Well, I have not done this and would have been easier to itemize and catalog it from beginning...but better than never I guess. First will introduce my BRICKHOUSE as I first knew her. LOL
I bought my FJ after having Jeeps for most of my adult life because of their history, reliability and offroad capability off the floor. My father had a 1984 FJ60 that his sister bought new for when they spent a lot of time in Durango, CO. In the early ‘90s they bought a new one and he bought it from her with original paint, garage kept, everything stock and brought it to South Carolina. Replacement of front hubs, hoses, belts, work on Air Conditioner, body lift, more aggressive tires, window tinting and other minimal changes and creature comforts were added. All in all she is stock and original with no rust that I know of…and he gave her to me. I think he wants her back so we might have to do the join custody thing...LOL Though I admittedly dont have room for her down at my home. That is another story and hope to catalog some of OLD BLUES improvements and such at another time in future....so back to my FJ.
Wife wanted Titanium (she has fetish for silver and metallic gray vehicles) and I wanted Black….though last three vehicles have been some color of RED (red Cherokee, red Indian Chief, red Dodge Cummins 4x4 HD2500) so we compromised and I got BRICK. Immediately thought of song from my youth, “Sheee’s a BRICK….HOUSE…..mercy mercy, letting it all hang out!” Hence her new stage name.
First thing I noticed is it is a very capable vehicle with the worse tires possible on delivery. Gene Reed Toyota would not swap them out for me or even let me pay difference. After 4 hours of negotiating and haggling I am guessing they were tired of me especially after the Manager realized he himself forgot to charge me for the roof rack and all-weather mats during all of my back and forths.
So I started my search for shops that would let me trade in tires and give me more than $25. Finally, heard of shop on other side of town, FRANKIES TIRES. I went to see him and it was coincidently behind a SEX SHOP called Generation XXX. So if it took a long time I guess I could watch who went in and out of the shop trying not to be seen. (No I did not go in…….this time.)
Frankie was a very nice guy…looked at tires…looked at truck setup…asked what tires I was interested. I told him Nittos but they were same as Toyo almost so either one would work. He told me he had great reports on Nitto and for the money he would recommend them. He came back a few minutes later and told me all he could do for me is $600 mounted and balanced for the Nitto Terra Grapplers. WOW! That meant he gave me about $75 per tire as I was getting 5 tires to fill every wheel on vehicle…not just four. So I shook his hand and let him start. He came back and said, I can have 295s on it now if they will fit. He said they might rub UCA a little or fender well it appears but if I was going to lift it they might be okay. Said they were $20 per tire cheaper. I said okay.
So first 2 days of ownership I put on new Nitto Terra Grapplers in 295x70x17 on all five mounting points. They are 8 ply tires, all terrain tread but much more aggressive than the standard BFG AT I have run for 20 years. I had the same tire on my Dodge Cummins 4x4 HD2500 and they road great as E rated tire so was interested to see how the D rated held up.
Nitto Terra Grapplers in 295x70x17
