Replacing Steer Tires

Has anyone replaced their steer tires with either of these brands?

Also is anyone carrying a spare steer tire on your HDT?

We had a bad experience with Bridgestone (tread separation)  Beside that they are even more than the Michelin in some areas.

We considered the Michelin, but the price was not justifiable for our use.

I think you will be pleased with the price a quality of the Yoko tire.

We do not carry a spare.  We have 8 tires on the rear if we get in a pinch. I have all the tools to swap one on the road.

Brands  I would not use whatsoever are Kumho and anything with a casing Manufacture of Origin from China.  This is MORE important to me than the brand itself, my dad at one time had a stack of failed Chinese casings that their trailers equipped with at purchase.  Warranty or prorating them has proved problematic, which since some of them are brand name, is not a good sign.  Watch carefully what you're getting sold, check it PRIOR to mounting.  Once you have them on your vehicle, few shops will take them off.

I am paranoid, I carry 2 mounted drive tires (recaps) one loose steer tire that is about 50% tread life.  I also have a BIG trailer though, so room is not an issue.  If I had to carry only one spare, it would be a used steer tire on a mounted rim so I could place it in any position, either steer or drives. If you buy new tires, keep one of your old steers for this purpose, the amount of casing credit you might get for it is nothing compared to what you'll end up paying for a used one on the roadside from a tire service.  If anything it gives you options so you can make a decision at leisure,  NOT on the side of the road with a knee jerk reaction to a road hazard.

At this point, what size (deep) socket do I need now since only one tire in on the rear and at what torques do the nuts needs (front and back duals)? Just curious since I'm sure I won't change them neither do I have the proper hammer.
Thanks!
Ken.

If you have a steer go down in the middle of the night, the last thing you want to be doing is swapping tires around from various positions on the truck.  This is why I feel carrying a mounted steer tire is the best prevention plan you can have.  Even with a roadside service truck responding to your flat call, you will still be waiting a while for them
to swap the tire over.  Some are good enough to spoon the bad tire off of the rim while still on the truck, but don't count on that as typical..  Plenty of others will keep the timer running as long as possible to get more of your money.  Mounted spares keep that type of game to a minimum.

If you decide to wrestle tires yourself, keep in mind the weight of a mounted wheel and tire on these trucks, it is far from something most do it yourselfer's can handle alone.  I am not small, 6'2" and around 190 lbs. wet.  I can not lift a mounted tire by myself to a deck, I have to use a come along to drag it onto my truck's deck.  Letting one of these things roll out of your hand on the road will not be a fun event, they are more than enough to total out a Toyota Camry that is passing by at 70 to 80 mph.  Murphy's law dictates it will happen.  Make sure you have an
adequate lifting solution on hand to get the flat tire off the ground. You might get lucky and swap a drive position wheel to another spot, but you have to do something with the flat tire once you have the truck rolling again.  This is not something you want to problem solve after the fact.

Even if you have the spare you will need to dismount the tire and remount the new one.  If you can do that, you should have no problem removing a outer duel and move it to the front to get you to a good location to buy a replacement.  There is no way a drive tire (virgin) can be a problem in a hundred or so miles to get back to civilization versus lugging around a heavy a** tire indefinitely.

I carry a spare for the fiver because there are no other options but to have a spare.

I am a very impatient person and I would just as soon change my own tire than wait 2-3 hours for some repair service to come out and break something or soak me with a bill that Coach Net will not cover.

I have a 33mm 3/4 drive socket, a 4' torque wrench and breaker bar to get me back on the road.