Tire pressure

[PHX ATC]

I'm sure this subject has been beaten to death, so I apologize in advance.



I'm running for the most part, unloaded with nothing in tow. It's 50 miles roundtrip to work and back and it's 80% freeway. The tech at the dealer put 60 psi in to align the truck, then the oil change guy dropped it to 50 psi.



What should I be running for my normal mode? How about towing approx. 4500 of boat?



Thanks.



Toby

 

[Batman]

I use 65psi fronts, 50 psi rears. Although I have a dually. Don't know the figures for a 2500.

HTH

 

[Alan Reagan]

I run 65 front and 50 rear, too. I have 45K miles on my tires with no feathering or cupping. That's a heavy load up front.

 

[fest3er]

Originally posted by PHX ATC

I'm sure this subject has been beaten to death, so I apologize in advance.



I'm running for the most part, unloaded with nothing in tow. It's 50 miles roundtrip to work and back and it's 80% freeway. The tech at the dealer put 60 psi in to align the truck, then the oil change guy dropped it to 50 psi.



What should I be running for my normal mode? How about towing approx. 4500 of boat?



Thanks.



Toby

Pay close atention to the door plate on your truck. If you are running OEM tires, Dodge's recommendations are a good place to start. There should also be a 'Tire Guide' in your glove box. It'll tell you the 'correct' pressures to use when empty and when fully laden.



When I was running the OEM tires, I ran 55 in front and 40 in the rear; these pressures gave me good traction and wear. When I put a full load on the truck. I'd run 65 front and 80 rear.



With a 5K pound trailer, I'd figure about 500 pounds of tongue weight. In this case, increasing the rear pressure to 50 would be about right.



In any case, your tires should be pressured to give a good, even tread contact with the ground. I suppose you could use some black construction paper, sprinkle a little bit of talc on it, and drive a tire across it. The resulting pattern should give a fair indication how well the tread is contacting the surface. I suppose rubbing some chalk on a tire, then driving across a piece of contrasting paper might work as well.



With my 19. 5" TY303s, I run 72 in front and about 62 in the rear when empty. *Technically*, the TY303s should not be pressured less than 80 PSI. The reason may be that this type tire doesn't have a bead that 'seats', as do passenger-type tires. This is generally why I'm reticent to run these tires much lower than they are now. Fully laden (with 4000-5000 pounds of stuff), I'll run 85 front and 95 rear.



(Geez. Have I ever submitted a *short* post? )



Fest3er

 

[chuck3]

Door Plate

All my door plate shows is for 245 tires and the truck came stock with 265 on it .

 

[chuck3]

Tires.

I run 60 to 65 front and 55 to 60 rear, the higher numbers are dureing towing season. I have 27 k. on my tires and they are about half worn out.

 

[DHawthorne]

Well, I find with that big ole cummins up front, that if I don't run

at least 65psi in the fronts, it feel like someones hanging on the wheel at low speed. I'm set up with Michelin LTX (ms) all away around. Best tire in heavy rain around. Can't comment on snow, but I did get to ride in a little last March in New Bedford MASS.



Anyway 65 to 70 up front for me. 65 in the rears. Fronts without rotation go about 50k rears moved in and out about 85-90K.



Going to rotate these on this truck. Have 24k on them now. Still looking good.



Dave

 

[redneckdr]

michelin LTX's

i'll have to disagree with you on the rain and the michelin LTX m/s tires. i'm now on my second set, with a set of Pirelli Scorpions in between. the pirellis had the michelins hands down for traction on wet pavement and in the rain. only problem--the best i can tell after trying to get a full set of round tires out of 8 tires from pirelli, they can't make round tires!!! at least, the michelins are round!!!!

 

[DHawthorne]

Everyone has opinions about what they use. Looks like your truck is much lighter than mine. That may have a lot to do with it and my opinion as well. I have bought not less than 40 LTX's for my trucks in the past 10 years. Out of the 40 bought, 10 were returned for problems. Hard pull one side or the other. The dealer hates to see me. Had him change one tire four times before we got on that would go straight without a pull to one side.



The best milage tire out there now is the Michelin RIB XPS Radial.

My son's truck has them on a 96 Cummins 3/4 ton extra cab long box. There not good in heavy rain unless you got a lot of weight over them. Mileage wise, they have 68,000 on them now and still look good. They are more expensive than the LTX down here and harder to find. Strickly a highway tire for commercial vehicles.



See ya on the highway. Get a TDR Decal!!



Dave

 

[1 ALC]

I run the michelins 265 (original tires) and run 60 all around. My driving is about the same except I have a 30 mile round trip to work daily.

 

[PHX ATC]

Thanks fellas.



I'm trying 60 up front and 55 out back. We'll see how it works. When I tow the boat, I'll bump the buttend up to 60.



I'll try to look at the tread pattern with my little one's help. She's thrilled to use the sidewalk chalk to help ole' dad mess with the new truck.



Thanks.



I'm stupid... where can one get the TDR logo sticker???



Toby

 

[D White]

When I had my 2500 I ran 70 lbs in all 4. This was where I got the best tire wear with that truck. I ran 265's and went to 245's, both got the best wear with 70 all around.

 

[Mel Fuelling]

Set tire pressure with I. R. Temp gun

I've been very satisfied using an infra red temp gun(raytek is a good brand) to scan across each tire after driving for 20+ minutes. Adjust tp until you have uniform temp across each tire. Increase tp if the edges are hotter than the center, decrease tp if the center is hotter. I was using 65 front, 50 rear(duals) with my old 8 ply tires, and am starting there on my new 10 ply tires, waiting for a long enough trip to check temps.

 

[Batman]

TDR Decals



Fire an e-mail off to ICEMAN. He made those about a month ago. I don't kow if he still has some.

HTH

George

 

[FDziurda]

Calculated Pressures

Quite awhile ago, someone posted a method to calculate tire pressures based upon load. It made so much sense, I use it on all my vehicles with excellent results.



First, have your truck weighed and note the front and rear axle weights.



Look at the tire sidewalls (tire size does not matter) and see what the listed ratings are. My Michelin 245s say 3042lbs at 80 psi.



Since you have two tires per axle, your tire load capacity is twice the individual tire capacity. For those with duals, the number is slightly lower per tire, but you have 4 tires to share the load.



Example: My front axle weight was 4,300#. Tire load capacity is 2 x 3042 lbs = 6084 lbs at 80 psi. To figure front tire pressure 4300/6084 x 80 psi = 56. 5 psi. My rear axle weighed 3,300 lbs, so pressure calculates as 3300/6084 X 80 psi = 43. 4 psi. For simplcity's sake, I run 60 psi in the fronts and 45 in the rears, when unloaded.



I have 42,000 miles on my stock Michelins and they are wearing evenly and look like they have at least another 20k miles left on them. If you tow a trailer, get your rig weighed with it fully loaded and re-calculate.



Good Luck!



Frank

 

[SnoKing]

FDziurda

I am glad to see someone else understand that you do NOT want 60 or 70 lbs in the rear of an empty truck, they handle like sh*% that way. The tire pressure chart that came with my 2001. 5 works out about the same as you computed.

SNOKING