Are "larger tires" really a fairly recent thing?

[Zsis]

Yeah I graduated high school in 95. Back then if you had a Jeep or smaller Toyota, Ranger, etc, 33s on your rig and you were a bad ass. If you had a full size truck or full size Bronco or GMC Jimmy or similar you may have had 40s, but not much bigger. We had one friend whos father was the autobody /auto mechanics teacher at a local high school so our buddy was always building something whether it was a truck, race car, race boat or whatever. He had built the great pumpkin. A CJ7 on 44s with a V8. Boy was that thing a beast and a lot if fun. Almost spent more time replacing driveshafts or upside down on the roll bar than driving it. But no terrain stopped that thing.

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[Charles 236]

Forty years ago, I was running 31s on my '77 Power Wagon, and felt like they were fairly tall. Now, 33s on my Gladiator look about right to me, but that '77 Power Wagon was really a good bit smaller than a Gladiator. If I tried to do the things that I did with the Power Wagon in the Gladiator, I would definitely upsize quite a bit on the tire height.

 

[Hootbro]

I read a poorly written book by a former Daimler-Chrysler engineer that fought hard to try and have the then TJ Wrangler have a 33" tire and wheel package as an option. His business case was the aftermarket they could take a slice of from but it fell on deaf ears within the Jeep division.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1414040776

 

[gonemad]

Forty years ago, I was running 31s on my '77 Power Wagon, and felt like they were fairly tall. Now, 33s on my Gladiator look about right to me, but that '77 Power Wagon was really a good bit smaller than a Gladiator. If I tried to do the things that I did with the Power Wagon in the Gladiator, I would definitely upsize quite a bit on the tire height.

The Powerwagon was smaller?

 

[Jteakus]

I read a poorly written book by a former Daimler-Chrysler engineer that fought hard to try and have the then TJ Wrangler have a 33" tire and wheel package as an option. His business case was the aftermarket they could take a slice of from but it fell on deaf ears within the Jeep division.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1414040776

Jeep-“How are we gonna deny warranty claims to customers running 33’s if we offer 33’s?!?”

 

[Chaos Theory]

This forum in 2047: "I can't believe ya'll are running 108's... That so 2035. 120's are the way."

 

[Charles 236]

The Powerwagon was smaller?

Yes. I bought a short bed, standard cab W150. I don't remember the wheelbase, but it was less than 120 inches. That Power Wagon felt big back then, but the Gladiator has about twenty inches, approximately, more wheelbase. But that Power Wagon did have a bit more engine, I got one of the last ones with a factory installed 440 cubic inch V8. Of course, the modern Power Wagon is HUGE, but that is the result of over 40 years of growth.

 

[mtudb24]

When I started getting into trucks in the early 80's, 29's and 30.5's were common. 31's were cool, and 33's were beefy, and 35 / 36's were large and in charge. Yeah, we had some dedicated guys with trucks on 40 or 44" inch swampers, but they were rare (at least in my area of Michigan and going to the sand dunes)

We had about 10 of us in high school with fullsize rigs who were running either the Old Dick Cepek Quiet Giants in 36's and Fun Country's in 35's or the Denman Ground Hawgs in 35's.

Many of those being bias tires and we had to deal the "flat spotting thumping" until they warmed up.

The jeeps in our group were running the then cool Armstrong 33' Norseman tires along with the venerable BFG AT's and MT's in various sizes. Had a couple of them running the skinny 33x9.50 BFG MT's too.


Cool thread to bring back a lot of the old memories. The last year of HS, we had a guy who's dad had a landscape company, and his F350's were running 35's with no lift which was unheard of back then. Now you get straight from the factory rigs with 35's and 37's. Crazy for sure.

 

[mtudb24]

Yes. I bought a short bed, standard cab W150. I don't remember the wheelbase, but it was less than 120 inches. That Power Wagon felt big back then, but the Gladiator has about twenty inches, approximately, more wheelbase. But that Power Wagon did have a bit more engine, I got one of the last ones with a factory installed 440 cubic inch V8. Of course, the modern Power Wagon is HUGE, but that is the result of over 40 years of growth.

We had one on 33" Norseman's and 36' Dick Cepek quiet Giants. The wheelbase on the standard cab short bed PW was 115"s vs the gladiators 137". I think the long bed PW was 131 inches

 

[gonemad]

Yes. I bought a short bed, standard cab W150. I don't remember the wheelbase, but it was less than 120 inches. That Power Wagon felt big back then, but the Gladiator has about twenty inches, approximately, more wheelbase. But that Power Wagon did have a bit more engine, I got one of the last ones with a factory installed 440 cubic inch V8. Of course, the modern Power Wagon is HUGE, but that is the result of over 40 years of growth.

By the way, I lived where you live, from ’81-'89. I would move back in a minute, except the wife told me I could go by myself, or in a pine box. Not that she ever lived there.

 

[Master_Cylinder]

I had 235/75R15 on my 1986 Chevy S-10 and thought they were big. (29”) My buddy put 31” on his Toyota SR5 and I thought they were huge!

 

[kb5zcr]

Back in '84, I had 38 inch Monster Mudders on my '69 Chevy 4x4 long bed. I drove that thing from Ft. Hood, TX all over the state for years. I wish I still had that truck. Heck, I cut a telephone pole (we used them for corner posts on our place) the width of the truck and used it as a front bumper. That was one cool looking truck.

 

[mtudb24]

I hear ya. Grew up on S10's back in the day

I had 235/75R15 on my 1986 Chevy S-10 and thought they were big. (29”) My buddy put 31” on his Toyota SR5 and I thought they were huge!

I hear ya. Grew up on S10's back in the day. From P265's to the 31 BFG AT, to the 31" swamper thornbirds, to 33X9.50 BFG MT's, to the 31" Grabber AT's

Those were the initial fun days for sure.

 

[Argento]

Graduated 1981 had a half dozen of so Fords and Chevy pickups that you nearly needed a ladder to get into in the high school lot. Dad also had a k5 blazer that we ran paddle tires on it was lifted Rural Oregon Late 1970s-1980s

 

[629]

Yes…big tires have always been a thing…but as the race to fit larger tires took off the manufacturers started making stock vehicles fit/for much larger tires. My 1984 bronco 2 required 6 inches of lift to fit 33s (and a fender trim). A 1997 stock TJ 31s ish. My stock 23 gladiator can fit 35s. This varied from vehicle to vehicle but is generally correct (obviously F350s etc could fit tall tires). So now that a stock F150 comes with a 33 in order to go larger your now seeing larger and larger tires with less modifications IE easier.

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