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This is not it.....

I'm sure many of you guys are old enough to remember the bias-ply Co-Op Grip Spurs and Gateway Buckshot Wide Mudders (which came in a radial version also). Both were discontinued several years ago, with Maxxis tires picking up the Buckshot name to use on their radial mud tire. Well, after several years of absence, the originals are back on the market, as the "Buckshot Mudder", with "Gateway" stamp. Thailand is now the country of manufacture. When I was a kid, these were on everybody's hunting trucks and the rear axles of many 2wd daily-drivers, at least during hunting season.




I'm in the process of resurrecting the old Tacoma camp truck that's been sitting for quite a while and one of the many items to address is tires. It is currently running some 15-year old Buckshot Wide Mudder P78-15 tires, but they are clapped out and dry-rotted. I wouldn't trust them over maybe 30mph, even though they hold air (somewhat). The newly-released versions are only available in the LT-78-16 (33.2x9.40-16) size, so I'll be swapping to some spare Tacoma take-off wheels to stay with a similar tire overall size. 15-inch versions are also available, but only in a 30" tall model.












This kind of tread depth is something you just can't get in a radial tire.



For what this little truck will be used for, old-school tech has proven to still be the best for the job. Yes, they will howl on the backroads and yeah, they have to be rotated like crazy, but you should see some of the swampy places this little truck has been over the years. Other than a $350+ Super Swamper variant, they are still the best for the job. These were $217 each through one of WalMart's online distributors.

Could you imagine the noise at 80mph? lol

I do dig them tho for your intended purpose.

The choice back in the day in the Mississippi Delta. My Dad ran them on his hunting rig, a 1964 IH Scout 4WD. Lots of of gumbo and buckshot mud in fields adjacent to our duck holes. I remember his saving his change for a year in a big plastic Water bottle to buy a set. They did roar on the highway and sent rooster tails of clods toward the sky. Did a good job of self cleaning with the deep cleats. All the farmers ran them on their farm trucks. Glad to see there’re back in style. They flat worked.

Not sure the Tacoma would make 80mph, but I get your point.

I do know that 55mph is rather loud once a set of these gets some wear on them. Interstate highway speeds would be likely to break off cleats, I'd imagine.

Rooster tails indeed. Those old Scouts were pretty cool and you don't see too many these days.

Used to have a couple sets of Grip-Spurs on extra rims and ran them during hunting season on a few trucks - '72 IH Scout, '76 Silverado, '74 Blazer. They're great in the mud.

The first tire I saw like that was the Dick Cepek Gumbo Monster Mudders in the 70’s. If that doesn’t get you through the mud, no tire will.

33x9.50 in a load E with a lot more voids and siping would sure make for a nice "snow/ice" tire. The ~11"+ wide Load E tires are nice for spreading out weight for longevity, but, a "Pizza-Cutter" does a better job of cutting it's own trail through snow and having enough "down-pressure" to maintain traction.

Yeah, I mistakenly said the current models are LT tire, but they are actually P series, like my older tires. This doesn't make much difference with the little Tacoma, but it might with a big truck.

Back in the late 40's , 50's we put similar tires on for winter. Not quite as aggressive ,but everyone called them Knobbies.

I remember the good old days with buckshot mudders and 10-12 inch skyjackers on square body Chevys. Looked damn cool but beat the ever loving [bleep] out of you.

Had some of those tires on my Jeep Commando at the deer lease. They got me through some stuff that likely shouldn’t have even been attempted. By the end they had about a gallon of slime in each tire.

I have 2 Jeeps with 37 X 12 X 17 B.F. Goodrich MT'S and I hate the Damn things they throw mud 25' in the air and if you have to turn a sharp corner they will fill the back seat with mud, but they will plow threw the mud and leave huge rutt's Rio7

There is certainly a place for a good radial mud tire, especially on a truck that will see a fair amount of road miles. The driving and wear characteristics are far superior to any bias ply, and they do make some good radials these days.

It seems to me that the bias-ply shines in the scenarios where you are spending a large amount of time offroad, in soft mud conditions, and you are not concerned with roadway driving characteristics or tire mileage/life. A worn-down bias ply will still churn though mud fairly well, as compared to a worn-down mud radial. The lug spacing and remaining lug depth are still there.







Also, a narrow bias-ply with deep tread does a great job of cleaning itself out with very little wheelspin required, when compared to a radial with less depth. It allows a lower-horsepower vehicle to "chug" along through the nasty stuff without necessarily having to dig with excessive tire-spin, much like a tractor tire. That's why they historically have done so well on older Jeeps, Scouts, Toyotas, and such. You can also choose to go with high-horsepower and spin the snot out of them if you want, but get ready to dig to China.... lol. When I was growing up in the 80's there was a local deer-dog hunter that had a lift on a really sharp two-tone maroon and tan square-body Chevy and then mounted up the taller 36" Q78 Buckshots. I thought it was just about the coolest truck around.

YUP! I and my buddy still refer to em as knobbies. A a kid in Northern Minnesota, we would see Canadians come through in their Dodge trucks that were labeled FARGO. Last fall my buddy called and in our chat he mentioned that he just put a set of knobbies on his Fargo........his kids roll their eyes when they hear us.

The Coop grip spurs tread so deep that it would flex on the road & make a vehicle sort of wallow around. But hard to beat them, Buckshots or Gumbo mudders in the eastern soil.

Had the "P" buckshots on a '77 Power Wagon we used for hunting. We took that truck in places we shouldn't, and only got it stuck a couple times. My opinion, but Gumbo mudders sucked. Tread not deep enough for our needs. Tend to float more.
Friend had a mud truck we used to race back in the late '8os early '90's. You either ran Buckshots or Swampers. For that application, the Gumbo mudders didn't get deep enough to get traction. This was mud oval racing. Fond memories of big block open header trucks running balls out. Fun times.


Clyde

Did someone say Scout?

I had this 1968. I bought it in 1976 right after I graduated from HS. It was badass. It had a 392 V8. The skid plate went from frame rail to frame rail from the front axle past the transmission. It was slick on the bottom. No lift, just cut the back fenders so the Gumbo Mudders would fit.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/19334082#Post19334082

I just wish they would bring back the old Armstrong Tru-Tracs.

I am semi obsessed with the highboys wearing the Coker STA Super Lugs...about a 36" pizza cutter.

sta super lugs

so there may be more options if you play around in the Coker website for these old school pizza cutters

have read some guys run them on their snow plow trucks, air down, and something else...I digress, happy digging, but you can get new old school tires from Coker also, google the highboy trucks, most are wearing these 36.3" bad boys