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4900 miles and tire wear!

Aketay said:
<<<That photo is Whitecourt, AB in January. I run these tires year round because they are good and cheap. Admittedly, I run NittoTerra Graplers when a majority of our runs are in the northern US during the winte, different snow.
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That is only 25 miles north west of my farm. Do you come up here to work in the patch?
 
1FastHemi said:
I took delivery of my 3500 last week and the tires ride very well now that I got the air pressure lowered. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK YOUR TIRE PRESSURE AS SOON AS YOU CAN AFTER TAKING DELIVERY. The vehicle was deliver to me with some tires at 100 psi ? ? ?

As of course, I don't see any unusual tread wear yet as I just rolled over 200 miles on the speedo yesterday. However I have noticed the vehicle rides very nice now with no harshness. I drive with a led foot and ended up getting some wheel spin with the dual rear wheels when I punched it on asphalt. I wasn't expecting that! I left 4 black marks for several feet. Very Torquey with the 4:10's. Plan on changing the OEM 235-80-17 for some 255-80-17 Nitto Ridge Graplers, they are about i inch wider and 2 inches taller. I hope this will give me better traction.
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I've heard too little gap between dually tires can be bad on gravel roads. No direct experience, but if it was posted on the internet it must be true right?


geektoad said:
Kind of a bummer to pay for the 4.10s, then give up half the effective ratio over the 3.73s by going to a two inch taller tire, no?
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I'm glad I got 4.10's on my 04.5. Stepping up to a slightly larger tire gave me an effective 3.92 gear which kept me in the power to tow range but with a little better mileage (hand calculated and %diff accounted.)

SUPER glad they went to 3.73 on the new trucks (only option on SRW) and I didn't get stuck with 3.52's.
 
brutal said:
I've heard too little gap between dually tires can be bad on gravel roads. No direct experience, but if it was posted on the internet it must be true right?
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I ran my old 2005 with the wider tires and smaller gap between them for years even on gravel roads. Not saying it can't happen but as far as I know I never had that problem.
 
Aketay said:
No, I transport campers. Maythorpe? Love the railroad crossing the valley near Sangudo.
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Yup just a bit south of Mayerthorpe. That Rochfort Bridge Trestle is the longest wooden trestle in North America. That hi way 43 is a rough son of a gun though :mad:.B3293F62-290E-4562-AD92-5A07FC24B4CD.png
 
The issue with dual tire gap is. They don’t touch when truck is loaded or when driving over potholes etc.
Yes you can get wear or failures if rocks and gravel is being pinched between tires as you drive.
 
TPMS for me sounds at 10-psi less than door sticker requires. Sticker is 60/70 F/R, so alarms at 50/60.

We "should" be able to set our own unloaded tire psi so the truck rides smooth when not working (hauling or towing). It appears to me that FCA lawyers are calling the shots on this one. What's the MAX capacity? Okay, set required psi to meet the MAX. No...no discussion necessary. just do it.
 
Sarge33Army said:
TPMS for me sounds at 10-psi less than door sticker requires. Sticker is 60/70 F/R, so alarms at 50/60.

We "should" be able to set our own unloaded tire psi so the truck rides smooth when not working (hauling or towing). It appears to me that FCA lawyers are calling the shots on this one. What's the MAX capacity? Okay, set required psi to meet the MAX. No...no discussion necessary. just do it.
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What they fail to acknowledge is riding around in an empty truck with 80 psi in the rears is dangerous. Do a chalk test, and see how much the footprint is reduced. Another nanny law written by weasels who probably don't even drive.
 
1HasBeen said:
What they fail to acknowledge is riding around in an empty truck with 80 psi in the rears is dangerous. Do a chalk test, and see how much the footprint is reduced. Another nanny law written by weasels who probably don't even drive.
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@1HasBeen can you [or someone else] confirm I am using the right tire pressure?

When not towing, I run 55 in the front and 50 in the rear. By the way, the TPMS system in the truck has never setoff any alarms, which is alarming considering how far below the door sticker I am [in the rear].

How come 55 psi in the front and 50 psi in the rear?

I weighed the truck empty. The front axle was 5,280 and the rear axle was 3,700. I divided those in half to calculate the weight at each tire: 2640 front and 1,850 rear. I looked up the load rating for the Firestone 275/70R18 and determined the front should be at 50, so I rounded up to 55 just to be safe. The chart seems to indicate I could go as low as 35 in the rear, but that seems too low, so I used 50.

Basically, any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

1587873732416.png275/70R18
 
thestuarts said:
@1HasBeen can you [or someone else] confirm I am using the right tire pressure?

When not towing, I run 55 in the front and 50 in the rear. By the way, the TPMS system in the truck has never setoff any alarms, which is alarming considering how far below the door sticker I am [in the rear].

How come 55 psi in the front and 50 psi in the rear?

I weighed the truck empty. The front axle was 5,280 and the rear axle was 3,700. I divided those in half to calculate the weight at each tire: 2640 front and 1,850 rear. I looked up the load rating for the Firestone 275/70R18 and determined the front should be at 50, so I rounded up to 55 just to be safe. The chart seems to indicate I could go as low as 35 in the rear, but that seems too low, so I used 50.

Basically, any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

View attachment 4089275/70R18
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These load vs psi charts are only a tool
That is your min psi.
Your Tires show MAX cold psi.
Door sticker shows min psi for max gvwr/axle

As mentioned above, The chalk method is best to find the psi range that gives you full contact, which should be main goal over comfort.

I'm lazy so i run the door sticker.

Your 3500 is not equiped with a TPMS. 1 Tons have TPIS, basically, same thing, but no alarms. Check your owners manual for additional details.
 
carlrx7 said:
These load vs psi charts are only a tool
That is your min psi.
Your Tires show MAX cold psi.
Door sticker shows min psi for max gvwr/axle

As mentioned above, The chalk method is best to find the psi range that gives you full contact, which should be main goal over comfort.

I'm lazy so i run the door sticker.

Your 3500 is not equiped with a TPMS. 1 Tons have TPIS, basically, same thing, but no alarms. Check your owners manual for additional details.
Click to expand...

That all makes sense, thanks. I don't think I can tolerate 80 PSI in the rear unloaded. I will try the chalk test.
 
carlrx7 said:
These load vs psi charts are only a tool
That is your min psi.
Your Tires show MAX cold psi.
Door sticker shows min psi for max gvwr/axle

As mentioned above, The chalk method is best to find the psi range that gives you full contact, which should be main goal over comfort.

I'm lazy so i run the door sticker.

Your 3500 is not equiped with a TPMS. 1 Tons have TPIS, basically, same thing, but no alarms. Check your owners manual for additional details.
Click to expand...
I found this out over the weekend....no alarms.
 
Great White North Eh said:
Yup just a bit south of Mayerthorpe. That Rochfort Bridge Trestle is the longest wooden trestle in North America. That hi way 43 is a rough son of a gun though :mad:.View attachment 3892
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I blew through there a couple weeks ago (Whitecourt and Mayerthorpe) on my way to Minot, then through it again on my way back to Alaska. That chunk of 43 is the worst road on the trip except for the frost heaves between Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek. At least I could see those bumps. The constant chop, chop, chop of 43 is bad in a 3500. When I crossed over from BC I couldn't believe how bad it got.
 
Ya the worst part is a lot of 43 is only about 12 years old when they finished twinning. Many miles are through muskeg but still, terrible construction :rolleyes: What did you haul up there?
 
Great White North Eh said:
Ya the worst part is a lot of 43 is only about 12 years old when they finished twinning. Many miles are through muskeg but still, terrible construction :rolleyes: What did you haul up there?
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Didn't haul a darn thing :( I had ordered a Diamond C gooseneck from Acme Tools in Minot, ND. (best price I found) in January with the intent on picking it up in June while we visited the in-laws for their 50th anniversary. We canceled the party in June due to the whole corona virus thing. My salesman called me the first week of April that the trailer was ready. I happen to be a trucking company along with my other businesses, so I could get into Canada and the U.S. with little trouble. However, with all the local weird rules about Covid (19) I decided it was simply best to run down and grab the trailer, stay away from everyone and just run home with it. Besides, I'm being really careful with my cash right now as my business is taking a beating. I wasn't in the mood to spend money just to put stuff on the trailer. I did 5500 miles in 6 days, packed all my own food, 110 gallons of fuel, and slept in a bed I made to replace the back seat of my truck. Good times :Dtrucksnow.jpg Picture is in the mountains northbound from Ft. Nelson.
 
carlrx7 said:
These load vs psi charts are only a tool
That is your min psi.
Your Tires show MAX cold psi.
Door sticker shows min psi for max gvwr/axle

As mentioned above, The chalk method is best to find the psi range that gives you full contact, which should be main goal over comfort.

I'm lazy so i run the door sticker.
Click to expand...
Very true, the charts are just tools. And it's a bit of a mistake to just plan in the axle weight, usually. Normally they're planned to include some extra margin for normal unloaded driving. A pothole at highway speeds can cause a lot of extra force, and you don't want the tire to flex beyond certain limits. Following @thestuarts numbers of 2640 on a front tire, typical load calculation would add a safety margin of around 25% (or more, depending on the truck). That means the load need for the tire should be in the 3,300 range. Which would put it in the 65-70 psi range on that chart. The chalk test is good, and usually comes out somewhere in that range. However, if you're going to err, it's best to err with a little extra pressure than a little less. Lower pressure causes more sidewall flex, heats the tire up more, and can lead to failing sidewalls, plus the tires "squirm" more on the road and wear faster overall.

I'm lazy and run the door sticker, too. Mostly because the RAM recommendations work for most of my use, anyway. The only time I don't is when I switch to a different style of tire. What I do then is just look at the stock tire load rating and use Ram's recommended pressure to back-calculate the load they're expecting. If they recommend 75 psi, that indicates a load of 3560 on @thestuarts chart. So I'd look at the load chart for the new replacement tires, using 3560 as the load expected, and end up with whatever pressure is specified for that tire.
 
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