katoom said:
Keptin, how much lift does your white Discovery have?? I am not a heavy off roader. I go in the Utah mountains mostly and in Moab but I don't usually do the heavy rock crawling stuff so I don't need tons of flex. Would I be alot better off going with 245/75's?? I want decent ground clearance but I don't want to do a ton of fabrication or spend gobs off money making a little taller tire fit. I don't mind trimming the bumper a bit and putting a 2 inch lift on it but if I have to do more than that maybe I should get 245's which i think can be mounted without any alterations?
I know that 265's will have a big affect on gas mileage and power but I only use my Disco for off-roading or pulling my motorcycle to the hills. I will check out the MT tires though. I don't know what they are. I guess to get a 4.11 gear ratio means a whole new axle?
Thanks for your great advice!
First off, I would unquestionably choose 265/75-16's for a Disco II if you off-road in it. Its not worth burning your money on anything smaller. It will require some trimming on the inside of the front bumper, but its nothing big, the bumper is not metal and easy to trim, and the trimming required isnt noticable from the outside unless your looking for it.
4.11 pinion gear ratios replace your stock 3.54 (??) pinion gears and rings (one in each differential) with 4.11 ratio gears. This will raise the amount of revs of the driveshaft required turn your tires once, this in turn will compensate for having the larger tires. The problem is that it costs more then the gas you will spend without them, but I hear it makes it feel better as far as road driving. If you replace them your better off getting HD axles and locking diffs while your at it; total cost will be somewhere around $4500 with all that stuff; minus the cost of installation. Your better off with just sticking with the large tires and lowered power/torque. Check out the pinion gears at
www.greatbasinrovers.com
If your using your disco for a ton of off-roading I would definatly take a good look at MT's....more specifically BFGoodrich M/T's. Many people have also had luck with the interco Truxus/IROK's, which are less expensive, but in turn less miles out of them from what ive heard. I doubt that they will give you more mileage out of each tire the an AT, but they are awesome off-road.
As for flex, here is a recent flex shot of my rover (with 3" OME), note that the back tires are in a ditch, so each tire would be able to go higher on level ground. Also note; this is with my front swaybar removed;