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

I looked too at alternate sizes. From what I found, 20" are mostly bling wheels and that a more approachable option for greater LI is 18" There were certainly more weight carrying tire available.

Cool that you like 20s, but 19.5s are far different than 20s as well.

I changed from the 17 inch to the 20 inch. My 08 Ram comes from the factory with either tire so I thought that all suspension and braking issues would be a non-issue.I have found that for the same rpm on the highway I am running 8 miles per hour faster. Really like them and have just ordered studded winters in 20 inch.

I went through this dilemma in trying to figure out the best options for me. In the end, I went with a one-size larger tire as noted in sig. The larger Load Index gave me the comfort I needed for the weights after a very thorough analysis. I could never find an actual documented capacity of factory wheels but I could safely assume that factory rims will be at least capable of the tires around them from the factory.

In the end, I determined that my steel wheels are carrying and extra #75 each over the conservative assumptions I made.
In researching the 19.5's, I found that if one sticks to the smaller diameters that gear ratios are not really affected too much, the larger options would change it some.

Pros for 17":
-less costly
-maintains stock design configuration from the factory

Cons for 17":
limited LI availability

Pros for 19.5:
obvious from the conversations in the TC forums.

Cons for 19.5:
MUCH heavier unsprung weight- tougher on suspension and brake components.
Backspacing and offsets do not match factory wheel specification.

Gear ratio doesn't have to change at all. It depends on the rest of the tire details.

gear ratio will change a lot

I probably left something out.

Pros
1. The tires can have more capacity.
2. The tire sidewalls are stronger.
Cons
1. Rougher riding.
2. Track due to less sidewall give.
3. Can't air them down for beach driving.
4. The minimum tire pressure is a lot higher so rougher riding without a load as well.
5. Harder to stop, start, change because the tires/wheels are heavier.