Rickson makes nice wheels and the only complaint has been the lead time between order and delivery (why I went with Visions). I decided to go with an alloy wheel to reduce unsprung weight - The tires are considerably heavier, so I stayed away from steel rims. My palleted four 245's on alloy rims with lug nuts and caps weighed 550 lbs, so I'm guessing 125 lbs per wheel. With steel rims, you may need to upgrade shocks to control that unsprung weight.
I don't know of any 'bigger' brakes available for your rear axle, without changing to a dually axle or later model '05-up SRW axle, but I'm sure there are 'better' rotors available, as well as better pads.
Bedlam wrote: Rickson makes nice wheels and the only complaint has been the lead time between order and delivery (why I went with Visions). I decided to go with an alloy wheel to reduce unsprung weight - The tires are considerably heavier, so I stayed away from steel rims. My palleted four 245's on alloy rims with lug nuts and caps weighed 550 lbs, so I'm guessing 125 lbs per wheel. With steel rims, you may need to upgrade shocks to control that unsprung weight.
Last week Rickson quoted 10 - 13 weeks delivery. Ouch. Could not wait that long.
We've unloaded the camper from the truck so we can live in it. The truck is going into a truck repair tomorrow...We've got a small drip coming from the Tranny... going to have new Ford brakes, shocks etc etc etc. The 19.5 wheels and tires will be here by Thursday. We had to go with what could be delivered by Thursday of this week.
Just getting "shop time" in Bismarck is a big deal. Our first two choices were booked up until AUGUST 2nd. Trucks everywhere and so many shops are short handed because the service trucks are in the oil fields working on trucks out there.
plus... new front shocks, Pads, Seals, Rotors, bearings, (Front and rear), change the oil, check the slight leak in the tranny, recharge the a/c and put on new wiper blades...with $143 for tax...total was $2,981.67
The rear was an inch (maybe) higher than the front. Everyone thought it would be MUCH higher than the front but it wasn't. We took it for a 20 mile test drive and the tires were very quiet. No hum or rumble of any kind. No vibrations felt in the steering or the floor.(G rated 19.5 Toyo's on the rear and E rated 16" Discoverer A/T3 on the front).
Had them recheck the lugs after the test drive (just to be sure of them.)
We put the camper on last night and are very happy with everything. We'll put 100 miles on it Sunday and then take it back in to have the lugs re-tightened before we head out of Bismarck ND.
We highly recommend OSWALD BROS AUTO REPAIR, 2925 E Broadway, Bismarck ND. Ask for Terry Oswald: 701-223-3225
THANKS to those that gave us so much help here on the forum.
p.s. the two older BF Goodrich tires that were on the front this entire trip were E Rated to 3415 lbs. I thought they were "D" rated tires for some reason. My brother is gonna use them on his trucks.
* This post was
edited 07/28/12 11:59am by louiskathy *
I have Dunlops rated E, they work great. When I was looking for tires I use to live in Arizona and I wanted something with a higher tread wear. These were really high and not as expensive as Michelin tires. Drove from Arizona to Washington state and never had any problems with the tires.
Just want to give some more info on what we are learning.
The Vision wheels they put on our truck should have the lug nuts retightened after the test drive (20 miles) and after 100 miles and after 500 miles...and after 1000 miles. So we've been told by the tire place in Bismarck that sold the wheels and tires to Oswald Bros.
So after we drove the truck 100 miles on Sunday, we went back to Oswald and they tightened the lugs. Then we drove down to the tire place to have them put the hub caps on (they forgot to send them along when they sent the wheels with the tires on, up to Oswald Bros.). When the tire guys saw the wheels on the truck they told us that the lug nuts were wrong. They should be ACORN nuts. The ones Oswald put on were just flat lug nuts. They took one of the flat lug nuts off and showed us the chamfer. Flat lug nuts don't sit right and will loosen, causing the wheel to come off.
Now, in all fairness, when Terry at Oswald ordered those wheels and tires for us he specifically asked about the lug nuts and told them if a special lug nut was needed ... send it with the wheels. The tire place ordered the wheels and put the tires on and balanced them. Then the wheels/tires were delivered to Oswald Bros and put on our truck. We picked it up on Friday. Terry was not working friday. We're not faulting Oswald Bros.
I won't name the tire place in Bismarck.
SO, Terry just called and said the right lug nuts are there and we can bring the truck over to have them swapped out.
As soon as we get the truck from the wheel alignment place, we'll drive on over there. Still hope to be on the road tomorrow morning.
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