Pros and cons on replacing 17" wheels and tires with 19.5"

I put 19.5's on our 3500 DRW Ram with 10-2 SnowRiver before heading from Ohio to Alaska 3 years ago. I found more stable handling but when I hit a dreaded frost heave that had about a 8 inch square edge to blacktop at about 30 mph the 19.5 paid for themselves. It bounced our heads on the roof even with seatbelts fastened. I was positive I'd lost both front tires and likely the wheels too. No damage at all.