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Heavy duty wheel option

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IRONPIG

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Hello, new to the forum. I searched but didn't find any Heavy Duty Wheel threads - if I've missed please point me in the right direction.

I have a 2012 Ram 3500 6.7 diesel and have problems breaking stock alloy wheels. Not from curbing them or anything like that. I think it happens when I tow - just this past weekend I had one bend while towing (only had 10,500 GTW on the gooseneck hitch, single 5k car on tandem trailer, balanced equalizers so not all on tongue). They're just not strong enough for this application, I've replaced 4 in 150k miles. I'm running e-rated highway all season tires, 285/70r17, 80 psi. when towing.

I have the 17's and think I'd like to stay with that diameter, not trying to dress up the truck, just something easy to clean that doesn't look stupid. I don't think I want to go with 19.5's unless that's the only heavy duty option.

Does anyone make wheels stronger than factory for the 2012 Ram 3500 SRW?

Thanks!
 
You’re overloading the wheels, even the OEM 17’s are quite strong and don’t have issues unless they are severely overloaded.

Personally I’d ditch the 17’s for some 18’s, if that’s even strong enough. 18’s are a stronger tire and wheel.

Have you weighed your rear axle when loaded?
 
First time in all my years that I’ve seen this.

Most wheels have a 3650 lb rating in the aftermarket 8-lug world. I assume OE wheels are even higher. Maybe they’re rated for 4000 lbs. That’s two tons of capacity per axle. If you’re bending wheels then you’ve got to be really punishing the rest of the truck. Maybe you need to step up to a commercial duty truck.
 
Appreciate the replies - Factory wheels are rated at just over 3400, should be plenty and I'm sure it is under ideal conditions. Heavy duty wheels range from 4000-4500. Truck is not overloaded at 10k GTW, I did not scale it on this trip (not required/not for hire) but it's a tandem goose with only one car on it - rear drive axle springs not even squatted - truck level and trailer equalizers balanced. I realize a scale would be more accurate but don't think it's possible to (safely) have less tongue weight than I was running this last tow. I use the truck well within rated capacity and it's never been abused - I have decades of experience hauling the same/similar loads, in this dodge and with several fords both DRW and SRW. I'm also a mechanic and shop owner so I've seen a lot of ways to do this wrong and I'm not too proud to admit that it's operator error. The problem seems to stem from dynamic load, ie - bump/pothole/road irregularity exceeding the spoked wheel design. This situation is not always avoidable and I'd like to upgrade to a wheel that can handle it better as I've been towing the same loads in the same conditions with other wheels and never had this problem. Don't feel bad if you've never seen it, people come in with cracked wheels all the time, most are completely unaware of it. In general terms an 18 (or larger) offers better handling with a given height tire due to the shorter sidewall, but they are more prone to damage in they dynamic load situation I'm having problems with.

I could go with OEM steel, it does dress down the truck a bit and though I'm a common man not a rich man sometimes it's nice to pretend. I was hoping to find a forged wheel with portal design as they're stronger than spokes. I ended up picking up a set of 5 spoke OEM wheels (3rd gen maybe?) because there's a much smaller void between spokes. Hopefully they'll do better, if not maybe I'll get some 3rd gen steel wheels with the fancy chrome hub caps.

Thanks again for the input WXman and AH64ID.
 
IRONPIG said:
Appreciate the replies - Factory wheels are rated at just over 3400, should be plenty and I'm sure it is under ideal conditions. Heavy duty wheels range from 4000-4500. Truck is not overloaded at 10k GTW, I did not scale it on this trip (not required/not for hire) but it's a tandem goose with only one car on it - rear drive axle springs not even squatted - truck level and trailer equalizers balanced. I realize a scale would be more accurate but don't think it's possible to (safely) have less tongue weight than I was running this last tow. I use the truck well within rated capacity and it's never been abused - I have decades of experience hauling the same/similar loads, in this dodge and with several fords both DRW and SRW. I'm also a mechanic and shop owner so I've seen a lot of ways to do this wrong and I'm not too proud to admit that it's operator error. The problem seems to stem from dynamic load, ie - bump/pothole/road irregularity exceeding the spoked wheel design. This situation is not always avoidable and I'd like to upgrade to a wheel that can handle it better as I've been towing the same loads in the same conditions with other wheels and never had this problem. Don't feel bad if you've never seen it, people come in with cracked wheels all the time, most are completely unaware of it. In general terms an 18 (or larger) offers better handling with a given height tire due to the shorter sidewall, but they are more prone to damage in they dynamic load situation I'm having problems with.

I could go with OEM steel, it does dress down the truck a bit and though I'm a common man not a rich man sometimes it's nice to pretend. I was hoping to find a forged wheel with portal design as they're stronger than spokes. I ended up picking up a set of 5 spoke OEM wheels (3rd gen maybe?) because there's a much smaller void between spokes. Hopefully they'll do better, if not maybe I'll get some 3rd gen steel wheels with the fancy chrome hub caps.

Thanks again for the input WXman and AH64ID.
Click to expand...

I had thousands of miles of my OEM 17's at, or above, the OE rating on very abusive roads without any issues or indications of issues, but it wasn't for lack of effort :cool:. Same with OEM 18's, which do defiantly handle the load better, and I wouldn't ever spend any money on anything 17" for HD truck use. When I had the 17's I did switch to 19.5's after a while thou, not because of the wheels but since the tires didn't like the weight in the same size you're running.

Where did you find the OE aluminum wheels were rated to over 3,400lbs? My research back in 2010 timeframe had the wheels rated ~3100lbs from Dodge, which happened to be 1/2 of the RAWR but that trend continues even today. They didn't have a published rating any higher that I could find.

I don't think you'll have better luck with the OEM steel wheels, I actually think they will bend easier if your use is indeed what's causing the failures of the aluminum rims.
 
This is what I was looking for:

johanh13

Thread 'New Forged Wheel!?!'

Check it out guys, this is the closest I have found to my [perfect] specs. This may be my next wheel....

  • Forged 6061 Aluminum.
  • 100% USA Made.
  • Pronounced Bead hook, for running Low-Pressure more safely.
  • 8" x 6.5" Lug Pattern.
  • 18" x 9" +20mm Offset.
  • 5300lb Weight Rating.
  • 39lbs.
  • Hub-Centric for Ram 8 Lug Single Rear Wheel Trucks.
  • Valve-Stem impact/Rock protection built into the design.
  • Supercar level Runout quality.
  • Uses OEM or Aftermarket lug nuts

www.thurenfabrication.com

RAM6D Forged Wheels

Thuren Fabrication RAM6D Forged Wheels. Fits 1994-2025 Ram 2500/3500 SRW & 2005-2025 Power Wagon. #ThurenFabrication #RamUpgrades #OffRoadPerformance
www.thurenfabrication.com www.thurenfabrication.com
...
  • Like
 
If you look at the back of your factory wheel, it'll be stamped with load rating and sizing information. Since aftermarket 8-lug wheels are typically 3,650 lb. rated, even in the cheaper class of wheels, I would be shocked if the OE wheels were less than that.
 
WXman said:
If you look at the back of your factory wheel, it'll be stamped with load rating and sizing information. Since aftermarket 8-lug wheels are typically 3,650 lb. rated, even in the cheaper class of wheels, I would be shocked if the OE wheels were less than that.
Click to expand...

I have never seen a Dodge/Ram OEM wheel with the weight rating stamped on them. I've looked at 3+ sets of 3rd gen 17's, 3+ sets of 4th gen 18's, and 2 sets of 4th gen 20's, all SRW's. I have seen the DRW wheels stamped with 2600lbs.
 
AH64ID said:
You’re overloading the wheels, even the OEM 17’s are quite strong and don’t have issues unless they are severely overloaded.

Personally I’d ditch the 17’s for some 18’s, if that’s even strong enough. 18’s are a stronger tire and wheel.

Have you weighed your rear axle when loaded?
Click to expand...
I agree with @AH64ID . Start by weighing all axles including the loaded trailer. You might be surprised.
 
AEV Katla 17 by 8.5 4100# HD wheels lifetime structural warranty
 

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HodgeDodge said:
AEV Katla 17 by 8.5 4100# HD wheels lifetime structural warranty
Click to expand...

Hard to imagine spending any money on 17’s for a HD pickup when many 17’s only have a load index of 121 thanks to the TRA (though there are more options today than 5-10 years ago). For example the new Kenda 35’s you have have a LI of 121, but the metric equivalent tire in 16 has a LI of 127 and the same size in 18 has a LI of 123 (low for its size, other brands are 128).

So the 4100# rating of the wheel is kinda pointless when you can’t get tires for that, especially in sizes that are good for towing.

The OP doesn’t have enough load rating with a LI of 121 based on repeated issues. He needs weight his truck loaded, find some 18’s, then pick a size that will tow nicely and support the weight.

@IRONPIG I was thinking about your comment on the equalizer being balanced. That really just tells you the trailer is level, not how it’s loaded front to rear weight wise. Trailer springs are so stiff that you won’t get much compression so it would be pretty easy to have too much pin weight and still be level/balanced.
 
I know with my tractor (including loader & flail mower) on my 18’ trailer if I back it on it is easy to get way over my rear axle rating of 6,390 pounds (note scale ticket # for 2nd axle), but I only gross at +16k pounds. That’s why I pull on going forward now.
 

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dieselscout80 said:
I know with my tractor (including loader & flail mower) on my 18’ trailer if I back it on it is easy to get way over my rear axle rating of 6,390 pounds (note scale ticket # for 2nd axle), but I only gross at +16k pounds. That’s why I pull on going forward now.
Click to expand...
Let me see if I am understanding this correctly; front axle on your Ram is ~ 3,700 lbs, rear axle ~ 9,000, trailer axles combined ~ 3,700 lbs.
There is no way you have 9,000 lbs on the rear axle of your Ram as shown in the photos. Help me understand what you are trying to tell us!
 
dieselscout80 said:
I know with my tractor (including loader & flail mower) on my 18’ trailer if I back it on it is easy to get way over my rear axle rating of 6,390 pounds (note scale ticket # for 2nd axle), but I only gross at +16k pounds. That’s why I pull on going forward now.
Click to expand...
Are we sure we didn't get the leading trailer axle too far forward and include it into the RAW? 9k RAW for that setup does not compute.
 
Here is an example of my weights with a trailer; 4,660 front axle, 4,940 rear, 14,000 trailer. 23,600 lbs gross combined. This is with 1,600 lbs tongue weight, tows very nice. Also, this was my previous Ram 2500, very similar to what I have now. I had 2" Thuren front coils, so the squat looks a bit exaggerated...
BTW, if you are curious, this Ram was approximately 5,000 lbs front axle and 3,000 lbs rear axle, empty. The 1,600 lbs tongue weight transferred about 340 lbs from the front axle to the rear axle...
 

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AH64ID said:
Hard to imagine spending any money on 17’s for a HD pickup when many 17’s only have a load index of 121 thanks to the TRA (though there are more options today than 5-10 years ago). For example the new Kenda 35’s you have have a LI of 121, but the metric equivalent tire in 16 has a LI of 127 and the same size in 18 has a LI of 123 (low for its size, other brands are 128).

So the 4100# rating of the wheel is kinda pointless when you can’t get tires for that, especially in sizes that are good for towing.

The OP doesn’t have enough load rating with a LI of 121 based on repeated issues. He needs weight his truck loaded, find some 18’s, then pick a size that will tow nicely and support the weight.

@IRONPIG I was thinking about your comment on the equalizer being balanced. That really just tells you the trailer is level, not how it’s loaded front to rear weight wise. Trailer springs are so stiff that you won’t get much compression so it would be pretty easy to have too much pin weight and still be level/balanced.
Click to expand...
I see your point i only tow 5K and probably never over 10K i like more tire for my needs
 
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