Congrats on getting the pass and hope your mods go well!!
I’m new to the forums and just a few months ahead of you. Just dealt with similar decisions.
I’ll start by saying I have been running the GoodYear DuraTrack tires on the stock 19” rims for the last few years here in CO.
Do quite a bit of trail riding here and they were great tires with the exception of the sidewall where I had an exciting “dual” rear blowout up in the high sharp/rocky regions of Georgetown, CO a few years ago. GoodYear made that right BTW... and replaced all 4 tires in the name of “testing”. So far the new tires have held up well.
Also have the BajaRack Expedition rack and CVT Tent for a few years and really love both.
My though process for new additional mods right now like yours is:
1. protect the valuable side and underside first and foremost. I’ve had my share of sliding around on big rocks up here and it’s only a matter of time before a big whoops happens!
2. move to a better tire (18” rim gives way more options) with E rated sidewall and get the spare out from under the vehicle and store on the roof rack. (Eventually the rear bumper)
3. Go to a metal bumper with the 5th tire swing out and move the spare to the back.
4. Deal with the front end with a an ARB / Tactical Rover bumper and winch.
So from that list I did a bunch of research on multiple forums. For me personally... I ended up really liking the mods gulfstreamchris here on the OB forums did and like him I ended up going with Tactical Rovers sliders. Had a chance while on a business trip to CA to visit Eric and his son (owners of Tactical Rovers) and the stuff they are building is REALLY good stuff and I especially liked the amount of underbody protection his sliders provide. Eric’s willingness to take time to help explain the install personally and give me a tour of their shop out there blew me away.
For the $$$ this project was going to take I was originally going to go with just sliders first. Like your dilemma however once I decided I was going to start tearing off factory plastic parts I figured I might as well do the rear bumper at the same time. Again for this, I really personally liked the Tactical Rover rear bumper which had the tire carrier option and I like how Eric designs a slider/step on the rear edges of the bumper to match the sliders which should allow me better access to the tent on the roof.
In the end I opted to do the sliders and bumper together and figured I would spend the addition 4K on the Compomotive rims and KO2 tires next year.
Sliders and bumper showed up about 2 weeks ago and hope to do the install this week.
Curious about your choice of 285/60 tires. Will they fit? I’m assuming a Johnson Rod lift or something of that sorts will be required?
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