tire compression with weight of truck?

[hiridin]

the 35's i have on my truck right measure right at 34". on paper they are listed as 34.9" tall. so they compressed about an inch with the weight of the truck on them. do all tires do that?
i ask b/c 38's are too tall for 5.13's so are 37's for that matter anyways the swampers i'm looking at are 38x15.50r15. measuring 37.1" tall. would they compress about an inch with the weight of the truck on them? something around 36.3" tall. which isn't all that bad for 5.13's. not great but ok. or b/c they are such a big tire they would hold the weight better and measure closer to the actual 37.1" tall.

the front dana 44 can take 5.38's and the 9" takes 5.43's... is that too much of a difference to use 4wd on anything but mud? my guess is yes but im not sure.

 

[james t]

You cant get an accurate measurement from a tire mounted on a truck going from top to bottom. You have to go from side to side. The top to bottom method is useless because it will change so much with air pressure and whatnot. You need to measure across like this <-------->

Make sense?

Also, you would be fine running 5:38's in the front and 5:43's in the rear.