Correct tire size for driving truck camper on the beach

Tcnewbie wrote:
Looking to purchase a Dodge Ram 2500 truck. The size of these tires that are on the truck are 245/70SR17.0E
Will that be sufficient for hauling a truck camper on the beach? Thanks

The most important thing is to make sure you lower the tire pressure until you get a significant sidewall bulge. As far as tire size goes for sand, the bigger the better (especially width). 245s will be marginal, IMO.

Air down as much as possibl and keep your momentum up.

Tires as wide as possible will help with flotation but may not be necessary.

Driving your truck and camper on the beach? It has been done. There are a couple forces in play here. 1. The weight of your camper. 2. How much floatation you can get with stock size truck tires. Coming from a 'jeeping' background, I've experimented with tire pressure on sand for decades on disparate rigs. There are some must haves.
A tall sidewall is good when you deflate for sand. I've stayed with 16 inch tires on wider steel wheels to allow for a longer and wider patch on sand. There are some good to haves. A super single wheel and tire are the ticket for sand running. Here are the 12 inch wide wheels and 365x65R16 (33x15.50R16) super singles I drove into the ground next to a stock 265x75R16 Michelin:


@ 22 pounds of air, the monsters had a 17 inch wide, by 15 inch long footprint that floated on the loosest blowsand: Here is the appropriate sidewall squat: front stock size @ 22 pounds; rear super singles @ 20 pounds. This is about as low as I would want to go.


jefe

what kind of truck camper you looking at? with the Dodge 2500 be enough to truck to carry it? Since you don't have the truck yet, now is a good time to look at the numbers.

If the question is just any old beach that you might encounter, the answer is:
Don't do it.

Many beaches won't support even a small car without VERY wide tires. And having a truck camper towed out of the sand is a tricky proposition.

Sam Spade wrote:
If the question is just any old beach that you might encounter, the answer is: Don't do it.

...ya. You'd better know the sand (and tide) dynamics of the beach you want to drive on. The best, is to ask someone who regularly drives that particular "stretch of sand" with a truck camper rig preferably, first.

We've had no problems with stock 245/75 R16 all-terrain tires on the beaches we've driven on the East Coast (this includes driving the loooong St Augustine Florida stretch with the truck camper rig).

I've since gone with slightly wider tires with a taller side-wall (Goodyear Duratrac).

Also, very aggressive treads, like mud tires, will tend to dig in and get you stuck quickly. A milder all-terrain tread will stay on top of the sand better.

Once got hold of a pressure/loadcapacity list from Michelin.
For different speeds and for in Mud/sand and on Track.
Will give the picture of it, but in short.

For in Mud/Sand you can use even 50% of the pressure for 20km/12,5m/h on the road, wich then is the maximum speed to use.
Can go as low as 0.6bar/9psi for a tire with 6 bar/85psi AT pressure, ofcource if the load on tire is low enaug.

My conclusion is that at that pressure on road the tire would bare on the sides and not in the middle, but in sand/mud the underground forms that way that it supports the total surface .
But this is my conclusion, of a self declared tirepressure-specialist, so not a profesional tire-ingeneur.

For on track 80% of the pressure needed for 65km/35m?/h on road, wich then is the maximum to use speed.

Here 2 pictures

Sam Spade wrote:
If the question is just any old beach that you might encounter, the answer is:
Don't do it.

Many beaches won't support even a small car without VERY wide tires. And having a truck camper towed out of the sand is a tricky proposition.

Wrong. Im on the beach all the time with the TC on. Very soft sand too. I air down my front tires from 65psi to 20 psi. The rears from 80 psi to 25 psi. The tires are what the truck came with , nothing special. Its a f350 4x4 SRW. 4k# camper. Take it slow, don't allow the tires to dig themselves in.If possible stay in existing tire tracks. Carry a jack and shovel. Stay well above the high tide mark. Over the years I have had to use a shovel once or twice , but almost always I can drive out of whatever fix I may be in.

nycsteve wrote:

Sam Spade wrote:
If the question is just any old beach that you might encounter, the answer is:
Don't do it.

Many beaches won't support even a small car without VERY wide tires. And having a truck camper towed out of the sand is a tricky proposition.

Wrong.

No it is not wrong.....to advise someone to be careful with what they are about to do.

Either you are a more skilled driver than most or are just lucky.

I have SEEN cars, trucks and RVs stuck in soft sand (both on a "beach" and off) and it isn't a pretty picture.

Just because you can do it doesn't mean that everybody can.

Being careful is never a bad thing and is never "wrong".