the back and one on the roof. You don’t want to be far away from civilization and if you have one flat, you’re out of spares. Not good.
About airing down, some here have said yes and others have said no. IME you should definitely air down. 20 should be fine, it’ll give you some float in the mud which you want. 15 is even better. If you do not air down then your tires will just sink more and cut down into the mud, which you don’t want. Just be careful about your speed and sharp turns, you don’t want to roll off a bead.
You should have a fun time. Get dirty and have fun!
First I want to say thank you to everyone who commented. You were all 100% correct! The pit was much bigger than I expected - they dug it out beforehand and it was deep. When we got a look at it, my stepdaughter and I both said the same thing: “Oh HEEEELL no!” There were some serious rigs tearing through a good 3 feet of mud. About half of the guys who went through got stuck. One guy needed to get pulled out and then the tow vehicle broke a driveshaft. The red Jeep in the photo hooked up a towline and pulled him halfway and then needed another guy to winch both him and the tow truck through.
It was a HELLUVA lot of fun watching these guys do their thing, and there were a few Jeeps and Cherokees that surprisingly made it through. We contented ourselves to riding the dry trails a few times and they were actually pretty challenging with a couple crawls through eroded ditches. We’re going to go again next year with a better idea of what to expect. Thanks for all the input - ignorance fought.
Most of the rigs that went through arrived on trailers. They were pretty amazing, but I’m not sure I would want one - seems like an expensive hobby. On the other hand we saw a few road legal Wranglers and Cherokees with modest lifts, snorkels and mud tires go through. Much more slowly and less dramatically, but they made it through with fewer breakdowns than the big rigs. I could see having one of those to play with.
I’ll disagree with you on the AT being superior to the MT off road. I have MTs on my 91 Ranger, and I think they are better off road on everything except for maybe sand. And I have had ATs on the Ranger before. That being said, I did put on the KO3 ATs on my 24 Frontier, and it’s a great tire.
One thing about the MTs is that brand new, they are squirrelly on pavement, but that goes away after about 500 miles. And as long as you rotate them often, they really are not that noisy. Or maybe it just doesn’t matter on a 35 year old truck.
I agree with you, I would think that MTs are great off road, however, s/he said it is superior both on and off road. I’ve never run a set of MTs but did seriously consider them when I had my Jeep. Today my trail car is a Subaru OBW and I really like it with the BFG KO2s. I use the OBW mostly on road, about 95% of its miles are on road, but when I hit the trails with it I’m comforted because it’s wearing those KO2s. And because 5% of my miles are off road, that still means several thousands of my miles off the roads. The KO2 is a very strong tire and often when I’m off roading I’m far from civilization and alone, solo. The KO2s will get me there, and back home again.
I’ve had tire failures on other tires when off roading alone, far from civilization. Once it was late at night, pitch black, no moon. It was just me and my wife and we’re all alone in the Mojave Desert, in a galaxy far, far away as they say. Okay so I mounted the spare and continued on, but I had to tread very carefully because now I have no more spare. That’s why I now carry 2 spares. And it’s also why I run the KO2s. And when those have worn out I’ll probably run the KO3s.
Sometimes I’m more than 100 miles from civilization. One example is the trail out to Toroweap Overlook at the Grand Canyon South Rim. That’s pretty far from civilization. True, there’s a ranger station near the overlook, but still it’s pretty far away.
So I agree with @AI128, the AT is superior for on and off road.
There’s always that compromise with an offroad capable road vehicle. I put a lot of thought into that when choosing to replace the 5 year old Michelin road tires on my Jeep. My gut and experience wanted KO3s. My wallet told me to suck it up and get a few more years out of the Michelins (they only have 13K miles on them but they’re old). Then I started reading about the new version of the BFG Trail Terrains (they’re now TA+ instead of TA). The new rubber compound has a 10% improvement in wet traction, 25% improvement in treadwear, and a slight improvement in rolling efficiency. With a 60K mile warranty and a more affordable price (I paid $220 per tire and got $180 in rebates) it’s an easy decision. I get to keep highway efficiency and get some off road capability for the small amount of off road driving I do - basically the trip to hunting camp in the Adirondacks a couple times a year. A good compromise tire didn’t used to exist - I believe now it does.
Thanks for this. That’s a good article and those new BFG T/A+s sound interesting and worth considering. My KO2s have plenty of miles left on them, and they are an expensive tire, so maybe the new T/A+s will be my next set.
I agree that AT’s are good on and off road. But think MT’s are superior off road (except sand) but not on road.
All my experience has been in the Colorado mountains, so not much mud. And they are called the Rocky Mountains for a reason.
My experience -
'76 Chevy short bed. None of that extend a cab stuff (very tough truck [mis you Puddles])
'84 CJ7
'89 Pathfinder
'04 RAM short bed (also not an extend a cab)
'05 Pathfinder (had to do a lot of highway miles)
'19 4Runner (current ‘retirement’ vehicle)
Also had experience with two other Chevy short beds, and two FJ 40’s. One of which we dropped a 327ci into. The other we broke the winch cable on (bad, long day)
Had my new BFGs put on this morning. Not only do they look fantastic, but I took a little side trip down a logging road with a few minor washes in it. I definitely have some rock climbing in my future. Best tire decision I’ve made in a long time.
I was poking around Craigslist yesterday and found my 73 Commando up for sale. I sold it years ago to a guy who insisted I sell it to him, even though I knew it was all wrong for him. The transmission and transfer case were shot and it was cheaper and quicker (important!) for me to grab an XJ and hit the trail. So I let it go…
It looked so bad and torn up, it made me sad. Brought back memories of all the fun times we had together. Tore out the seats, aux fuel tank, removed the lift, ripped out the carpet but installed a shiny new bumper! Brought a tear to my eye. Behold…
My brother used to live in Gardnerville. Worked at Harrah’s LT. Used to drive his … '88 (?) Honda Civic w/studded snows – front only – over the Kingsbury Grade.
Good times.
Good times.
Your Jeep was cool. But I’m guessing you know that
It’s hard to think so. Knowing what I did to it, seeing what was done, if the transmission and transfer case are new/remanufactured, maybe half that.
I mean, I had nice new carpet, bucket seats, 15 gal extra tank, 2" lift (who removes lift???) and it’s all been torn out. Plus, those tires and wheels look suspiciously familiar. They might be at least 25 years old by now. That engine was strong, but always problematic. Wiring was garbage when I first bought it. Looks worse now.
Brought a tear to my eye. Behold…