Nick,

There are a few persistent questions raised on this board, tire sizes being one of them. I've put about 50K miles on my 87 Raider with 225/75-15, 31x10.5, 32x11.5, and 33x12.5 tires. I like the ride of the 33 the best, both for street and dirt. Since my Raider is primarily for work, and I work in the dirt, I've sought the medium between freeway and haul road performance for my needs. Over the last year, I was running the 33's and travelling up and down the mountains between Lake Tahoe and Sacramento, from 7800 feet at Echo Summit to 25 feet MSL in downtown Sac. The 33's and mountain descents are not for the faint of heart. I'm going to be adding the V6 front brake setup this year, maybe checking out the EBC products from UK. I have not corrected my speedo and still the Raider returns respectable mileage, ranging between 13 pulling my water trailer to 20, as measured one way from Tahoe to Folsom, but my average has been between 15-18 mpg. I'm also planning the 5.29 gear sets maybe next year, I have a 1-ton Chevy to buy this year. I'm currently using 15x8 wheels with 4" backspace, no rubbing once the front bumper ends and leading edges of the fenderwell insides were trimmed.

However, if you don't choose to chop up your truck, 31's will work with no trimming, they weigh less and won't as negatively affect your mileage. They look tough enough and I could drift my Raider with the BFG all terrains. The 31's will work on your stock rims, too. With the V6 brakes, 31's would be REALLY easy to stop.

In the end, we hope that opinions expressed here will help your truck positively.

33x12.5 on alloy spokes:





32x11.5 on 15x8 with 3.25" BS under full compression:



Far shot, but 31's mounted up and the Chevy I'm buying: