4x4 / Off-Road TechThis section contains all discussion related to taking the FJ Cruiser in Off-Road situations, 4x4 applications and any armor modifications.
I never air down. I like being up and away from rocks (they scare me). Ive never really had situations where airing down would acctually help but then again ive never driven in deep sand. Airing down in my mind puts me closer to the ground and hard objects and defeats the purpose of a lift and tires.
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-Mark
08' Black Diamond FJ. off road package, ARB roof rack, Kenwood DDX-6019, Gobi Ladder, OME lift!!
Wish list - BudBuilt skids, New shoes....
Get a set of Staun tire deflators, they are worth the $60. The ones I have were preset at 18 psi which seems to be a good pressure for what I have done.
I never air down. I like being up and away from rocks (they scare me). Ive never really had situations where airing down would acctually help but then again ive never driven in deep sand. Airing down in my mind puts me closer to the ground and hard objects and defeats the purpose of a lift and tires.
The problem is if you are on a very steep incline, be it solid rock, boulders, or scree, not airing down can seriously affect your vehicles "grippability" and keep you from making it over some obstacles. It does lower your clearance a bit, but not that much.
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"Somebody please tell this machine I'm not a machine." W. Coyne
ARB frnt&rear bump -- 8K WARN winch -- IPF 900XS -- Icon 3.5" lift -- Front Coil-Over System -- ARB basket rack -- Moto-Metal 17" wheels -- Nitto Terra Grappler 285/70/17's -- etc.
About 10 more questions need to be answered before any advise can be given....my guess...since you don't know and never have done it before....don't bother...
For ME....in Az. doing hardcore(for an IFS rig) rock crawling.....10lbs on a 285lt mt works perfect.....but....are you in AZ with mt's doing rock crawling??? probably not.....
So....what kind of wheeling? how fast? what kind of terain?i.e.sand/rocks/snow/mud/wet/dry/dirt roads? what kind of tires?i.e at/mt/stock? what size tires?how much weight you carry?how steep?etc???
About 10 more questions need to be answered before any advise can be given....my guess...since you don't know and never have done it before....don't bother...
For ME....in Az. doing hardcore(for an IFS rig) rock crawling.....10lbs on a 285lt mt works perfect.....but....are you in AZ with mt's doing rock crawling??? probably not.....
So....what kind of wheeling? how fast? what kind of terain?i.e.sand/rocks/snow/mud/wet/dry/dirt roads? what kind of tires?i.e at/mt/stock? what size tires?how much weight you carry?how steep?etc???
Unless the situation is dire, I don't air-down. In bad rocks/river beds/waterfalls I do drop it down to around 10 or even a bit lower, but I run beadlocks.
Air'd down to 10
Should have been lower than 10
Better to have just run the darned things flat
gratuitous photo of recovering SEANK's rock buggy with the FJ
Is there a safest air down pressure for most tires without bead locks? I know there are multiple factors, such as speed, type of terrain, etc. that come into play.
I had thought 15lbs was max air down pressure for not running bead locks.
It depends on the tires, the wheels (oversize or not), the nature of the bead on that wheel and the engineering of the tire itself (different manufacturers have different specs), the terrain you're crossing, etc. Rocks are worse because you can spin a wheel on a bead but I've seen them spin off on a bad off-camber situation on the Mojave Road (ZOCHI13) where he lost both right front and rear (came off the bead) when he was going a bit fast on a very well graded fire road and the vehicle slipped hard. He was air-d up as I recall or if he was air-down it wasn't all that far.
As expected , we have allot of opinion on this one. That usually means it doesn't matter. I could see a soft tire on sharp rocks, but for the most part I think the Tire itself , tread, etc, is what matters. We have several veterans on he forum here with completely differing opinion.
What is the purpose of the deflaters/ decompressors? Couldn't just manually do it with a tire gauge.
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08 Sandstorm
All Terrain Package, AT, Rock Rail, OEM Skid
BajaRack
As expected , we have allot of opinion on this one. That usually means it doesn't matter. I could see a soft tire on sharp rocks, but for the most part I think the Tire itself , tread, etc, is what matters. We have several veterans on he forum here with completely differing opinion.
What is the purpose of the deflaters/ decompressors? Couldn't just manually do it with a tire gauge.
I have ran my BFG's at 40 on the trail (normal road pressure for me) and at 20 on the trail. Soft sand, mud, ruts, dry hard dirt, is the type of terrain i have around here. It was almost a night and day difference on the trail running the tires at 20.
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