Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008 at 12:32
Gday Doug,
I think you and I are saying the same thing on Gravel. My answer was tailered to a fully loaded Prado, which is almost always a few hundred kilos lighter than a fully laden Troopie.
Regarding equal pressures front and rear: That would be true if the weight distribution was equal (optimal). But the Prado is a station wagon, and most station wagons are loaded so that most of the extra weight is behind the rear
seat (rear axle). That has the effect of levering up the front end, so the rear tyres carry a lot more weight than the front when loaded. Thats just the way it is with Station wagons, and on the Prados, its hard to change that.
Tessa,
Fully loaded, you could take your vehicle to the weighbridge and find out. But can I suggest you do a simple
test, and that is to measure the length of your tyre's footprint when fully loaded (just need 2 rulers in front of and behind the tyre), and then inflate the rear tyres until the length of the footprint is the same as the front. It may surprise you how much pressure is required to make the tyres the same. As I explained above, its very hard to get equal weight distribution in a wagon. In my traytop, its easier - anything heavy goes forward of the axle, which is where all my water, fridges, extra battery etc go.
40-45 psi are normal pressures for a LT construction tyre - they usually have a max pressure of 65psi. If you run lower pressures, on bitumen in hot weather, you'll see the rear tyres will get hotter and the tyre wear will be much greater than the front. It all depends on how much extra weight you carry, and how its distributed.
Cheers
Phil
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