This is just a general tech question, but since I have a 1st gen Dak I decided to ask here. I need to replace my rear tires due to a recent citation for bald tires. (Stupid me, I know) I have a slightly mismatched set laying around and wondered if i could use them without wreaking havoc on my diff. Ones a 275/60 and the other a 255/60. Could I use them?

 

Using a tire calculator that is only almost 1 inch taller. It is fine with a normal open diff for everyday street use. You should put the odd sizes up front so the rear will have as close to equal sizes as possible. Is your truck a 4x4? If so you need to have all 4 the same size.

 

It's a 2wd, and I would put them up front except they are a wide, very meaty set of tires haha. Good for the snow were getting in PA here.

 

If you're going to be dealing with snow and low traction your not going to get good traction, the smaller tire will always spin out vs give you traction. Again putting them on the front will be your best bet even if they are wide with good tread. Another option is to buy a used tire in one of those sizes to make them equal.

 

"only almost an inch difference" No, it still isn't good for the rear end... I'd get 1 more of each size and put the big ones (both same size) on back and the smaller ones (again both same size) on front... as a spare to get you home i would not worry about the mismatch across the rear end; if you plan to run them more than that, I would.

i was at Walmart last summer looking at tires for my son's truck and they had 3 different 31-10.5- R15s, and I pulled them all off the shelf and put them side by side; all new tires one a Goodyear one a Bridgestone and one a Uniroyal all marked the same size, but no 2 of them were the same height, there was over 1" difference between biggest and smallest of the 3 tires....