What about 19.5" tires on your SRW truck?
Some of you may remember that we drove 3000 miles of haul roads in the Arctic in 2009 towing our Arctic Fox 29V. The Arctic Fox was quite comfortable and survived with only minor damage, but it was t...
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The Ram trucks have a rear axle and wheel bearings that are rated for 8900 lbs. so your truck with the camper is well within its capabilities. I upgraded my 17" tires with Nitto 285/70R17 that are rated at 3750 and work with my stock rims.
I could get an additional 700 lbs. in total load capacity at the rear with 19.5 tires but that would mean 4 new rims along with 4 new tires. I decided it was not worth it and to work within the 7500 lb. limit for the rear tires. Flexing and heat are my primary concern and driving in the desert with it 115 degrees and at speeds of 65 MPH is more likely to cause a tire to fail than driving at 55 MPH up in Alaska. I have made 5 trips to Alaska and overall the roads are no worse than what I encounter in California.
If you do change out the rims you do want to be sure that the offset of the rim is exactly the same as that for your factory rims. Spindle loading with wheels that have their center of stress outboard of the designed loading (with factory rims) are a frequent cause of failure with the guys putting oversize rubber on their pickups and they are driving around with nothing in the bed of their trucks.
I could get an additional 700 lbs. in total load capacity at the rear with 19.5 tires but that would mean 4 new rims along with 4 new tires. I decided it was not worth it and to work within the 7500 lb. limit for the rear tires. Flexing and heat are my primary concern and driving in the desert with it 115 degrees and at speeds of 65 MPH is more likely to cause a tire to fail than driving at 55 MPH up in Alaska. I have made 5 trips to Alaska and overall the roads are no worse than what I encounter in California.
If you do change out the rims you do want to be sure that the offset of the rim is exactly the same as that for your factory rims. Spindle loading with wheels that have their center of stress outboard of the designed loading (with factory rims) are a frequent cause of failure with the guys putting oversize rubber on their pickups and they are driving around with nothing in the bed of their trucks.
