Ok, most on here are going to think I'm crazy and probably stupid but oh well, that's why I am posting, I want to see the reactions you guys have.
Right now I have 285/75/16 BFG AT's on my truck but I am thinking of dropping down to the 265. Reasons why you ask? First I have new AR rims and would rather not have the wheel wieghts on the outside (visible). That in turn causes a balance problem. So now I get a vibration in the steering wheel. Truthfully it's more like a back and forth motion on the wheel (like going through a wash out or ruts).
Second I have the 3.55ls gear which is technically enough for the tire. I like having the added get and and go I had with the stock 255 size.
Third, a minor reason I don't care that much about. Is the amount the speedo is off.
I would think that down sizing to the 265 would solve all these issues or at least to some extent. My power should go back up, the speedo more accurate and the tire should be easier to balance. What's your comment?

 

I would keep the 285's on the truck. Makes it look better and gives you more height. But, if you do switch tires, if your BFG's are in good shape and have tread left I might buy em off of you.

 

I don't think balancing will be that much of a deal between the two sizes. With my rims, it's not possible to put the weights on the outside of the wheels, and it is getting really frustrating. Luckily, the last time they didn't even charge me to get them rebalanced. But, mine had (has again) a similar shaking to what you're talking about (with 265's).

 

I wouldn't take bigger tires off my truck for any amount of money - they look too good! I have the 4.6 with 3.55's and I my truck came stock with 255's also. I did lose a little power with my 33's, but I still can tow my bass boat with no problem - so I live with it. Everything has a trade off, and I did see the truck shifting a little more often, but that was to be expected when you change the effective gear ratio by changing tires - I just don't keep mine in overdrive all the time - you will still cruise at the same engine RPM's as before the tire change if you don't use OD on some of those hills.

As far as the wheel balancing goes, that shouldn't be a problem. I have Eagle 143's and they do not have weights on the outside, just the inside, and I have ZERO balancing problems. My truck rides smooth as stock with the 33 X12.50's on 10" rims. It does matter who balances them though, because most regular shops aren't used to dealing with bigger tires - even though your 285's aren't really big in the realm of tires.

I got all my stuff at National Tire and Wheel in Wheeling WV and they are a hardcore off-road shop - they know how to balance big tires - my 33's were little compared to what they were used to and they did a great job. I talked to the guys while they were mounting my tires since I am a tire "nut' and they told me that the new BFG AT KO's were really uniform tires compared to the older AT's (since BFG ran the holy crap out of those molds) and that they usually had little problem balancing the KO's out. Their new Hunter wheel balancer had a setting you could use to specifically tell the machine you were doing an inside weight only balance and it altered things accordingly - I'm no expert, but that's what he said.

As far as your truck wandering from side to side, that has nothing to do with the balance of your tires. Tire balance only compensates for the radial runout resulting from an out-of-round tire or an improper tire-bead to rim-bead mount. This is all radial balance and doesn't have much to do with side-to-side ride. You might check to see that you are inflated properly, or that your ball joints are ok, or your lug torque is correct. The lug nuts can make a big difference on aluminum wheels. You have to tighten them in an even pattern to the correct torque or you will "bind" them and they won't center properly on your truck - making if feel "out of balance".

Your spedo need not worry you. It can be fixed with a new gear ($20) or just figure out the percentage difference in overall tire circumference from your old tires to your new ones and use that percentage on your speed the spedo shows to get your actual. I changed my tires circumference by almost exactly 10% and I can always add 10% to what my speedo shows and I am right on - even checked it with my GPS. Don't forget your mileage will be off by that percentage too, so if your trip odometer shows you traveled 300 miles, you actually traveled 330 miles - this makes a big difference when you figure your new mileage & lots of people forget about this and complain about horrible mileage with their bigger tires.

Just my 2 cents, sorry it's so long and it's more than you probably wanted to hear, but I just love the look of trucks with bigger tires - there really is nothing better you can do to your truck to make it stand out in a crowd.

 

Well, I know I suggested to go with the size you really wanted (the bigger ones), but I never thought about going smaller.

I don't know what to say about the whole balance deal. I would think that if they are having a hard time balancing a specific wheel with the weights on the inside, maybe try "spinning" the tire on the wheel, so it is in a different position, like 90 degrees from where it was originally, then try to balance again. Dunno.

As far as the power loss and speedo change, you won't or shouldn't see that much difference between the 285 and the 265. I noticed a change on the 255/70 - 265/75, but that was a much larger change...... Just as you notice a big change from the 255/70 - 285/75 now.

When I changed my speedo gear, I swear the computer runs better now that the actual speed is what the rig is actually doing. My shift points are sooner, and I don't seem to change from OD to 3rd as much anymore either. I didn't change the rear gears, still have the 3.55 LS, just the speedo gear. This is just my own theory on it all. Stick with the 285's for now, unless you can't get that balance thing sorted out....

Maybe the tracking problem is due to some loose balljoints that the larger tires are just magnifying..... Or you are just on a bad road. Does it happen on any road type or surface?

 

Thanks for all the info guys. So far I haven't switched and I am also still having the balancing problem. I wanted to drive it a few days to see if I would get use to the power loss and could pinpoint the problems. It is a good possiblty that I do have worn suspension parts as I have about 123,000 on the truck. I plan to cheack it all out more very soon and go from there. It's my belief that the tire shop I go to just can not balance big tires worth a damn, but can't stand or afford to have another shop charge me to unmount from the truck, balance and remount the wheels on my truck. I think I will jack each wheel up loosen all the lugs and retighten down each wheel to a 100ft lbs in a criss-cross pattern. Everyone is 100% right on the looks though, it kicks major tale. I haven't had to use 4wd yet, before I would've been in 4wd at least 3 times by now. I think I have got more compliments in a week of new tires and wheel then in 6 months before with the stock crap.

Does anyone think it causes excessive wear on the tranny to shift up and down ( in and out of OD) on the highway? I would rather not run out of OD all the time. What about wear on other parts? Experiences with wear wanted?