235's on a dually

[GRudy]

I know this has probably been covered in the past, but I'm about to put new tires on the dually and I was wondering about putting 235/85's on my stock dually wheels. Will they clear under load? The factory tires are 215's and they have about 2" clearance between them. How much wider are 235's?

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George, Perry County, PA
99 3500, Reg Cab, 4x4, NV4500, ISB, 4:10,VA box,Putco Boss
running boards, Grover air horns,Westach combo gauge, Intense Blue.

 

[R.E. Miller]

Those sound like some wide nail finders #ad
On both of my trucks I run 235/16/75's with no trouble, however I do not tow over 10,000#'s.
My dump truck weighs 8900 unloaded, and has realistcally seen 12+ maybe once or twice tires were close, but not touching.

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1992 W-350 Club Cab Dually 3. 5" Jardine
1992 W-350 8' contractors dump with 3. 5"BD exhaust, 16cm^2 housing, DI pyro&boost
Russell

 

[David Phipps/Mike Hurd]

I run 235/85/16 on my old d-350 and fully loaded everyday @ 36,000 lbs no problems ever I ran Firestone Steeltex and got 100,000 miles to a set Can not give you an idea on how much wider they are tho. But they will work great. Mike

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http://hometown. aol.com/hotshothauler/myhomepage/business.html 2000, Air brakes on truck & trailer. 179,000 miles todate. DOT custom built sleeper unit. pulling a 40' G/N flatbed
2000 FL-70 Pulling a 48' low boy.

 

[Pete Peterson]

George, when I changed tires on my 99 dually I went to 235/85 Michelin AT's. Good tread design and fit perfect... ..... Pete

 

[GRudy]

Thanks guys.
I like the Michelins but I need a little more agressive tread. I plow snow with this truck and the Michelins just don't have enough bite. I had to run chains all this winter while plowing just to keep myself out of trouble. The upside to that was that this thing thinks it's a bulldozer with dually chains and two tons of anti-skid & spreader in the bed! My local garage sells a tire called the Sport King. Great tread design and about 50 bucks apiece cheaper than the michelins. Someone on another thread suggested the Dunlop Radial Rover RV. Said they have a 60,000 mile tread wear warrentte. I'll have to check them out a little closer.

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George, Perry County, PA
99 3500, Reg Cab, 4x4, NV4500, ISB, 4:10,VA box,Putco Boss
running boards, Grover air horns,Westach combo gauge, Intense Blue.

[This message has been edited by George (edited 03-21-2001). ]

 

[Tagalong]

George, the 235/85 R16s are the stock tires on our '01 dually. Seems to be plenty of clearance even when hooked up! (See Sig. )

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White 2001, 3500, Auto,3:54 (soon to be 4:10),QC,2WD,LB,34' DBL slide Cardinal 5er

 

[QRTRHRS]

George, someone once posted the max width you could get away with. I believe it was 9. 4". I had 235 General Grabbers and had no problem. With my last set, I went back down to 215's looking to better my handling in wet snow. You can get spacers. Some people like them, some don't.

By the way, I think the only handling improvement came from going to Michelins over the Generals. Going back to 235's next time around.

 

[pcorssmit]

235s are nominally 20 mm wider than 215s.

I run Remmington Wide Brute RVs, 255/85R16s, on my 2500. They are the same tread design as the Dunlop Radial Rovers you mentioned. I've only got about 6-7,000 miles on them, but they do really well in the snow, especially compared to the highway type 245s that cam on my truck. A few years ago we had a set of 31s in the Dunlops, first on my Blazer and then on our Suburban, I thought they were pretty good tires.

Pete

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'97 2500 CC 4X4 5spd Sport
'83 K5 Blazer 350 TBI (ex 6. 2), 39. 5 TSLs, 3" lift, Dana 60/GM 14 blt, Detroits

 

[MaxTorque]

You don't say how much weight you are going to carry. You need to be very careful installing 235's on the pre 2001 dually. My understanding is that the rims were changed on the 2001 to permit use of the 235's. Also, use of spacers is generally discouraged because the rims could become loose. On my previous dually, a 98. 5, the only tire that would not rub with a load was the cooper and I had to keep at least 80psig in those tires and watch them closely.

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2001. 5 ETH 3500 6spd. 4x4,3. 54LSD,all avail. opts. incl. leather,s. s. fender trim,s. s. bug guard,stull running boards and custom flaps,line x bed liner, BD injectors plus ISPRO EGT and boost, pillar mt.

 

[GRudy]

Max, The most weight I carry is my Lance 10-1/2' camper that weighs in at around 4000 lbs. and when I have my spreader and anti-skid box on for plowing I probably still have around 4000 lbs. Whenever I'm loaded like this I always inflate all tires to max, 80 psi. Your right, the 2001's come stock with 235's and their wheels are offset a little different to accomidate them. If I could get my hands on a set of them wheels that would be great.
Anyhow, I did some research on Tirerack.com and came up with the following information.
My factory 215's are 30. 5" in dia. with a sectional width of 8. 7". The Dunlop Radial Rover RV 235/85/16 is 31. 6" dia. and has a sectional width of 9. 1". So with the two tires I will decrease the space in between the duals only . 4 of an inch. I personally don't see a problem. Another interesting note, The 215 rotates 685 times in a mile and the 235 rotates 676 times per mile. That's only 19 revolutions per mile less.
Dan, Those Michelin XPS's look great but they are $50. 00 plus per tire more than the dunlops. I have 36,000 on the michelins now and will probably squeeze out another 8-10,000 this summer before I have to replace them. That's pretty good for a truck this heavy and for the way I drive but I still don't know if they are worth the extra bucks.

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George, Perry County, PA
99 3500, Reg Cab, 4x4, NV4500, ISB, 4:10,VA box,Putco Boss
running boards, Grover air horns,Westach combo gauge, Intense Blue.