Should I upgrade my tires to LT for towing?

[Jaxon1174]

I will be making a cross country move later this year. My ram has the standard p-metric 20s on it. 5.7L w/ max towing package w/ airlift bags in my springs. I will be pulling a 20' car trailer once loaded will probably weigh 7K lbs maybe a little more. Plus maybe another 500lbs in the bed of the truck. I am debating on putting LT tires on the truck for safety during this 3000 mile haul, but it will likely be the only time I pull this much weight again in the future. Do any of you think its would be worth the $$$ for LT tires?
I will also likely put a WD system on the trailer for the haul.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[jlb]

I pulled an 8.5 x 20, 10k trailer on a 2k mile trip without any issues. Granted, I had 17" C load range LT tires (OEM), but I think the taller sidewall allowed ridiculous amounts of sway. For towing like that a D or better tire comes highly recommended, and the tires on these trucks are definitely the weakest link in terms of setting them up for towing. I don't believe weight distribution hitches, or anti-sway setups are really worth it as they only address symptoms, of a poorly set up tow rig.

That being said, you don't intend to tow like this very often, so you will be fine. If you are satisfied with the OEM tires, keep them, run them until they are out of life, and then get new tires. If you think you would like to change the tires anyway because the OEM ones don't look good, don't meet your offroading needs, etc., and you can afford to do it, I would say change them prior to the road trip, and your towing experience will be much better.

 

[14hemiexpress]

I will be making a cross country move later this year. My ram has the standard p-metric 20s on it. 5.7L w/ max towing package w/ airlift bags in my springs. I will be pulling a 20' car trailer once loaded will probably weigh 7K lbs maybe a little more. Plus maybe another 500lbs in the bed of the truck. I am debating on putting LT tires on the truck for safety during this 3000 mile haul, but it will likely be the only time I pull this much weight again in the future. Do any of you think its would be worth the $$$ for LT tires?
I will also likely put a WD system on the trailer for the haul.

Thanks for the advice.

Be careful on which tires you pick. I'm not sure what the factory wheels can handle but I know it's not 80psi. You might look into the duratrac's they are a d rated tire that comes in factory size.

The stiffer tires will make you 3000mile ride a lot better be careful what you put in the bed because your going to be close to being over weight. You will have about 800 on the hitch and 5 in the bed is 1300lbs plus any passengers

 

[Jaxon1174]

thanks for the inputs. I am definately looking at all the numbers to make sure i dont exceed axle weight.

 

[L8ERZZZ]

I just installed BF Goodrich KO's on my truck 275/65/20 it's a 10-ply tires with a max 80psi heard nothing but good things about it and it's true. A very solid tire. They do have the KO2's out now.

 

[audio1der]

IMO I don't know how much you'd benefit from upgrading your tires unless they should be changed due to wear before the trip anyway.
When we need to replace our 20's I plan on putting 'C' rated LTs on, but we pull a 32' ultralight trailer which is like pulling a massive balloon/billboard down the road.
With a shorter,heavy package, it should tow just fine, especially if you use WD bars (smart!)

 

[loveracing1988]

Be careful on which tires you pick. I'm not sure what the factory wheels can handle but I know it's not 80psi. You might look into the duratrac's they are a d rated tire that comes in factory size.

The stiffer tires will make you 3000mile ride a lot better be careful what you put in the bed because your going to be close to being over weight. You will have about 800 on the hitch and 5 in the bed is 1300lbs plus any passengers

You don't have to inflate them to 80 psi to get benefits from the stiffer sidewall.

 

[14hemiexpress]

You don't have to inflate them to 80 psi to get benefits from the stiffer sidewall.

What can you inflate them to? What can a factory 20 handle? To me it would seem like they would be squishy if they weren't fully inflated or wear bad. Although I guess you 3/4 guys run 60 in the fronts right?

 

[avolnek]

What can you inflate them to? What can a factory 20 handle? To me it would seem like they would be squishy if they weren't fully inflated or wear bad. Although I guess you 3/4 guys run 60 in the fronts right?

Tire pressures should be calculated...

(Actual weight on tire/ max weight rating of tire)* max tire press = proper inflation.

Example, lets say the rear axle weighs in at 4,000 pounds. you have two tires on that axle, so you divide that by two.

2,000 / 3,195 ( a standard 10 ply rating) = .6259

now we take the .6259 x the max tire pressure of 80 psi.

.6259*80 = 50 psi.

This is very similar to my scenario for the front axle of my 3/4 ton 6.4 hemi. So I run my tires at 55 psi as i am a touch over 4000 pounds...

hope that helps...

 

[14hemiexpress]

Tire pressures should be calculated...

(Actual weight on tire/ max weight rating of tire)* max tire press = proper inflation.

Example, lets say the rear axle weighs in at 4,000 pounds. you have two tires on that axle, so you divide that by two.

2,000 / 3,195 ( a standard 10 ply rating) = .6259

now we take the .6259 x the max tire pressure of 80 psi.

.6259*80 = 50 psi.

This is very similar to my scenario for the front axle of my 3/4 ton 6.4 hemi. So I run my tires at 55 psi as i am a touch over 4000 pounds...

hope that helps...

That's very good I formation thank you.

The other part of my question is what kind of pressure can the factory 20's handle? I know they aren't LT rated but I can't find anything on what they weight or pressure they can handle. Factory fill for my 20's are 39... I don't think 55 would be a issue but I don't know that for sure.

 

[BoldAdventure]

Just to point this out, the Goodyear Wranglers, while not being great tires are rated at 2601lbs each at 44psi, that's 10,404lbs of weight rating total, above the capacity of your axles.

Yes, load range E tires will have stiffer sides, flex less, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's because you need to be able to handle more weight. The P tires are actually rated for these trucks just fine in reality.

 

[14hemiexpress]

This just could be bad loading on my part and lack of WD hitch but I pulled a 20ft enclosed trailer with generator tools and a mustang (about 3k) for a total weight of 7-8k with my 06 the truck say level so I wasent worried about it pulled it to track (5 miles at most) and the tires flexed so bad it scared the sh!$ out of me. when my dad meet me at the track later I dropped it and hooked it up to his 3/4 I didnt even want to pull it home. Now if I had a WD hitch and moved some stuff around in the trailer to ease the hitch weight and maxed the tire pressure would of helped a lot. I have never liked the factory goodyears in any way, the traction is just horrible in the wet.


I will add I have had 1200-1400lbs worth on concrete and wood in the bed and they handled it just fine.

 

[loveracing1988]

This just could be bad loading on my part and lack of WD hitch but I pulled a 20ft enclosed trailer with generator tools and a mustang (about 3k) for a total weight of 7-8k with my 06 the truck say level so I wasent worried about it pulled it to track (5 miles at most) and the tires flexed so bad it scared the sh!$ out of me. when my dad meet me at the track later I dropped it and hooked it up to his 3/4 I didnt even want to pull it home. Now if I had a WD hitch and moved some stuff around in the trailer to ease the hitch weight and maxed the tire pressure would of helped a lot. I have never liked the factory goodyears in any way, the traction is just horrible in the wet.


I will add I have had 1200-1400lbs worth on concrete and wood in the bed and they handled it just fine.

I posted pictures of me pulling a trailer with salt on it that was loaded all towards the front of the trailer. I had no flex at all in the tires, I swear the frame on the truck was flexing but the tires weren't. I had those sra tires on the rental I had the last 3 weeks and even on dry pavement they sucked.

 

[Little Red]

Tire pressures should be calculated...

(Actual weight on tire/ max weight rating of tire)* max tire press = proper inflation.

Example, lets say the rear axle weighs in at 4,000 pounds. you have two tires on that axle, so you divide that by two.

2,000 / 3,195 ( a standard 10 ply rating) = .6259

now we take the .6259 x the max tire pressure of 80 psi.

.6259*80 = 50 psi.

This is very similar to my scenario for the front axle of my 3/4 ton 6.4 hemi. So I run my tires at 55 psi as i am a touch over 4000 pounds...

hope that helps...

Thanks for posting that. Looks like I need to bump my tires up from 40psi to 47 front / 49 rear.

 

[Long Islander]

First thing i did when i got my 2500 was buy goodyear wranglers..

I tow 12k regularly. You need good sidewalls

Sent on Tapatalk with a S5

 

[jlb]

Just to point this out, the Goodyear Wranglers, while not being great tires are rated at 2601lbs each at 44psi, that's 10,404lbs of weight rating total, above the capacity of your axles.

Yes, load range E tires will have stiffer sides, flex less, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's because you need to be able to handle more weight. The P tires are actually rated for these trucks just fine in reality.

For towing a lot though the stiffer sidewalls are very beneficial. I agree that the stock tires are more than sufficient in terms of rated load, but that just means you can put that load on them, and they won't pop, it doesn't mean they will handle the load well.

 

[smurfs_of_war]

That's very good I formation thank you.

The other part of my question is what kind of pressure can the factory 20's handle? I know they aren't LT rated but I can't find anything on what they weight or pressure they can handle. Factory fill for my 20's are 39... I don't think 55 would be a issue but I don't know that for sure.

I don't think anybody knows FOR SURE what they handle. I run 55 in my BFGs year round and they wear and perform great when towing. The valve stems are part of the pressure issue as is the construction of the wheel itself. 55 will yield you pretty good results- that's the sweet spot for me at least.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[BoldAdventure]

For towing a lot though the stiffer sidewalls are very beneficial. I agree that the stock tires are more than sufficient in terms of rated load, but that just means you can put that load on them, and they won't pop, it doesn't mean they will handle the load well.

Never said they'd handle well because they're sh$$. Sidewall flex is a real issue. Pretty sure I'm going with General Grabbers here very shortly.

 

[cableguy_hd]

nobody can get the Grabbers in 275 65 20 with out charging me for extra shipping. I like the look of those

 

[audio1der]

Never said they'd handle well because they're sh$$. Sidewall flex is a real issue. Pretty sure I'm going with General Grabbers here very shortly.

General Grabbers or Cooper Discoverer HT+