From a new guy: ??? about 19.5"wheel/tire conversion

[Iredman]

Whats the low down on the 19. 5" wheel/tire conversions for the Dodge trucks? In the latest TDR there is a company my the name of Rickson who advertises 'no adapters", are they using special backspaced steel wheels or what. Is this really worth the cost and effort? i have a '94 3500 reg cab 2wd with NV4500 and what can I expect for an rpm drop in 5th and 4th gears? Will the 2wd A arm front suspention take the strain from the larger wheels and tires?????? My main goal is tire ware and rpm drop ect, I am by the way running 3. 50 gears any info would be a bonus and great help. It seems like a logical package ,but while I was on a trip this summer I had a chance to look at a truck that had the 19. 5" wheels on it but didn't get a chance to talk to the owner. It was a 3500 ext cab 4wd with alcoas and the adapters which looked really hoakee, and of course it was cuting the crap out of the front tires as normal for a 1ton 4wd dodge. Anyhow catch ya on the flipped side.

Turbine Dude

 

[fest3er]

Originally posted by TurbineDude

Whats the low down on the 19. 5" wheel/tire conversions for the Dodge trucks? In the latest TDR there is a company my the name of Rickson who advertises 'no adapters" ... Turbine Dude

They are steel wheels with the proper center portion. As to RPM drop, it all depends on what size tires you buy. My 225/70 TY303s dropped my RPM from 2000@70 to about 1850@70; these tires raised the truck about an inch, so they're about two inches taller than the OEM Goodrears. The extra 50 pounds or so of weight on each corner should go unnoticed by your suspension. Oh, and the stock center caps fit nicely.



Is it worth it? If you tow/haul a lot of weight, absolutely. If you drive gravel roads a lot, definitely. (Dave Fritz put them on his 2500 before his last trip to Alaska - he returned with about half the tread left; he used to wear out a set of new tires with each trip. ) If you don't like buying tires every time you turn around, you can't beat commercial truck tires.



The commercial tires have stiffer sidewalls, yielding better control and a more stable ride. My TY303s actually gave me a softer ride; this might be related to the extra amount of rubber between the steel belts and the road.



Drawbacks? If you don't usually haul much weight, you may find the non-roundness a bit annoying. Yes, Rickson do line up the tire and wheel and produce a wonderfully smooth, round and balanced combination. But they can migrate over time (mine have, but they only bounce around 40MPH, so I mostly ignore it!) *Some* of the wheels may be susceptible to bending, but I don't know if it's the wheels or the operator (me) putting 4K-6K lbs of stuff in the bed; probably the latter. A 3500 might just fare better. With adequate weight on the tires, slight out-of-round and bad rubber distribution bounce vanishes. With a good 5th wheel, you probably wouldn't notice if the weights all fell off!



Would I do it again? Yes. No question. I would be buying new tires again about now (I've got about 50K on mine now). I would not have had the much better control and softer ride. I would've had to make extra trips with some of the stuff I've hauled. Provided I have the tires pumped up properly, I still would not hesitate to put 3K lbs of stuff in the bed and drive cross-country (4K lbs I'd have to ponder a bit!) The only time I've used the spare is when rotating the tires. Shoot, I haven't needed a spare in over 300K miles, three vehicles ago; dunno why I bought five of these things!



Finally, Dan and Matt are great people to work with. But, it's your choice. Get the facts, weight them, then decide. Should you, on the off-chance, have more money than sense, go ahead and ignore the facts, buy four and a spare and help keep Dan & Mat in business!



Fest3er