19.5 tires and wheels

[Mombo]

Looking for those who have tried and/or use the 19. 5 tires and wheels.

Need opinions on towing, handling, general performance.

2001/2500/5. 9HO/6-sp/GN horse trailer

 

[WOT]

I have Rickson 19. 5s (see sig. ). Anyway, here are my recommendations/comments.

First, the 19. 5" tires are NOT held to the same out-of-round specs as passenger/light truck tires. It is very important to make sure the place you buy them has some way to check the run-out on the tire and only give you some with no more than about 40 lbs of road force run-out. If they don't have the right equipment I think it might be worth while to go somewhere else or buy them and have all of the trued (ground) so that they are round. I got my tires/rims used and then got tires from a place that couldn't mount them right. Ended up going to Rickson and having them match them up and replace 1 that was way out of round (100 lbs of road force).

Let me define road force - for every revolution of the tire the "high" spot will exert road force when it rotates around and hits the ground. The more weight you carry the less you will notice an out-of-round tire. My tire with 100lbs of road force was ok on the front, but bad in the back when empty. I still have on that is 57 lbs (if I remember correctly) and it is ok in the back (empty), just not great).

As far as handling, they are great. I get NO wiggle when pulling my 30' TT. I run 65 lbs in all 4 when towing (65/60 when empty). The wet weather traction of the XZTs are slightly worse than the stock tires, and are better than the stock tires on dry pavement. The XZTs are somewhat aggressive (work great in the mud!).

I found that running less than 60 psi will allow you to turn the tires in the rims. I originally ran 50 psi and after 5k miles had rotated the tires in the rims about 1 1/2 inches.

I have about 20K miles on the now & they are holding up very nicely. I expect to get at somewhere between 70-80k out of them (probably could be more with a less aggressive tire, but I wanted something meaty).

Another thing - They are HEAVY. My tire/rims weigh in at 130 lbs. The stocks tires/rims were 70 lbs. Makes them more challenging to rotate! Guess that's what AAA is for!

The most important thing is: Buy them from a company willing to work with you and help you out if the ride isn't right. The guys at Rickson went out of the way to help me despite the fact I bought them used from an individual.

They are costly, but keep in mine when you run the tread off them you can still sell them back to a truck tire company for $40 each (they can retread or regroove them).



I love the way the look! Hope I wan't too wordy...

 

[GRudy]

WOT, What is the diameter of your 19. 5 tires?

 

[WOT]

They are 245/70R19. 5 (approx 33. 6" in diameter I think)

 

[GRudy]

Interesting. I just put new tires on my dually and very much considered going to rickson's but just couldn't justify the cost. My 235's are 32" in diameter and I can buy 5 sets, 6 tires each set, for the cost of one set of 19. 5 tires and wheels.

 

[fest3er]

Originally posted by George 00

Interesting. I just put new tires on my dually and very much considered going to rickson's but just couldn't justify the cost. My 235's are 32" in diameter and I can buy 5 sets, 6 tires each set, for the cost of one set of 19. 5 tires and wheels.

But will they last as long? My 19. 5 Yoko TY303s seem to have stopped wearing at 50K miles. Steering is really solid with them, and they grip well on wet and dry pavement. And they handle loads reall well, too; haven't had any problems hauling 4K lbs. of gravel in the bed.



With the longer life of commercial truck tires, I don't have to ne bothered with replacing tires so often.



They aren't perfect. Since OOR can be a problem, balancing and matching are a pain. And rotating on the wheels is a problem with lower pressures.



Were I to do it again, I would most likely do it again. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the Rickson combo.



Fest3er

 

[GRudy]

Well, I got 44,000 out of the factory Michelins. Now I have no idea how long the 235 Hankooks will wear but lets say they only last 35,000 miles. 5 sets ($628. 00 per set) at 35,000 mile each = 175,000 miles total for the same cost. I doubt the commercial tires will wear that long???? I know the commercial tires are great, but for my money I'll stick with light truck tires on stock wheels. Now if a fellow didn't have to buy new wheels and trim rings then the price of the tires themselves wouldn't be to bad for the difference in handleing and stability. believe me, before I bought tires I searched for a set of used 19. 5's but could not find any for a decent price or in a tread pattern that I liked for my porpose. I too need a fairly agressive tread because I plow snow with this truck. Which brings up another point, Once the tread gets down to 25-30% of new your plowing traction suffers greatly. I'll get two good seasons on a set of tires and then they must be replaced so that I have enough bite to plow. I guess I could have two sets of tires, one for plowing and one for summer running but then that kind of defeats the argument for lower cost.

 

[WOT]

When I was looking to replace the factory tires the only ones that were Load Range E in 265/75R16 were Michelin's at $168 each. The 245/70R19. 5s are about $225, but with a $40 carcus value, puts them close to what the stock tires cost. There now seems to be other manufacturers in the stock tires size at a better price point (but will they hold up like Michelins?). I would guess for a dually with smaller tires you have a few more choices. It hurts to have to get 6 tires! Makes me glad to only have 4 tires to deal with

 

[markn]

I also considered the Rickson, but given the weight of this setup and the diameter, combined with my 3. 55 gearing, I felt it would hamper the performance of the truck. I considered the Alcoa setup from Dual Designs, to cut down the weight, but the cost was more than I could justify right now. I'm considering a 3500 LWB Chassis Cab to replace my Dorf PSD box van, and I will probably go with the 19. 5's for this truck.



My original 215/85 Michelin M/S tires went 60K and could have easily done another 5 -10K, but since I live in the mountains, I didn't want to go through winter with thinning tread. I replaced them with 235/85 BFG A/T's, and given my past experience with this tire, I expect equally good performance if not better than the Michelin's. The BFG's are $134/each (x7 in my case).

 

[Phil Rauch]

The 19. 5's on my Freightliner are the ones that was on it out of the factory and have 170,000 miles on them and still have a little tread left.

 

[Kingsbury]

19.5 tire wear

Originally posted by Phil Rauch

The 19. 5's on my Freightliner are the ones that was on it out of the factory and have 170,000 miles on them and still have a little tread left.

What kind of tires are your 19. 5's?????

 

[RADdodge]

When we purchased our wheels from Dual Designs (19. 5 Alcoa wheels/ Michelin 285/70R19. 5 XZA Tires), they claimed they had over 300,000 miles on a set of Michelin 245/70R19. 5 tires. Makes sense that if you could get 170,000 miles on the Freightliner, then with the minimal weight of the Ram, they should last a long time! Ours will probably rot off the truck before we even get close. But for the difference in handling (night and day difference) it was worth it.

 

[BCFAST]

I just posted on another thread, but... Ive got the Yoko 303's. Theyre a pretty aggressive design. 265/70/19. 5 and at about 12k miles, they show no visible wear. I am expecting 100k miles + from them at this rate. In wet weather, they act fine at speed (looking at the spray behind the truck, man do these things pump water!), but from light-to-light driving in the rain, the back end lights up VERY easy. Dry handling is terrific. The ride is slightly 'firmer' than stock. The truck looks a lot more serious now.

Brian

 

[wfernau]

tires/wheels

Hi!



Are you still pleased with the 19. 5" wheels. How was mileage effected? I do 5,000 highway miles/mo and need the economy over the long term. What do you think is a good combination of wheel/tire/manufacturer?



Want to sell yours? I have my OEM's.



Ram 2500, 4wd.



Thanks,

Bill

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

This is a no-brainer!

Originally posted by BCFAST

I just posted on another thread, but... Ive got the Yoko 303's. Theyre a pretty aggressive design. 265/70/19. 5 and at about 12k miles, they show no visible wear. I am expecting 100k miles + from them at this rate. In wet weather, they act fine at speed (looking at the spray behind the truck, man do these things pump water!), but from light-to-light driving in the rain, the back end lights up VERY easy. Dry handling is terrific. The ride is slightly 'firmer' than stock. The truck looks a lot more serious now.

Brian

Ditto on everything what Brian has said here... I'm using the Yokohama 303s also and in the snow and ice I have had no problems whatsoever.



One other thng worth mentioning about the Rickson 19. 5 set-up with the Yokohama 303 tires, if your budget runs to a a spare, it will fit in the spare tire position under the pick-up bed - even with a larger than stock fuel tank ( mine is 60US Gallons) see other details in my profile below left.





I've now got more than 19. 5s 25 k miles on my Rickson and they still look brand new. Best upgrade I ever did with improved handling and stability empty or loaded with my slide-in camper, which brings me upto 7500 lbs and these tires just take it in their stride. Even agressive use of my right foot has not had a detrimental effect. When the ducks are walking, the amount of spray behind me is incredible, even with my NW rear mudflaps - these tires rally shift a humungous amount of water.

 

[dresslered]

I too am very interested in some 19. 5's. However, as posted in another thread, I just put on my 22nd new tire in 40,000-miles! I am not happy with my tire wear at all and do not want to go to a more expensive tire (19. 5's) without getting drastic tread wear improvement! Admittedly, my commute (and my driving) is to blame for my excessive tire wear (especially the fronts), but will the larger tires really offer a big improvement. Also, I really liked the Rickson aluminum rims for the dually. Are these really worth the $$$?



P. S. John, your thought for the week is turning into being your thought for the year!

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Well spotted Carruthers..!!

Originally posted by dresslered

P. S. John, your thought for the week is turning into being your thought for the year!

David, You mean people actually read it..... ? Ok I can take a hint, let me come up with another phrase for the sig file? My feeble excuse is that I just moved back from Switzerland to England and it looks like I'll be on the move again soon, could be either Germany or Sweden, will know more in the next day or so.



in the meantime, whilst I'm trying to be creative, here's a few pictures taken a moment ago of my front and rear tires (LHS) with just over 25k hard miles on and barely scrubbed in... . David - go on you know it makes sense.....



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[kevincook]

Do any of these companys have a web site?



KC

 

[Peter Campbell]

Go to links there are two vendors Rickson and dual designs. here is one link. You will need acrobat to read the catalog ( around 900K) https://www.turbodieselregister.com...irect&id=158&URL=http://www.ricksontruck.com/

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Originally posted by kevincook

Do any of these companys have a web site?



KC

Kevin, just take a look at my profile below... . you will find embedded links thorughout to various sites on the Web..... Enjoy!



JMc