Suspension upgrade and tire change to 285/75R16

Hi

Firstly changing to 285/75/16 will not give you 50mm of lift.

If I were undertaking an extended trip such as yours a 50mm suspension lift would be number 1 on my list.
If I was happy with the tyres on the vehicle , tread wise etc, than I would use these tyres.

A 50mm lift , or so , from suspension plus the larger tyres would raise the vehicle at best, 65 mm.
The suspension will be carrying the weight and that is where you should spend the money.


Cheers Teza

Michael,

yes you will pick up some height from the new 285’s but your main issue without the lift may be scrubbing of the tyres on the inside of the front guards on lock. You should check this before purchasing the tyre. Best way is to fit a pair and then drive over a kerb or bump on half and then full lock.

Speaking from experience, if you are loading the vehicle up, then you should certainly look at upgrading of the rear springs to cope. Also fitment of airbags as a load assist may also be well worth it. Don't rely on the bags as the sole remedy to catering for the extra weight as all you will do is put additional stresses on two specific points and this could spell serious trouble for your diff housing or chassis rails. They should be used in conjunction with a suspension upgrade.

You may also wish to seriously consider the load rating of your tyre and compare it accurately against what you intend carrying. BFGS/Coopers/Bridgestone.....it makes no difference if the tyre is overloaded and you’re travelling in harsh conditions they will fail, particularly in stony country. Even more disaster (in the form of radial cracking) may await if you lower pressures dramatically to cater for sandy conditions so be sure that your tyre of choice is up to the load as well.


I'm running 285/75-16 Toyo Open Country MT's on my 79 series ute. It is a very heavy beast and I am going back for a further suspension upgrade to be rid of the already upgraded stock springs.

You may pick up some things from these two blogs.


Building the dream off roader

Review of the Toyo Open Country MT


Cheers Mick

It is dangerous to carry fuel in gerry cans on the roof. Too much weight to high up. You should only carry reasonably light weight bulky items on roof racks.
If you need the extra range get a long range fue tank for your 76. In Australia you can a long range tank with aound 166 l capacity (See http://www.thelongranger.com.au/70serieslongrangefueltank.html for one example ).

You are changing your wheel /tyre diameter by 56mm. That gives a 28mm lift not 50mm. In NSW it is also illegal not that anyone seems to take notice :-). RTA regs here in NSW say you can only increase by 15mm so better to check with whatever state authority. There can be insurance issues if the car is outside spec. If they can get out of paying then they will. Sounds like a great trip. Cheers, Mike

Gooday (jambo, habari) was there, in 1980 i travelled from kenya back to london in a 4wd truck, we carried 3X200litre drums in the back as there was no reliable fuel from kenya until bangui in central africa

beware of thieves in the night, water purification tablets are a must

i envy you, french and swaheli are useful, just my opinion but i would be on standard rims and tyres,with at least 4 spare tyres, make sure you get your vehicle passage stamped at every check point and get all your visas sorted before you start, bon voyage, cheers joe