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Crappy tire wear + reccomendations

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jjl04002

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I have a 2022 3500 Dually HO with 20k miles, about 7k miles from towing a 16k lb 5th wheel, and the rest is mostly highway.

I just noticed my front passenger tire is basically bald on the outer shoulder (just rotated 4k miles ago) and the drivers side outer shoulder is fairly worn. Rears look really good with plenty of life.

So a few questions:
1) Is this wear normal? Going to get an alignment but i suspect it will be fine.
2) Reccomendations on tires? We just bought some land 6 hours away and are dropping off the 5th wheel for the season, so my driving will be mainly highway, some towing, but also driving around in grass/gravel/dirt and in the winter snow. I want something that can safely tow but doesnt suck offroad.I dont care as much about fuel efficiency, ride comfort, or wear as long as its safe towing. The Nexans are abysmal. I legit got stuck on a 2% grade in 4wd on grass in a campground and had to rock the truck out of 4 tire sized holes. Ive never seen anything that bad in my life...and ive driven a miata in the snow on racing slicks...
 
Aside from the alignment, what front pressure are you running?
 
jjl04002 said:
80 in the front, 65 in the rears (what the door sticker tells me to do)
Click to expand...

The door sticker pressures are for max load, which likely isn’t needed all the time.

I wouldn’t drop the front too much empty, as that can also cause outer edge wear but I would drop the rears down for a better ride, better traction, and tire wear empty. 35 psi rear is still enough for a RAW of 6,280.

At 80 psi front the OEM alignment specs are most likely your issue. Thuren specs eliminate most the outer edge wear, especially on highway driven trucks.
 
AH64ID said:
The door sticker pressures are for max load, which likely isn’t needed all the time.

I wouldn’t drop the front too much empty, as that can also cause outer edge wear but I would drop the rears down for a better ride, better traction, and tire wear empty. 35 psi rear is still enough for a RAW of 6,280.

At 80 psi front the OEM alignment specs are most likely your issue. Thuren specs eliminate most the outer edge wear, especially on highway driven trucks.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Seems like Thuren is the way to go. Any drawbacks in terms of drivability?
Also out of curiosity any clue if you can just swap fronts? Manual seems to imply that.
 
Zero drawbacks to Thuren specs. The trucks drive so much nicer with Thuren specs, and the tires don’t wear the outer edges the same.
 
80 PSI is still way to high. Not a diesel, but I run 34 front on 35" tires.
And Thuren specs ARE the way to go. :cool:
 
Crusty old shellback said:
80 PSI is still way to high. Not a diesel, but I run 34 front on 35" tires.
And Thuren specs ARE the way to go. :cool:
Click to expand...
The front axle is rated for 6k lbs, and towing near max payload you need 80 PSI to be able to support 3k per tire. The truck is 9k empty, so at 35PSI i think i would debead them after a few miles
 
I’ve ran all my trucks with Thurens specs without issue and much better tire wear. I do notice slightly higher crown sensitivity with 0.0* toe so don’t be surprised if you do. Some people don’t mention it but it’s a non issue for me
 
Crusty old shellback said:
80 PSI is still way to high. Not a diesel, but I run 34 front on 35" tires.
Click to expand...

Huge difference in a 235/80R17 and a 35" tire.

80 psi is required for the FAWR and with an empty weight of ~5200lbs they need 65 psi empty. That's min pressure by the inflation charts.

Even with the stock 285/60R20's I need 55 psi minimum for my diesel. Between the diesel and smaller tires more air is required.
 
35 seems too low to me. Probably hurts fuel economy too.

I’d run around 50 up front, there is a chalk test to see if you have center of edge wear for tire pressure you can always try
 
pay a shop to dismount and rotate tires when you get the alignment job done.
 
jjl04002 said:
The front axle is rated for 6k lbs, and towing near max payload you need 80 PSI to be able to support 3k per tire. The truck is 9k empty, so at 35PSI i think i would debead them after a few miles
Click to expand...
Have you had your truck on a scale?
I did.
4280 front axle.
3080 rear.
Yes, the diesel weighs more that the 6.4 hemi and winch. But not enough to need that much presdure when running empty.
And ain't no way I'll ever have 1720 lbs on the front axle.

If I run much more air than 35 in the front, I only wear out the center of the tire. Even at 35, I wear the center more than the outer edges.
And the tires are rated at 3K per tire at max pressure of 50 PSI.
 
Crusty old shellback said:
Have you had your truck on a scale?
I did.
4280 front axle.
3080 rear.
Yes, the diesel weighs more that the 6.4 hemi and winch. But not enough to need that much presdure when running empty.
And ain't no way I'll ever have 1720 lbs on the front axle.

If I run much more air than 35 in the front, I only wear out the center of the tire. Even at 35, I wear the center more than the outer edges.
And the tires are rated at 3K per tire at max pressure of 50 PSI.
Click to expand...

You're missing the pressure requirement difference between a fairly small 235/80R17 and a 35" tire.

The 235/80R17 would need 55 psi for your FAW.

My truck is ~5300 empty front, which would need 65 psi on a 235/80R17. 70-75 psi would be better on a DRW due to the DRW adapters.
 
AH64ID said:
You're missing the pressure requirement difference between a fairly small 235/80R17 and a 35" tire.

The 235/80R17 would need 55 psi for your FAW.

My truck is ~5300 empty front, which would need 65 psi on a 235/80R17. 70-75 psi would be better on a DRW due to the DRW adapters.
Click to expand...
So your telling me a diesel weights 1K lbs more than a 6.4 hemi and winch? That's the only difference between the trucks.

If it does in fact weigh 5300 lbs, then yes, 60 to 65 PSI is correct. But I'm not sure it actually weighs that much.
Like I said, I put mine on the scales so I'd know exactly the weight.

And at my weight, according to the inflation charts, I should be running around 25 to 30 PSI. That gives me about 30 to 37 PSI when the tires are up to temp.

It's dealers choice.
Run max PSI, get a crappy ride and only wear out the center of the tire. But you get a little better gas milage.
Or run the proper pressure for the ACTUAL weight, get even wear and a better ride. Just loose 1or 2 MPG.

Your truck, do what you want.
 
Crusty old shellback said:
So your telling me a diesel weights 1K lbs more than a 6.4 hemi and winch? That's the only difference between the trucks.

If it does in fact weigh 5300 lbs, then yes, 60 to 65 PSI is correct. But I'm not sure it actually weighs that much.
Like I said, I put mine on the scales so I'd know exactly the weight.

And at my weight, according to the inflation charts, I should be running around 25 to 30 PSI. That gives me about 30 to 37 PSI when the tires are up to temp.

It's dealers choice.
Run max PSI, get a crappy ride and only wear out the center of the tire. But you get a little better gas milage.
Or run the proper pressure for the ACTUAL weight, get even wear and a better ride. Just loose 1or 2 MPG.

Your truck, do what you want.
Click to expand...

Yes they weigh that much. My truck new with just me in it was 5,260. That was with 3/4 tank of fuel and not even spare napkins in the glove box. Now it's well over 5,300lbs "empty"

Published base weight for the OP's trucks is 4,996 lbs. That's a base model without a driver or any payload/passengers.

Your truck is also a short box which according to the Ram charts is 158lbs lighter on the front axle than a long box of the same configuration. The DRW's are another 28lb heavier.

25 psi on a 35x12.50R17 is only rated to hold 3,750 lbs, so you need 30 psi minimum for your 4,280 baed on the charts.

60 psi is insufficient on a 235/80R17 as that's only enough air for 5,030 lbs. 65 psi is the bare minimum as that's rated to support 5,360 lbs.

Up to temp pressure is not what matters, only cold inflation pressure.

I have not personally seen a 1 or 2 mpg loss from running the proper pressure on a HD truck. I have noticed that much on smaller rigs. Your rolling resistance is a little higher, but hardly measurable IME on a HD truck. It really starts to impact economy when underinflated.
 
So for a 8 foot bed, and diesel puts that much more weight on the front end. DAMN.
I can understand it being a bit more with more rake on your truck than mine because mine is almost level. But didn't think it could be that much.

I run 35 to 37 hot on the front and 30 to 32 hot on the rear to give me the best wear. I didn't buy a HD truck for the fuel economy. :cool:

We run 40" BFGs on the race truck. Start at 27 cold. Will see anywhere from 35 to 45 hot after about 200 miles of racing offroad. All depends on the terrain and speed. That's a 6K lbs race ready truck.
 
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