Airing down (no headlocks)

Raptorial said:

Did a search, but didn’t see anything specifically for mud. I am thinking about 28psi front and rear. Stock tires and wheels (non-beadlock)

thanks

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I posted what they recommend at RA a few months back.

Here it is

https://www.fordraptorforum.com/threads/tire-pressures-recommended-at-ra.79278/

On a previous truck I’ve aired down to 15 psi with no problems. I’m doing my first off-reading trip in the Raptor next weekend and was wondering this question. Thanks for the link.

I run 28 around town and on the beach at Assateague with beadlocks. No problem in either environment.

Don’t go less then 12 psi unless you really need to, and don’t plan on loading those side walls through donuts etc or you will roll a bead. Sum it up with no bead lock I try not to go lower then 8psi to get me out, and 12-24 depending on speed, terrain and distance. Just my 2 cents of 30 years off road. Letting air out you lose clearance, but gotta love the ride and traction you get from it!

In my opinion, mud, sand, snow or rock crawling it doesn't matter. The reason you air down is to increase the contact patch of the tire. Take it to the extreme, would you put bicycle (skinny) tires on your raptor and go out in the mud/snow/sand? So an increased tire patch is better for getting grip on all surfaces. If you look at the curve of pressure and patch size, it really doesn't change too much until you get quite low. So going down to 29 is better than 38, but not by much.

12 - 15 psi without bead locks is fine unless you are going to go really fast or try to do donuts at speed.

this came from the RA school.

front / rear

Official Ford 38 / 38

RA 32 / 28

street
no towing
or loads 38 / 34

ALL off 28 / 22
Road


Bead Locks 8-9 psi min.

I air down to about 20 psi when I'm doing it for comfort over rocks and NOT doing high speed stuff. I found myself stuck on a road with no way to turn around. I was going over wet boulders that I wouldn't have made it over without the increased surface area. I also ended up in about 6-8 inches of mud when the high desert moon dust turned to sludge. It performed very well at 20 psi and I stayed under 50 mph.

downforce137 said:

I run 12psi in the dunes. Non beadlock method wheels. You can go a lot lower than you'd think

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Wow 12.... here I was worried at 30 at OBX.

I think those pressures are quite a bit high. i personally think that 32 psi cold is WAY too high for offroad. The difference between 28 Psi and 25 Psi is REALLY noticeable ( to me).

The difference between 32 and 25 is light-years.

Set the tires to 25 psi and go for it. You're going to probably see an increase of 3 psi when the tires are warmed up. ( yes, this means that you're at 35Psi if you're setting your tires to 32 when they're cold. )

I've run 20 psi cold for thousands of miles at a time with no ill effects. ( General grabber x3 37s)

I've been running 25 psi on my KR3s since I put them on the truck.

I am getting ready to switch to a new wheel. I'm finally going to bead locks. ( yay sponsor money!)

This time I'll be going with a wider wheel and will probably set my pressures at 20 psi cold. If I find that going lower provides an advantage, I'll do that too.