7kings

My speedo is within 1-2 mph of my GPS at 70mph. I run the interstate pretty regularly and the only time I notice the transmission hunting is when I'm towing my small trailer and driving over overpasses at highway speeds. I'm sure the procal would probably make *some* difference, but if I'm not realizing any performance degradation now, why mess with it? The last thing I am interested in doing is bricking the PCM on my 2014 because the tuner had a problem.

jjtvegas

Good advice everyone! Is everybody satisfied with the upgrade?

jadmt

the procal is not a tuner and won't brick you ecm as it does not go that far into it like a superchips etc. If you are within 1-2 off you would fine. Terrain has a lot to do with it as in Montana we are either going up or going down and even stiff head winds would cause the tranny to be hunting at highway speeds.

GJeep

The (calculated, not the exact actual) difference between the 2 tires is just 0.65".
That's too little to necessitate reprogramming, or to have any significant difference in feel.
Tire pressure would have a much bigger effect on ride softness.

jeepmojo

I got mb 72 wheels the tires are actually 32 inches in height so no procal was needed at all I swap back and forth from my stock wheels to my nitto and no need to program anything the nitto trail grapplers are super smooth and heavy side walls like armor more aggressive than duratracs too and they superceed in rain snow and mud also ive heard duratrac can be spongy in corners that's all I needed to hear to make the choice !

I like being able to swap back and forth too cuz the stock ones are better on gas and winter time stock wheels cut through the snow best to be honest 285/70/16 no lift and not needed its all preference and I never had duratracs so I honestly cant say but I read reviews on them
oh btw had them on my 2011 sport also here with the 3,21 gearing and worked fine too , but the 2012 rubicon pulls them a bit easyer due to 4.10s

jjtvegas

Ok good. Is anybody running the bfg AT KO 285/70/17?

Joker92

When my stock 32" BFG Mud Terrains (255/75R-17) wore out I found a great deal online for 5 GoodYear Duratrac 33"'s (285/70R 17).

So to put that into Imperial numbers, I basically went from about a 32.0"x 10" to a 33.0"x 11.5"
Best choice I ever made.

Ok, I'm going to ignore any of the opportunities for the age old response, "that's what she said" I will create in the next part.
Did the size make a difference?
Well I know it was only a 1" increase in height but I had to slightly alter how high I was instinctively jumping into my Jeep. The first week with the new tires I was finding myself not quite making it over the seat when I hop in. This is not a big deal of course, but I just wanted to illustrate that while small, the height increase was noticeable.

Width wise, going from appox. 10" to 11.5" was pretty noticeable on the beach. While it is always a good idea to air down on loose sand, I compared aired up traction on the sand with new and old tires and the increase to 11.5" performed much better.

Note:
While I did not need to modify the suspension of my 08' Unlimited Rubicon in any to accomadate the bigger tires, I did have to add a set of 1.5" wheel spacers to keep them from rubbing the front sway bar.

All dimensions aside, and now comparing the brand of tires, I am MUCH happier with the GoodYear DuraTracs. They are so much quieter than the BF Goodrich's (so far), they handle the rain somewhat better, they give a more comfortable ride. But the biggest difference is in the snow. I always thought the traction in the snow with the stock BFG's was great.... Until I drove with the DuraTrac's. Holy crap they are so much better. Inside the treads they have what look like fish scales (best way to describe them) going in either direction to assist with grip in deep snow. Also they are pinned for #16 metal studs if someone wants to use them. Personally I doubt I will ever put studs on them.
Now the ones I have are a few years old by now and they have the "Winter" rated snowflake embossed on the tire. Looking at the most recent DuraTracs on the Goodyear website, they are now "Tll-Terrain" and "All Season" rated, so not sure what difference that makes.
The only down side I can think of is that now the tires stick out just slightly outside of the fender flares, I get a huge amount of road spray up the side of my Jeep. With all the road treatment put down for the snow, my Jeep is covered in salt spray.
I bought these tires used with less than 3k miles on them (according to the seller). I took them to a tire store to have them mounted and the tech doubted they had even half that many miles on them (at least that's how they looked). I got all 5 for $500 which was a GREAT deal, but I like these tires so much that when they eventually wear out I plan to dish out the cash and buy a brand new set of them.

Here's a link to related photos.

Joker92's Album: GoodYear Duratrac 33"'s (285/70R 17)

jjtvegas

Yes nothing but positive feed back on the duratracs! Are they much noisier on highway compared to stock or small difference ? Thanks for photos. Looks good.

Mark Doiron

No they are not much noisier. They are a great AT tire. Unless you really need MTs, and you can live with MT shortfalls, the Duratracs are an excellent choice for a Jeep. If Jeep were smart, they'd can the SRAs and offer Duratracs OEM.

jjtvegas

Yeah Gona lean toward duratrac plus in Vegas no mud here.