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Re: Take our RV to Colorado or Store It?
folivier wrote: What about leaving it in Cortez? That would get it closer but not yet in the mountains. Hurry back, the snow's great! Neighbor! Thought about it. But if I take it through flagstaff might as well keep going to montrose. Roads look ok but not great, yet, along our planned route. Not for our size and weight. And we can’t wait to get back honestly. Phx is driving us nuts. Too many people. Too much sprawl.276Views0likes0CommentsRe: Take our RV to Colorado or Store It?
agesilaus wrote: With current weather and our national weather-guy predicting a major snow event in the Rockies/midwest I'd think hard about whether to take it. He is generally calling for a cold and snowy February start anyway out there with a break for Cali. Normally I would not think about leaving ours. You pretty much summarized what my gut is telling me. But I tend to be borderline paranoid. So great to get some feedback.276Views0likes0CommentsTake our RV to Colorado or Store It?
We are wrapping up work here in AZ and getting ready to head to Montrose, Co. We are renting a cabin for 4 months just east of Montrose. We are full timers and looking to store the RV in montrose while we rent. Our route would likely be phx to flagstaff to Mexican hat to Moab to grand junction to Montrose to avoid difficult mountain passes through telluride which is our normal summertime route. Here’s the dilemma though. We could leave the rv in AZ and just pull a small 5x8 box trailer with our stuff. I’m apprehensive to push through with the RV (leaving this Thursday the 23rd). Wanted to get some thoughts. Our RV is 19k lbs, 43ft, 5th wheel and our truck is a ram 3500 dually diesel 4x4. Our tires are Michelin MS2 with about 30% remaining tread. Weather looks ok unril Tuesday the 31st. Although temps will rarely be above freezing through the entire route. The downside to leaving the RV is we will have to drive back to AZ in may to haul the rv back to Colorado where we hang out for the summer. Also, if we forget something … in montrose we would have access to our “home” in storage. Thanks all, Kirk1.6KViews0likes4CommentsRe: Tires for Towing 20k 5ver and Snow at altitude
PA12DRVR wrote: To each their own and there's lots of good advice on here. I drove (not daily, but regularly) an F550 dually dump truck for a few years until I converted it into a dedicated plow truck. My take-aways: 1) If you have the luxury of waiting out the massive snow dumps that happen rarely, stick with your current tires and get some chains; 2) If you're primary use of the truck in the winter is a grocery-getter, as hinted at, maybe a Subaru is a good 2nd vehicle; alternatively (assuming OP's truck is 4WD), get a set of bad-a** aggressive chains for the front tires....that's where your weight is (if not towing) and you'll only need to chain up for the few times that you'll face the combo of "have to go" and "bad roads"; 3) FWIW, having driven multiple duallies since 1974, there's lots of good mud/highway/AT/Snow (even a few good combo) tires out there, but tires are not going to offset the decided tendency of a dually to act like a cow on ice when the roads are slippery. Thanks for the feedback. We are needing new tires so this is a good opportunity to get something with a little more grab. We aren’t towing as much as we use to so <1000 miles per year seems about right. If we store the RV locally we will come in around 100 miles per year towing. We do have the luxury to wait out bad road conditions and will do so absolutely. The exception would be emergencies of course. I’ve had a chance to read up on the following: Falken Wildpeak AT3W Goodyear Duratrac BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 With a couple more still to research. I’m actually liking the Falken At3w. They look to be a good enough highway tire that also does well in snow and wouldn’t peel away when towing. The ko2s seem to have great fan fair but I don’t see a lot around towing heavy loads. The duratracs look like a great all around snow / dirt tire but appear to be not the greatest highway tire. It’s like being a kid in a … tire store.491Views0likes0CommentsRe: Tires for Towing 20k 5ver and Snow at altitude
Grit dog wrote: So Duratracs are a great tire for snow. But read my responses above. They will last good towing, but I wouldn't want them for anything other than inclement conditions. Especially on a dually, since they require far more tire rotations than most tires in my experience and the challenges with front to back rotations (on a truck with presumably nice wheels like yours). I spent several winters in the CO Rockies. And year round travel into the back country, tugging the snomachines up the hill to the sno parks all winter. Trust that most decently aggressive AT tires will eat up the snow well. If you do have challenges it will be more around the dual rears and not being able to get low enough tire pressures in the rear. But if its too slippery, add weight. I’ve lived and gone to school in snow country. But in suburbia where the snow is generally off the roads within days of the last snowfall. Also, never had a dually as my daily driver in snow country. If we do this long term, will likely get a beater that’s better suited for driving in snowy conditions. Folks in our community like their Subarus. We have been up and down the road with snow on it on our Michelins. The road was grippy each time we went so power to the front wheels on grades made it a non issue. Plus we have some light duty dually chains for those SHTF moments. It’s sounding more and more like I need something a little better than what we have tire wise but not something so aggressive we sacrifice wear, noise, price etc. Those Falken AT3’s are actually looking pretty nice TBH.489Views0likes0CommentsRe: Tires for Towing 20k 5ver and Snow at altitude
Grit dog wrote: OP I’m presuming you’re not towing the 5ver in the mountains in the snow. That’s a different ballgame. But any smaller trailers won’t have a need for chains in the vast majority of CO Mtn winters. Being your truck is a big doolie, you’ll use 4wd more than in the same vehicle if it was a 4 wheeler. But not an issue. It’s a push o the button. Short of just running a single rear wheel, for normal winter driving, drop your rear tires pressure to 20-25psi and add some weight. 500-1000lbs in back will help a bunch. And the further back the weight, the better. Ideally if you’re not using the bed, put the rear load divider in and pile the sandbags at the back. Although that defeats any ability to use the truck bed really. If you’re really thinking you need easy auxiliary traction for steep grades on maintained roads and aren’t in the category of needing chains, tire socks actually work quite well on ice and greasy snow. That said wintering at 9kft in CO, most of the winter it’s cold and grippy enough to not even need 4wd for normal drivin around. (Apologies if I’m presuming you don’t understand the nuances of different types of winter driving, although you did ask what tires to get so trying to provide some additional guidance as tires are only part of the equation.) So we will not be trailering up our mountain road in the winter. Just driving it to get to town for some staples. We go from 9500ft down to around 7500ft over a 5 mile stretch to get to the highway. There’s really only one spot where it gets tricky as the grade is steep and there’s a ledge. People slide off the road all the time. This is a cabin community so there is regular traffic which is good. We snowmobile from a winter lot where we keep our vehicles to our cabins in the winter. My goal here is to find a tire that will work well in those conditions but not get destroyed trailering.490Views0likes0CommentsRe: Tires for Towing 20k 5ver and Snow at altitude
daniellemill wrote: I use Duratrac a lot too! So far, I have not received negative reviews, although its price is higher than usual! Do you tow with them and if so how much weight. These appear to be great tires but look like they could leave some rubber behind with a heavy load. And yes they do appear to be a few bucks more don’t they.491Views0likes0CommentsRe: Tires for Towing 20k 5ver and Snow at altitude
blt2ski wrote: I started running cooper's at 25, now 61. The ONLY brand I've had issues with are michiblows. Reality most brands are good. At the end of the day, they need to have a tread pattern that suits your driving habits. Along with weather you expect to drive in. Choose your poison as some say. The only Michelin I've liked is the ,XDE M+S. That's a 19.5 mdt tire. Toyota has a M55 or did, another good adverse reaction tire. All steel sidewall and tread. I had those on a dually rear, ran a hwy on the front. Yes it was a 4x. I was never off road enough to run all 6. I'd do the same with Duratracs on the rear too. I was pulling a 24' TT to a ski area every weekend from Dec to March. I still had to use chains when traction devices were required for rigs over 10k GVW. Appreciated the chains for down hill runs. Enjoy what ever you get. Hope they work. Marty Wasn’t knocking cooper Marty. Just was telling you my story. I will definitely look into them along with a few other recommendations. Thanks again!489Views0likes0CommentsRe: Tires for Towing 20k 5ver and Snow at altitude
blt2ski wrote: I've pulled towed hauled sheet doing landscaping for 40 yrs, I have yet to have a blow out with Cooper's. Marty Funny. We had Cooper unravel on us down here in Phoenix during the heat of the summer. Got home after hours of dealing with getting to a tire shop and all. Tired from the heat. Turned on the news and first story they covered was Cooper tires loosing tread from the heat. Cooper paid for side panel damages and offered to replace the tire. They did good. But I always seemed to pass them over after that. I’m older, smarter, more mature. I’ll add them to my list :)196Views0likes0CommentsRe: Tires for Towing 20k 5ver and Snow at altitude
ksss wrote: The Duratrac is a good aggressive Winter tire. I had that tire on a 2018 ZR2 which of course is nothing like what your running it on. I can say that off road in the Winter that tire is totally impressive. I doubt it would last more than 35K and still have meaningful tread left pulling that kind of weight. However, that is about 3 years away and that may be a better way of looking at it. There are times when the miles you get on a set of tires are important. There are also times when the performance of the tire matters more. If your traveling at 9500 ft through the winter, I would chose a really good Winter tire. I am happy with the Falcon Wild Peaks. They are not as aggressive as the Goodyears, but they are a good Winter tire. We spend 6 months of the year in snow, and few buy Michelins. Thanks for the reply. Yup the Michelins were great for traveling in good weather. Heck we even took them to AK in the spring and they did great. But they are on their last leg. I'll take a look at those falcons. You do any heavy towing on them?196Views0likes0Comments
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