G'day Fellas,

I sign off the ship next Wednesday and get home Friday.
I'll get and have good look at that exhaust down pipe soon after I get home and decide what to do.
Got a few goodies from Clay waitin', mainly maintenance items and spares to carry when running outback.

But the main thing I'm after is Kelly Safari TSR 'E' tyre info:
I've put a tread on the tire forum and the 99-03 asking about them but no replies.
This is what I asked:

G'day Fellas,

It has been asked some time ago; but I would like to see some more reviews on the Kelly Safari TSR.
They've been around long enough now to have enough fellas put enough miles on them on their trucks.
Especially like to know how they've behaved with the rear wheel torque produced by the heavy Diesel Trucks in particular the 7.3Ltr Trucks.
Towing with these tyres on these trucks? etc.

I'm considering fitting LT285/75R16/E 126P
Maximum Load Bearing Capacity (for a single tire) 3750lb @80psi.
I know they are Load Range 'E' which is equivilant to the old '10 ply Rating', however I'm finding it hard to confirm the 'side wall ply'.
I would hope it is '3 ply Side Wall'.

Cheers,
Reg

Soooo, what I'm asking here is have any of you fellas out here in Aussie looked at these tyres. Their specs tick all the boxes and although I've not actually seen one, photos/promos of them look good.
I do believe they are '3 Ply' wall.

Cheers,
Reg

 

Nope, never looked into these tyres. I have always run Mickey Thompson,s. I am currently running Dick Cepek FC2 315 x 75 x16. They are good all round and quiet.

 

G'day Wallsy,

I did look at MT tyres but they have nothing bigger in 16" than 265s that meet the Truck Specs. My door sticker for tyres state 265 75R 16" with minimum Load Range 'E' and Speed/Load Index rating 123R.
Other than the 265s there is nothing in the MT range that meets the minimum spec on the truck.
When I was looking to buy my first set of tyres, the local MT dealer would not sell me 285 MT tyres because they are only 'D' load range and only 122R, both below the minimum spec required.
They say you can go bigger in the actual tyre size but they must still have the same minimum construction and duty specs to be "truely" legal.
That is they have to be Load Range 'E' (old 10ply rating) and not Load Range 'D' (the old 8ply rating) and the Speed Load Index no less than (in my case) 123R.
I had much the same issue with Toyo and even rang the head office in Sydney about it. 265s no problem. 285s only in MT as the AT were only 'D' rated and 121 (I think). I didn't want Muddies so had to go with the 305 70R 16" 'E' (10ply).

I've researched the tyre thing to death and this Load Range thing seems to be were the most disagreement is. The opinions are very Polarised. There are those who say never ever put 'D' tyres on these heavy load, heavy torque trucks especially if you tow a lot and traverse a lot of gravel rough road (both of which I do). Others say "D" tyres are fine as long as they are bigger than the OEM tyres originally fitted .
Then again Opinions are like arm pits, everybody has them, problem is some stink .
So in order to to not end up in any camp, I intend using only 'E' and minimum 123R as specified on my truck by the manufacturer.

Dealers with BFG said they have dramas balancing them and keeping them balanced and much the same with Goodies. My local bloke won't sell Coopers etc; and on it goes .

So with the Kellys ticking all the boxes including price and easy to get over here, I was hoping to get plenty of feed back on them. After all Kelly are an American iconic tyre maker even though they've been owned by Goodyear since 1936.

Cheers,
Reg .

 

Reg, ask Clay direct (email) Im sure he could ask around for ya

 

Just aquired 5 35" maxxis bighorns of my mate 3 near new ,2 80%
$500 the lot