wheel options

[fbaurley]

Stopped in at local dealer today, and he had a 2003 3500 short bed highout put 6 speeed Laramie, lokoed very sharp. I was looking, at the wheels and noticed it looked like they were steel with crome covers, they looked sharp. but I also noticed an slt setting next to it that had aluminum wheels,it was a 2500 but they seemed to have a dull finish. Just what are the wheel optioins available?

 

[Task125]

in the 2500 or 3500 I believe you can get aluminum or chrome steel. in 17in

 

[Koa Man]

I wish they would offer the 20 in. rims that you can get in the 1500 series.

 

[run2trouble]

Rickson has 19. 5" wheels & tires that last forever.

 

[Koa Man]

Yes, but the Ricksons are very expensive. The 20 inch rim option on the 1500 Rams are only $700+ extra.

 

[jimnance]

I can't imagine why you would purchase a CTD unless you wanted to tow. The higher gear ratio of 19. 5" tires would be undesirable for towing. The 6 speed is really geared just about optimum for towing.



If you want to get a pickup that just goes fast, why not buy the hemi in the 1500 series?

 

[Koa Man]

The 19. 5 inch wheel and tire has a static dia. of only 33. 2 inches, only a couple of inches bigger than stock. If you ordered the truck with 4. 10s, the larger tires would probably give you an effective gear ratio of around 3. 80. A lot of the guys here are towing with 3. 54s and have no problems.



If I wanted a fast pickup straight from the factory, I would buy a Ford SVT F150 or wait for Dodge to come out with their SRT V10 Ram.



I need a truck that has a min. tow capacity of 10K. My truck is towing something 85% of the time it is on the road, 5 days a week.



To answer the original topic question which I neglected to do in my first post, in addition to the chrome steel and cast aluminum that was already mentioned, you can get plain steel. All in 17 inch only.

 

[nickleinonen]

Originally posted by jimnance

I can't imagine why you would purchase a CTD unless you wanted to tow. The higher gear ratio of 19. 5" tires would be undesirable for towing. The 6 speed is really geared just about optimum for towing.



If you want to get a pickup that just goes fast, why not buy the hemi in the 1500 series?

if you get the 225/70/19. 5's they are more or less the same diam as 235/70/17's that come with the duallys. no gearing change there.



the 20" wheels avalable for the sport truck market now have caught on that people desire a tire that is capable of towing a load. nitto's nt 404 sport truck tire in the 305/50 [same height as 265/75/16] and 325/50 [same height as 285/75/16] both have a weight rating of 3086lbs @ 50psi.



what's wrong with looking good while towing? if this vehicle will be your daily driver, and you only tow occasionally... .

 

[VietDoc]

Wheels, Tires, Gears and Calculators

Sorry for the loooong post

I've been searching the TDR & web for 3 or 4 days (retired so that's a lot of hours) on tires, wheels, etc and found this nifty calculator posted by a TDR'er on another thread. http://www.4lo.com/ Hope it helps answer tires, gears etc. ???



Also several TDR members noticed DC gives us a Heavy Duty Truck with a very limited selection of aftermarket light weight tires. My only choice to tow a ~15K/16K 5'er is the 3500 SRW HO Auto with 4. 10's. But the tires don't have the load capacity for the hitch weight. Most are under 3000lbs. max load, but the SRW GAWR is 6150lbs. (divided by 2 = 3075lb per tire). The OEM tires and one or two other tires at 3000 to about 3074lbs, but that doesn't leave much of a safety margin. Too bad DC didn't go to 17. 5" wheels. There are a lot more tires and they have higher load ratings.



The SRW and DRW have the same axle but the DRW has a GAWR of 9350lbs. because 4 tires are across the back.



I used the nifty calculator to decide on rear-end gears and tire sizes when I order our '03 3500 SRW HO Auto with 4. 10's. I will see if I can find 3400 lbs. max load 17" tires or go to 19. 5's with 245/70R19. 5. It will give me an effective rear end ratio of about 3. 99 and 265's will give me 3. 86. Sweetly inbetween the 3. 73 and 4. 10 for unloaded mileage and towing a 5'er. btw the load ranges for these 19. 5's depends on size and tire pressure. see this table for details http://www.trucktires.com/library/technical/Loadinfl/table05.htm



Why not buy a dually? It won't fit in the garage, it has lower tow specs and it is too hard to take elk hunting.



Thanks TDR members for info on tires, wheels, gears and a whole lot more. Now I can get the best truck to tow a new 5'er.

Richard

 

[Koa Man]

Re: Wheels, Tires, Gears and Calculators

Originally posted by VietDoc

Too bad DC didn't go to 17. 5" wheels. There are a lot more tires and they have higher load ratings.

I agree. My brush chipper has 17. 5 in. rims and load range H tires, 6005 lbs. cap. each on a single wheel application.