For those of you who have made the upgrade, what improvement (if any) did you see in the stability of your rig (truck and trailer). I suspect the biggest difference would be seen in those who have bumper pull trailers, but I'm just guessing.
'04 Excursion Eddie Bauer, 6.0 PS, 4X4, Magnaflow Performance exhaust, Isspro gauges (boost, pyro and tranny), Bilsteins, aFe intake, Front and rear leaf spring swap, Jordan brake controller, Arctic Fox 29V and Hensley Arrow.
Haven't upgraded anything to 19.5", but the F-450 I drive at work has 19.5s rolling on Michelins from the factory.
I don't see how this combination would work without the 19.5s. It does give a little bit of a rough ride if I don't have a lot of weight on it, but to try to have the same hauling ability with anything less would be insane.
Do you have polyester sidewall tires? These can cause problems with wiggles that steel sidewall tires can solve.
Also I heard of one person post that the 19.5" tires he selected for his camper made it feel like it was on ice. I guess the tire compound was really hard, and the tires inflated to the maximum air pressure, causing it to be hard as a steel roller skate tire, and slippery!
You can select tires with a softer or harder sidewall and tire surface area. The softer tire surface will give a little more traction, and a better ride.
I have 14 ply all steel tires on the front axle of my motorhome. 235/85R16G. Sadly Goodyear does not make these anymore. I need to get replacements for these 8 year old tires before going camping anymore. The tread is still looking great, but . . . .
I recently heard of a 235/80R16 tire rated at 3,420 pounds, but don't know if they are trailer tires, or multi-purpose tires. I can not use a trailer tire on my steer axle. I might consider changing to the 17.5" rims common in Europe or change to 19.5" rims to be able to mount a tire with sufficient capacity to hold up my front axle in a turn, as much weight is transferred on the curves.
19.5's on my truck, even in strong side winds towing a very big box of a trailer, the truck felt sure footed and well planted. Up and down the mountains, tight curves the truck never wiggles or wanders. Sure they are a bit stiff, speed limited, but they provide long life and a decent ride.
Capt Skup
AD-1(AW)USNRet.
Wonderful Wife,3 Daughters,2Goldens Gus&Riley
"Never get in a battle of wits with an unarmed man"
Here's my experence with then. I suspect that the issue was the model tire was a bad match, but I didn't want to spend the money to play around till I found a good match.
Trailer: 07 Tango 299BHS
TV: 2004.5 Dodge 610 CTD 3500 QC 48RE 2wd Laramie SRW, FP Gauge, FASS 95/95, Rhino Lining, Hensley Arrow, Reese Signature Series 5er Hitch, Air Bags & Compressor, Canopy, AL Boat Rack.
Been running B100 home brew June 2008!
Capt. Skup and I have the same rig, mine came with Continentals (which I have never had any experience with) and I concur with the Capt. No dramatics, just smooth sailing. Hit a bit of sidewind in Kansas last month, not a problem with truck or fiver.
I have the Continentals, too. Ordered the truck with the Off Road(ha, ha, like I am going to take a 9,000lb truck far from the pavement)package, which added all season tires, HSRs in the front, HDRs in the rear, Can't tell much difference but the Continentals seem to ride real well. Only time I felt real wandering was crossing a bridge that had steel deck. Tires still look brand new, seems they have about an inch of tread.
Still do not understand Ford's decision to drop the 19.5s and the big axle and frame, other than to save weight. Who the hell wants to drive faster than 80mph in a large pickup. That is what the GT500 is for.
Do you have polyester sidewall tires? These can cause problems with wiggles that steel sidewall tires can solve.
Also I heard of one person post that the 19.5" tires he selected for his camper made it feel like it was on ice. I guess the tire compound was really hard, and the tires inflated to the maximum air pressure, causing it to be hard as a steel roller skate tire, and slippery!
You can select tires with a softer or harder sidewall and tire surface area. The softer tire surface will give a little more traction, and a better ride.
I have 14 ply all steel tires on the front axle of my motorhome. 235/85R16G. Sadly Goodyear does not make these anymore. I need to get replacements for these 8 year old tires before going camping anymore. The tread is still looking great, but . . . .
I recently heard of a 235/80R16 tire rated at 3,420 pounds, but don't know if they are trailer tires, or multi-purpose tires. I can not use a trailer tire on my steer axle. I might consider changing to the 17.5" rims common in Europe or change to 19.5" rims to be able to mount a tire with sufficient capacity to hold up my front axle in a turn, as much weight is transferred on the curves.
Good Luck,
Fred.
Continental Vanco 4 Season 285/65R16E's have a capacity of 3,970 lbs @77psi. tire rack
Like Capt. Skup said they hold solid in the curves and very stable in wilnds. We just got back from a trip to Big South Fork in upper Tennessee where the roads were very curvey and I couldn't believe the difference from a year ago when I didn't have the 19.5's. The only mistake I made is adding airbags at the same time and it made the rear end to high for the TV & 5er to sit level, it also made the rear end "bounce" to much when empty (even with the airbags deflated). I took off the airbags this weekend and it worked much better. If you have old shocks you may want to replace them too.
spindrift wrote: For those of you who have made the upgrade, what improvement (if any) did you see in the stability of your rig (truck and trailer). I suspect the biggest difference would be seen in those who have bumper pull trailers, but I'm just guessing.
from a RV standpoint the folks that would get the most benifit from a 19.5 wheel/tire upgrade would be the truck camper folks. Some TCs can be in the 4k-5k-6k lb range.
A 5th wheel trailer that may have 3500-4500 lbs of pin weight may be in the 15k-20k GVWR range which is in DRW trucks range. Less "push" issues. A 2500 or a 3500 SRW may benifit from the upgrade.
Bumper pull RV trailers simply don't have enough hitch weight for the need of 19.5 wheels load capacity. Now if your into a heavy implement trailer with a pintle hook up on the bumper then those 19.5 wheels may be of some benifit on a SRW truck.
Check out the truck camper forum as many have made the upgrade.
"good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" Will Rogers
'03 2500 QC Dodge/Cummins HO 3.73 6 speed manual Jacobs Westach Linex
'97 Park Avanue 28' 5er with two slides 16" BFG Commercial LTs
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