A cosmetic blem was discovered one one tire after I got them, so Diamond Back is sending me a new free replacement tire right away- great customer service- no questions asked. Had I ordered white walls, I think it wouldn’t have happened, because they would have noticed it when installing the white walls. No biggee. I’m super happy to have these really cool steel belted squared off tread truck tires in place of the modern radials that I had on there before.
These tires look so appropriate on the truck, and it drives great- super quiet, good handling, and smooths out a rough road… so much better than the 215/75x15’s I had on the truck before.
It is a night and day difference, and I find myself taking longer trips in the truck now- 100 round trip commutes to/from work. It’ll do 80 without any drama at all now. 70 mph feels no different than my F-150. I’m sure the anti-sway bar helps too.
These are mounted on 15x6 Wheel Vintiques Rallye wheels. ZR-1 S-10 Blazer rear axle and a dropped 1/2 ton axle up front with a disc brake conversion. I ended up with 4 wheel vented disc brakes, which I didn’t plan for, but really love now. The rear leaf springs were reversed to position the axle closer to the center of the rear wheel arch, however, after some thought, I am probably going to put the rear springs back in their normal position and have the custom driveshaft shortened, so that the axle is back in the stock position- I think it’ll look better that way. An afternoon job for me to do.
The axle drop was 2.5 inches in the front, with stock springs that I dismantled and inspected and installed teflon liners- so no spring drop in the front, which gives me a nice ride. Rear springs were taken apart are brought to a spring blacksmith who worked the, into a 2 inch drop. I wanted a slight rake to the truck, and I got it. But when I put the Auburn tires on, I went with the taller 820’s in the back, which jacked the rear up slightly more..,I can live with it. Since I rarely parallel park the truck, a better choice would have been 820’s all around. Right now, I am enjoying the slightly easier slow speed steering I get with 710’s up front.
I am so delighted with my truck now- I had no idea tires could make such a difference. low sidewalls on the 3600 makes for a rough ride- it needs a tall tire for comfort. The 3600 has NO rubber bushings in the suspension, front or rear- it’s all metal bushings all around. Now I’m glad I didn’t install a coil spring front end- I do some spirited driving in the twisty foothill roads here, but have no need for coil spring. If I was commuting everyday on the freeway, I’d go with coils and power steering. Right now, with the steering box rebuilt and adjusted properly and upgraded rod ends, she tracks very nice, even at 75-80 mph.
Here’s the Auburn tires on my ‘50 3600. 7.10x15 on the front, and 8.20x15 on the rear:
Auburn tires on Chevy
