Rickson wheel/tire advice

dadwolf2 wrote:

skipro3 wrote:


I'm a little surprised that the 245 size is the tire of choice and not one of the larger sizes.

Here are my reasons and we have virtually the same truck:
The stock tire size on our truck is a lt265/70R-17 and it's ~ 31.5" in diameter. Like you did, I went up to a 285/70R-17 diameter~32.5" diameter. I noticed the increase in diameter a tiny amount, manual transmission helped. When I researched 19.5 tires I noticed that there was minimal load capacity improvement with the 225/70R-19.5. Just not enough to justify new wheels and tires. The 245/70R-19.5 is where you get a significant jump in load capacity and plenty for my needs. But with the 19.5" tire there is a slight jump in tire diameter. The 245/70R-19.5 has a diameter of 33.5". the 265/70R-19.5 has a diameter of 34.4" and the 285/70R-19.5 has a diameter of 35.5" (different tire brands might be up or down a very small amount)

Basically I typed all that to say I increased 2.0 inches in diameter from OEM with my 245/70R-19.5's and I didn't want to affect my gear ratio any more. I didn't need any more load capacity and the 9.5" width is enough. These tires aren't going in the sand anyway.

My tires are the 245/70R-19.5 Firestone FD690 plus and I highly recommend them. Kind of a hybrid tread pattern between a drive / steer tire.

As well as "unsprung weight" increase on all components of the drivetrain/brakes and suspension. There is a lot of info on this on the internet in racing and truck preparation. The less you can increase your unsprung weight the better the components and brakes will be impacted. It is not going to be like a trailer, where often you will have wished you had gotten a bigger trailer. You should be looking at increasing the safety margin for your truck and dependability of the tires carrying the weight. Not for allowing you more carrying capacity for getting more in the back of your truck. That belongs to Hay Wagons and how much more they can pile on.

I could have gone to a larger sized tire on my truck, when I upgrade my rims and tires. I went from a 225/19.5 to a 245/19.5 and got the safety margin I needed. 265 would have fit nicely, but that would be just that much more over the OEM specs for my truck.

Just my 3 cents.

b