Steer tires (treads) on drives?

Yes

 

Better mpg

 

Used to be pretty common on west coast trucks BITD (back in the day..); Steer tires gave less drag, handled better and were quieter than lugged tires. If you were driving desert mostly, you rarely saw mud, and when you got snow in the mountains, you always hung iron anyways. Also, a smoother tread makes installing chains easier.

 

I ran the Northwest at 105k for 8 out of 10 years with siped straight tread without any issues. They were fine on hardpack snow, and when I had to chain I would’ve been chaining with traction tires anyway. I didn’t get traction tires until we started running Canada and had to have them for BC.

 

Why would you/they ? They have less rubber on them. No traction in harsh conditions and off road(job sites). I’ve learned that “101”.

 

They ride smoother than traction tires and they don’t grab rocks like traction tires. We were off pavement plenty with ours between jobsites and loading wheat at farms. Unless you had big aggressive lugs that would shed mud when you’re spinning a traction tire would just pack with mud the same as a straight tread.

 

I’d bet the vast majority of trucks on the road don’t every see off road or harsh traction conditions. Unless you count box jockeys taking a short cut through someone’s front yard, they end up getting winched out most of the time anyway.