Tire chains or off-road tires for occasional mud

When I purchased my truck it came with 5 brand new stock size Bridgestone dueller AT tires. Tires are great on the road but I get stuck on wet grass and in mud my Impreza can walk through. The truck will primarily be used as a camper whether I’m 4 wheeling or on vacation, and I need it to be able to make its way through muddy two tracks and wet fields.

I plan to swap my rear axle for a posi trac model and I want to swap my front to a Spartan locker, so I’ll have more traction. Hoping to get a winch too but a winch big enough for this thing is pricey

If this was your truck would you try and sell the current tires and buy some more knobby tires? Or would you get some beefy tire chains for when the going get rough, and have better street tires for the rest of the time.

putting on chains in mud is gunna bring the suck, by the time you need em(*****) it's a greasy mess!
My quad cab chebbie will get stuck on flat ground, I think it's a ground pressure thing at 10k.
Lockers and tires if you are gunna USE it enough, chains for 3 a year type stuff.

Chaining up is a pain, chaining up in the mud is worse. Front chains are enough in mud, in my experience. When I was driving through mud regularly, one thing I tried was having two spare tires with chains on them in the back, and I'd swap them onto the front before the mud got deep. That sort of worked. It was a huge pain, but so was chaining the tires ...

Chains aren't for going fast!

I wouldn't buy aggressive tread tires at all until you see what the positrac does for you. I really like driving quiet, long lasting street tires. If you have spare rims, put some aggressive mud and snow tires on them, maybe.

Lots of modern "mud terrain" tires have good road manners and decent tread life. For an occasional use pickup I would put some better tires on it.

I have zero experience with tire chains in mud, but I do know that high wheel speed and chains (in snow) can be a bad deal.

I have Cooper stt pros on my 96 half ton and like them a lot. They do make noise but not much and are very capable Offroad even being open diffs front and rear. Lot of people getting 40 or even 50k miles out of them


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Dude chains suck I got chains for everything but hate them with a passion even with the multiple cam locks and tensioner straps I try to avoid using them also in mud they work just not as good as ice or snow and slow a d steady are the trick to them or they peel to one side and cause issues

Oledirtypearl86 said:

... slow a d steady are the trick to them or they peel to one side and cause issues

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Oh, my, yes. If they come off on the outside, you're OK. If they come off on the inside, they can wipe out your brake hose. Put bungees on the outside to make sure the chain doesn't come off on the inside.

good tires and I'd take a locker over a posi
I have detroit in the rear and lunchbox in the front

Cooper Discoverer S/T MAXX 255/85R16. I've got these on my '87 F350 CC DRW 4X4 Centurion and '93 F350 CC 4X4. I have Kelly Safari TSR 315/75R16 on my '90 F250 and for all around performance and traction, the Cooper's are a superior choice.

nj_m715 said:

good tires and I'd take a locker over a posi
I have detroit in the rear and lunchbox in the front

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Same. (well, when I had my F350 )

Locking the heavy end of the truck is amazing.

A posi never did me any good when the truck was loaded.

EDIT: Duratracs have been a good tire compromise for me. BFG Muds and Toyo M55 or MT's aren't as nice on pavement.

When you put chains on right they stay on even at high wheel speeds that you would use on a muddy trail. Unless you know how to install chains fast and easy and do not wait till you are in mud to put them on i would recommend second set of tires on rims for muddy trails and keeping your street tires. Any mud tire will be noisier and will ware out faster and will get less fuel mileage on pavement. I like BFG all terrains they work great for me off road as well as on road. Not the best tire for a mud bog though. Tire chains can be the best traction but not much fun to use when cover in mud, and chaining up can break drive train parts if you are not careful.

I made my chains from a set of semi tire chains. I cut them down to size then i added more cross chains between the existing cross chains. Now the cross chains are only 4 inch's apart. They work real good i have a set on my snow plow and for my f250

donald said:

When you put chains on right they stay on even at high wheel speeds

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Ummmm I have several sets of peerless v bar multicam chains and at 40 mph they like to come off even with all 4 cams pulled tight and a set of bungy tensioners on them lol they pull tight enough they indent the tread of the tire

I love tire chains. I modded a set of transport v-bar chains to fit my truck (front only).
If you're looking for a winch I would recommend finding a used Warn 8274 and rebuild it.
I also want to add a locker to mine, been considering an OX cable locker.

Running Toyo Open Country RT's. Can;'t hear any tire howl or whine inside the cab with the windows down and I have Kenda Kleaver RT's on another set of wheels that are a good alternative. Toyo's about 1500 to 2000 set of 4 and Kenda's are less Than a thousand on eBay. yes, I am running 35's.

mblaney said:

I love tire chains. I modded a set of transport v-bar chains to fit my truck (front only).
If you're looking for a winch I would recommend finding a used Warn 8274 and rebuild it.
I also want to add a locker to mine, been considering an OX cable locker.

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is 8k really enough to pull these truck out of the mud? I got mine stuck and had trouble moving it with a tractor