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Danattherock's avatar
Danattherock
Explorer
Aug 19, 2015

Anyone towing with mild lift kit and larger tires?

Researching tow vehicle for first camper. Likely 3/4 ton longbed and 6.5-7k lb camper. We need good off road Performance for interests aside from camping so I researched this and talked with folks. M...
Tow Vehicles
Huntindog's avatar
Huntindog
Explorer
Aug 21, 2015
Danattherock wrote:



Regarding warranty, nothing I'm doing will void warranty.


Dan

Oh, it will void some of the warranty.
Larger tires WILL impart more stress on some components, such as the tranny, brakes, U joints steering components, etc. They will also lower the trucks ratings. How much is debatable, but it for sure will be operating in parameters beyond what it was designed for and tested for. Any component that the manufacturer thinks the larger tires may impart more stress on will likely have the warranty voided.
That said, there can be some things you may be able to do when buying the truck that can help.

When I bought my 96 Dodge 1 ton SRW, I wanted bigger tires. So I selected the optional 4.10 gears over the standard 3.55s. That simple cheap decision allowed me to use larger tires with the close to the same performance of the stock tires. It also protected the tranny and u joints from extra stress I did have premature service/replacement needed on the wheel bearings and brakes, which were adversely affected by the larger tires... Wanna play gotta pay.

As for leveling kits.. I am not really a fan of them for what you are wanting to accomplish. Since pickup trucks tend to be high in the rear when empty, leveling kits were invented to raise the front to match the rear. This works OK when empty. Put a load on the rear though and it will sag in the rear. Air bags can fix that, but it just shows how one mod can require the next etc. And my experience with air bag reliability has been less than I would expect. Seems like one is always leaking.

I also think that 35s are more than needed for 4x4 use. People who go that big are generally doing it for looks. The performance from larger tires starts to diminish after about 33" on full size trucks.

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