Going from 16" to 17" would it help

Sdlineman wrote:
My wife might have a different opinion, but I wouldn't think the extra inch would make enough difference to justify the $$$.

I agree.

My wife might have a different opinion, but I wouldn't think the extra inch would make enough difference to justify the $$$.

MM49 wrote:
The trailer tires are not your problem. The problem is the lateral movement in the tow vehicles rear suspension. Look into getting a panhard bar for the truck. They are quite rare for leaf spring suspensions. But they do work 100%
MM49

F550's had them on the rear axle.

A stiffer spring pack will help too.

The trailer tires are not your problem. The problem is the lateral movement in the tow vehicles rear suspension. Look into getting a panhard bar for the truck. They are quite rare for leaf spring suspensions. But they do work 100%
MM49

I have recently gone from 16" to 17" tires and have found few choices and not necessarily stiffer sidewalls.

The load king between the two is still the 16" tire which I believe will be a stiffer tire. As far as less rubber in the 17" that may be true but you have less capacity so it would seem to be less stiff.

Take a look at the many tire specs available at Tire Rack, it will give you a lot of info into what is out there.

Good Luck!

I guess this is one of those times when more information would have been nice. :)

mpierce wrote:
If you are going to change both wheels and tires anyway, go to 17.5's. They are MUCH heavier and better tires and wheels.

I think he's talking about changing tires/wheels on the truck, rather than the trailer. The tires he talked about were LT285/75-16E's, a commonly used oversize off road tire, for 3/4-ton and 1-ton SRW pickups.

If you are going to change both wheels and tires anyway, go to 17.5's. They are MUCH heavier and better tires and wheels.

Theoretically, yes, the shorter side wall would help stiffen up an otherwise equal tire. Whether you will actually FEEL any difference, is another story. Not likely, with only 1" difference in wheel diameters.

My main concern would be the wheels:

-do they have sufficent wheel weight rating for the loaded axle weight?
-are they the appropriate rim width for the tire width?

Most of those 'bling' wheels do not have much weight rating....

Seems like the shorter sidewall might give it more stability, but also the shorter sidewall may cause more stress on the sidewall in sharp turns. JMO of course.