Question.. Increasing payload on Silverado 2500HD Diesel

First change out the rims for some 18" ones that will fit your truck. These will enable you to use a lot more tires rated up to 3800 lbs at 80 PSI with their 8" width. Lots of people get 1-ton GM trucks and decide to put on fancier wheels and so are selling their old wheels and tires for very little.

Second step is to add SuperSprings SSA-13 that will cost $450 and take 1 hour to install. These will improve the payload up to 5,000 lbs. so the weak link becomes the tires. Two 3750 rated tires provide 7500 lbs. of support and subtracting 3200 lbs for the weight of the truck on the rear tires that leaves 4300 lbs. for a camper.

Best to be conservative and look for a camper with a dry weight of no more than 2700 lbs. so when fully loaded for a trip the load is going to be less than 3500 lbs.

You may be able to find 16" tires with the load capacity you need but usually they require a 7.5" width rim.

For $1000 you can get the 18" set of wheels and tires and the SuperSprings. Then all you need are tie-downs and turnbuckles for the truck.

Fishin'musician wrote:
...So I should be able to get away with running LT265/75r16's on my stock rims?

Shouldn't be a problem, although ideally you'd want to run them on something like 8" wide wheels.

Switching to 17s or 18s would also gain you some capacity. My 285/70R17Es are rated for 3750 a piece, and the Nitto Dura Grapplers are rated at 3950 each in the same size.

trail-explorer wrote:

ah64id wrote:
Do 2500HD's have upper overloads?

No, they don't.

I'd recommend Torklift Stableloads before Airbags.

The primary difference between the GM 2500 and 3500 diesel trucks is that the latter have an extra leaf pack. You can accomplish the same think by adding a set of SSA-13 SuperSprings to the truck. Unlike airbags the Supersprings need no adjustment and they cannot fail. The addition of more leaf springs keeps the truck handling as it was engineered to do by GM and the added support will improve the performance of your truck's shocks.

If only one of the two airbags fails your trip is over. Air bags are great for raising up the rear of the truck to better mate it with a trailer. Not the best approach for hauling a heavy camper. They also exaccerbate truck motion with a heavy load like a camper which is far more weight than most 5th wheel trailers will exert on the truck.

Before buying new tires to get more payload capacity I would recommend first finding out which 17" or 18" GM rims will fit your truck. The wider rims provide more options for tires and lots of kids buy a truck and then want flash and sell the stock rims and tires for 20 cents on the dollar. I have seen lots of good deals on Craiglist.

I did something similar as my new 2500HD truck came with tires rated at 3195@80 PSi and I sold these tires on Craigslist and they were replaced with Nitto tires rated at 3750@80 PSI - a gain in payload capacity of 1100 lbs. that cost me less than $500 in total for the upgrade.

265/75/16E here too on stock 16x6.5 steel wheels, Love them. :)

Thought I'd jump in here. I have a 2005 Chev 2500HD Extended Cab, with the Duramax/Allison.I just put Bilstien 4600 shocks and Timbrens on mine. My camper is a 2013 Wolf Creek 850 SB. The camper now sits level and there is no sway. My tires are Michelin 235 85r 16 rated at 3042 lbs. I've since put quite a few highway miles pulling my 6 x 12 Cargo trailer, and just came back from a fishing trip in the mountains on some mighty rough roads without any problems. I had contemplated super springs but opted for the Timbrens and are pleased with them.

Fishin'musician wrote:

Not that it makes a difference now that I've purchased tires.

Sorry for the delay. I think my wheels came off of a 2003 3500 truck, aluminum.

Fishin'musician wrote:
Nice. I just got back from Les Schwab; the fellow who I talked to had his 2002 Silverado 2500 Diesel parked out back, and invited me back to see what he had on. Same oem forged rims as mine--like the ones in your top picture--which he confirmed are more than sufficient for 3415 lb. rated tires. He was running the 265/75r16E Toyo Open Country HT Tuff Duty's. So that's what I had them put on mine. Step 1 complete.

Many of us here on the forum are doing just that, including myself. Happy with my set-up.
Although I have Michelins.

Step 2 complete, added KYB Monomax shocks.

ah64id wrote:
That works too, just remember they are quite a bit heavier than "dry" or advertised. My dads 2600lb camper is closer to 4000 fully loaded.

SO TRUE-my camper has an outside manufacturer's sticker @ 2359 lbs, and internal sticker after factory options = 2608 lbs,couple of dealer installed options and is closer to 4000 lbs fully loaded. I didn't order Rickson 19.5 Wheels until after I had gone to the scales. Initially I was hoping to save money and stay away from 19.5's but after camper was brought home (empty) and then loaded did I pursue the more expensive/safer option. I would suggest if possible, to bring the camper home, then load it up before deciding how much you need.

Here's a thread I started the other day along these lines. I just went from 265's back to 245's on stock 6.5 wheels on my GMC 2500HD DM.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27832793.cfm