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19.5 Upgrade Benefit

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Fifth Wheel vs Gooseneck

DOT. "Do as I say, not as I do"

What benefit will I see upgrading to a 19. 5 wheels and tires on my 06 dually. I typically haul a 4K+ slide in camper and drag a 6K loaded horse trailer. I'm aware of srw advantage but wonder if it's worth while on my dually?:confused:
 
I just recently installed a set of 19. 5" forged alum. wheels with 8R/19-5 tires on my 98 dually with 4. 10 gears.
My main purpose for the change was to bring the RPM down at 65-70MPH and possibly better fuel mileage. The taller 8Rs (12. 4% more roll-out) did get my freeway RPMs down but I need to do more tracking to assess fuel MPG. As of now with about 5K mi. on them I would guess about same.
 
Here are the pro's & con's based on my experience. Others may disagree with my assessment, but this has been my experience with the 19. 5s that I am running.



Benefits: 1) load capacity/safety margin; 2) longevity; 3) appearance (subjective); 4) slight increase in overall gear ratio (lower cruise rpm)



Detriments: 1) rough ride; 2) "squirmy" ride until tires break in; (+10,000 miles); 3) initial cost; 4) increase in unsprung weight (worse ride, harder on steering components)



I purchased my Hankook 19. 5s because I run overloaded and had two blowouts on the original equipment tires... Scary! :eek: For this reason alone, I felt I needed the increase safety margin, and therefore do not regret the decision. The tires are wearing like iron. I have about 65,000 miles on them, and they look to have over 60 - 70% tread remaining. I think that 150,000 miles on these tires is achievable. I figured that pay-back on the tire/wheel combination would occur about 140,000 miles, so there's no real cost savings.



HOWEVER... If I didn't need the increased capacity, I WOULD NOT do this again. These tires ride and drive like crap. When the tires were new, they were borderline unsafe, except when loaded. When loaded, the truck drove and handled ok. Unloaded, it would grab a rut on the road and dart out from under you. Very scary. My wife refuses to drive it. Once the tires had about 15,000 miles on them, the sidewalls softened, and this condition has improved. It's still not great, but tolerable. I do not enjoy driving this truck unless the trailer is hooked up, then it's very nice, very stable. Since I use this truck primarily as my tow vehicle, it works out OK. If this truck was used as a daily driver, grocery getter, or not loaded heavily, it would not be a good choice.



I have read many posts by TDR members that have nothing but positive things to say about how good their truck feels with the 19. 5s. I am happy for them, but this has not been my experience. I have the 265/70R 19. 5 Hankooks. DH01 on rears, and AH11 steers. All load range G. I went with the 265s for more height (improve G56 final drive ratio). If I were to do it again, I might try the 225s and load range F. Maybe the lighter duty tire would drive better, but who knows. But if I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't do it at all.



Lots of rambling here, but here's my final conclusion: Unless I absolutely needed the excess capacity, I would not do this again.
 
Here are the pro's & con's based on my experience. Others may disagree with my assessment, but this has been my experience with the 19. 5s that I am running.



Benefits: 1) load capacity/safety margin; 2) longevity; 3) appearance (subjective); 4) slight increase in overall gear ratio (lower cruise rpm)



Detriments: 1) rough ride; 2) "squirmy" ride until tires break in; (+10,000 miles); 3) initial cost; 4) increase in unsprung weight (worse ride, harder on steering components)



I purchased my Hankook 19. 5s because I run overloaded and had two blowouts on the original equipment tires... Scary! :eek: For this reason alone, I felt I needed the increase safety margin, and therefore do not regret the decision. The tires are wearing like iron. I have about 65,000 miles on them, and they look to have over 60 - 70% tread remaining. I think that 150,000 miles on these tires is achievable. I figured that pay-back on the tire/wheel combination would occur about 140,000 miles, so there's no real cost savings.



HOWEVER... If I didn't need the increased capacity, I WOULD NOT do this again. These tires ride and drive like crap. When the tires were new, they were borderline unsafe, except when loaded. When loaded, the truck drove and handled ok. Unloaded, it would grab a rut on the road and dart out from under you. Very scary. My wife refuses to drive it. Once the tires had about 15,000 miles on them, the sidewalls softened, and this condition has improved. It's still not great, but tolerable. I do not enjoy driving this truck unless the trailer is hooked up, then it's very nice, very stable. Since I use this truck primarily as my tow vehicle, it works out OK. If this truck was used as a daily driver, grocery getter, or not loaded heavily, it would not be a good choice.



I have read many posts by TDR members that have nothing but positive things to say about how good their truck feels with the 19. 5s. I am happy for them, but this has not been my experience. I have the 265/70R 19. 5 Hankooks. DH01 on rears, and AH11 steers. All load range G. I went with the 265s for more height (improve G56 final drive ratio). If I were to do it again, I might try the 225s and load range F. Maybe the lighter duty tire would drive better, but who knows. But if I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't do it at all.



Lots of rambling here, but here's my final conclusion: Unless I absolutely needed the excess capacity, I would not do this again.



Here they are: https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/3rd-generation-ram-forum-no-engine-transmission-discussions/216906-rickson-19-5-wheels.html#post2095482
 
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Installed a used set of Rickson Wheels with Good for a year 225/70/19. 5s on my 3500 SRW. I never experienced any road walk or darting in ruts.



Everything has it's trade offs. Yes they do ride a little rougher. But they wear like iron. I have over 50,000 miles on them this year. I no longer worry about blow outs when running heavy.



IMHO: If I were you, I would buy a quality tire. Not a Kung Fu, ChiCom Willpop. My next set of tires will be a set of Bridgestones... ... ... ... 245/70/19. 5s with the load range F.



Tire pressure is very critical for a balance between longevity and ride comfort.



The only reason I would take them off my truck is to sell it. I would install them on my next truck!



mi dos centavos... ... .....
 
I put steel wheels on my trucks... .

We run new Bridgestone rib highways on the front and Bandag winter tires on the rear. We use the same tires on an F550, 5500, and the 3500 dually's.

I'm guessing that we've put maybe a million miles on the 5 trucks, we sold the F550 with 500K and one of the 3500's now has 300K... we get 100K miles on the steer tires and something like 80K on the drivers...

We're using the same tread and tire as the UPS trucks here and get them from the same retread shop... .

Ross has it right ..... harsher ride, huge safety margin, never have had a failure on any of the tires or the trucks but have had our share of nails, etc... we just plug the tire... We've had great luck with the Bandag process and the retread shop does a lot of them for UPS... The retreader has never charged us a casing charge... .

We keep some studded, and on extra wheels and move them to the front in the winter when the weather gets really bad in some of the areas we travel in... .

We're pleased. .
 
stay with the 265 70 17 you set on the sweet spot for towing at 65 mph if you want better mpg you have to get rid of the in-cylinder egr you can get a 40% improvement. pm me if you need how to
 
... I have the 265/70R 19. 5 Hankooks. DH01 on rears, and AH11 steers. All load range G. I went with the 265s for more height (improve G56 final drive ratio). If I were to do it again, I might try the 225s and load range F. ...



I daresay those 265/70's are part of your problem. 225/70 DH01s ride nicely, almost as nice as the 225/70 Yokohama TY303. 225/70s also have more capacity than the truck can use. If you're so overloaded that you need 265s, perhaps you should have a bigger vehicle. If you have vehicle control issues, even with the 265/70s, I'd allow that you have steering and suspension issues that need to be addressed. For example, my '98 was 'all over the road' at 260K miles. When I replaced the front suspension bushings, all that slop disappeared. Previously, it was 'all over the road' around 150K miles until I installed the DSS which stabilized all the slop of the steering gear.



Back to the OP's question, the 225/70-19. 5s will really afford you one main thing: rock solid sidewalls, which translates to very predictable steering, and 'attitude control': a trailer won't push the rear end around much. They may have a little less rolling resistance, and they're typically just enough larger to bring 70 MPH to about 1850 RPM (w/3. 54 gears). My '98 with 225/70s drove like a sports car (for the 200K I had them on). Were I to finish rebuilding the suspension, I'd do it again. Alas, there's a lack of money, and the wheels are finally too far out of round and true; they were an early set of Rickson steel wheels and 200K miles took their toll. (Trouble is, the OEM wheels are way out of true now, too!)



If you ensure that your suspension and steering are in tip-top shape and you use a shock akin to the KYB Monomax, I think you'd be pleased with 225/70s.
 
My opinion on the trade up to 245x19. 5s is that I would do it all over again. I think one of the big issues on handling and road handling is that lots of folks run a 265 on rims that are too narrow and the tire is not good and flat on the surface. Mine is run on 6 aluminum - 6. 75" wide wheels and they are a good match up. You run a 265 on 6" wheels and you are asking for road issues. My RV does not push my truck around at all. I have seen 245s mounted on 7. 5" wheels on another truck and they look even better.





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I agree, I should have purchased the 225s, and yes, I am overloaded. I towed my trailer with a 515 hp Volvo VNL for two years. Miss that truck, but my wife refused to drive it, so I bought the Ram and uprated all the equipment. Clutch, engine, suspension, tires, etc.



I have also upgraded all my steering components. Borgeson shaft, BD steering box stabilizer, tie rods, ball joints, yada yada... My steering components are as good as they can be. As I said in first post, my road walk problem has improved significant since the tires have broken in. I now have about 65K on this set, and the road handling is better. Not good, but better, and when loaded, it's ok. On a good road, it's great! But... . Here in New Mexico, good roads are about as rare as an honest politician.
 
stay with the 265 70 17 you set on the sweet spot for towing at 65 mph if you want better mpg you have to get rid of the in-cylinder egr you can get a 40% improvement. pm me if you need how to





Are you saying you know how to make the Cummins get 40% better fuel mileage?
 
:rolleyes:
stay with the 265 70 17 you set on the sweet spot for towing at 65 mph if you want better mpg you have to get rid of the in-cylinder egr you can get a 40% improvement. pm me if you need how to



now this sounds interesting. please share about removing the engine gas ratio? are you saying you lowered the egr?
 
stay with the 265 70 17 you set on the sweet spot for towing at 65 mph if you want better mpg you have to get rid of the in-cylinder egr you can get a 40% improvement. pm me if you need how to
To my knowledge,'03-'04 CTD's lack the internal egr but don't get a 40% fuel enhancement. I'm getting the identical fuel economy as I did with my '98. 5 CTD 4wd/camper 24/7.
 
I am looking into 245 Goodyear G662 RSD's as my next tire (on SRW 19. 5's). I am very happy with the 255/85/17 KM2s I am running, but can't keep a tire for more than 20K useful miles and thats just annoying.

Goodyear Commercial Truck Tires - G622 RSD Details



Are you saying you know how to make the Cummins get 40% better fuel mileage?

He runs a PDR cam (same as a Colt Stage 1, or Hamilton 175/206), a Smarty Jr, and DDP 50's. He was able to see a 42% increase in economy on a 100hp load dyno.

I am running the Colt Stage 1, and a Smarty Jr and don't see anywhere near that much increase, probably about 7-12% on the high end, but that's still a good improvement. I want to add some DDP 50's, but have no delusions they will boast another 30% increase in mileage over my current setup.

To my knowledge,'03-'04 CTD's lack the internal egr but don't get a 40% fuel enhancement. I'm getting the identical fuel economy as I did with my '98. 5 CTD 4wd/camper 24/7.

03-04's run the same cam as the 04. 5-07 truck, and have a large turbo restriction as well. They are lacking the 3rd event that's the final part of the in-cylinder EGR, which seems to help them in the mileage dept, but not a huge amount. The other reason they get better mileage is they have lower power ratings.
 
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