Does anyone have any experience with BFGoodrich All-Terain T-A KO's? I'm thinking about putting them on my 2004 F-250 4x4. I spend about 75% of the time on road but with somethiing better than the stock Generals I'm sure I'll get off-road more. I'm looking at sizes LT295 or LT315 75R 16's. Any experience would be helpful. Thanks.

 

I would stick with the 285-305 range, these are 33" tires and should do fine on a stock truck. The 315's are a 35" tire and will rub if you work the suspension at all. But if your truck is lifted the the 35's will be fine. Hope this helps.

Fitter

 

I have the BFG AllTerrain TA KO's on my F350 and they are great! They are quiet and well mannered on the road and do well on wet pavement and off-road they do well in most types of terrain except sticky mud (the treads pack-up quickly and they dont like to clean out well). In sand, air them down for best results. They seem to be long-wearing as well . Others here have posted getting 40-50K miles out of them.

I run them in 33x12.50-16.5 size on my stock suspension '92 F350 4x4 and they fit nicely with no rubbing once I spaced the front bumper forward about 2 inches. I run them on 10" wide wheels and they fit very nicely on the wheels.

On the metric sizes:
a stock 265/75-16 is ~31.5" x 10.5" (same dia as 235/85-16's but wider),
a 285/75-16 is ~32.8" x 11.25",
a 295/75-16 is ~33.5" x 11.5"
a 305/75-16 is ~34" x 12"
and a 315/75-16 is ~34.5" x 12.5"
(these are approx sizes rounded to the nearest 1/4-inch)

Tire diameter has a big effect on overall gear ratio. Changing to a tire that is too much bigger than stock while leaving the axle gearing stock can cause a noticeable lack of power and the trans will want to downshift out of OD alot more. It's also bad for gas mileage and wears out an auto tranny quicker. Find out what gear ratio your truck has and let that be your guide to how tall a tire to run on the truck, if you are not interested in changing the gears.

Gear changes are not cheap on a 4x4 since both axles' gears need to be changed. The gear change on my 4x4 truck was $1800 with a rear locker and installation.

Depending on your current gear ratio and engine/tranny combo, a 285/75-16 or 33x12.50-16 tire is usually ok with stock gearing on a truck that originally came with 265/75-16's or 235/85-16's as long as the truck was not geared high (numerically low, aka 3.55 gears) already from the factory.

33" tires work well with 4.10 gears and 35" tires work well with 4.56 gears. I run 33's with 4.56's (truck originally had 3.55's with 235/85-16's) because I have a small engine (351) in a heavy truck (6500 lbs unloaded) and it needed lower gears for towing/hillclimbing power since I live in an area with alot of hills. The low gears help off-road as well.

To find your axle ratio and differential type (ltd slip or open), look on your door sticker for the axle code and look up the code in the 'tech articles' section of this site under the 'decoders' section for axles.

[EDIT: your late model truck's axle code may not be on that list above. I would call the dealer and have them look it up or look on your window sticker to see if the ratio is listed there, or post a question about it in the Superduty forum and someone there may know what the code is means.]

 

This is probably the most popular A/T-type tire around. There are LOTS of people here who swear that these are the best tires in the world and everything else is junk. I used to be that way too until I actually tried other tires. Don't get me wrong, they are a good tire, I just think they get way too much hype.

 

Ive had a couple sets of the A/T KO tires and have the 315s now, they have worked great for me, nice ride, great traction, great wear, I would buy them again. Ive got about 27,000 on them now and they still have 75% tread left. If you go with a M/T, I might try the Goodyear next.

 

I currently have the 285/75/R16's on the stock rim which is 16x7 and have no problems at all. I would recommend this tire to anyone who spends alot of time on the road and does ocassional offroad. Great tire, and great tread life. also they are severe weather rated which is another plus. great for icy and slushy, wet road conditions.

 

I have 295.75.16's on my F-150 with no lift. I like them alot. This is my second set, my first set got over 65k before I gave them to my son, and he is still using them. We both have f150's, I had 16.10 rims and he has 16.12 rims. Great tires