Hi -
After reading some related back posts, getting some weights for our 2012 Excel seemed like a good idea. The Cellar Master of our local winery offered his scale for our use; they weigh the grapes going in and the wine coming out. The scale was of multiple platform configuration with the surrounding pavement level with the platforms. With all tanks full, except the waste tanks, four days of provisions, and wife, Vickie, and me, we weighed in. Front two wheels; 3180 pounds; front gross axel weight rating is labeled as 4050 pounds by Ford and 3900 pounds by Pleasureway. Rear two wheels; 6060 pounds; rear gross axel weight rating is 6084 pounds. That was 9240 pounds of the allowed 9500 pound gross vehicle weight rating. Weight on the right rear tire was 3300 pounds and weight of both right tires was 4480 pounds. Unfortunately, the weight limit for the stock Hankook tire is only 3042 pounds.
My first thought was that placing the right tires close to the edge of one of the platforms produced an erroneous reading. Even so, at best, with unlikely equal rear tire weights, each rear tire would be supporting 12 pounds below its maximum allowed weight. We moved some stored items forward; but there was not that much stuff back there. The only things in the right rear outside compartment were jumper cables and some empty plastic boxes waiting to be filled, if needed. The Pleasureway sticker gives us a limit of 1357 pounds of payload to add to the V-8 engine van; including fresh water and occupants. There are three weights leveraged behind the rear axel that I have some control over. If acceptable water is available at the next stop, I can remove up to 192 pounds by not completely filling the fresh water tank. Draining the hot water heater would remove 48 pounds. I have read posts about moving the spare tire and wheel to the front bumper area.
One safety margin solution from group posts was to replace the Hankook tires with the next size up; going from 3042 pounds capability to 3415 pounds; both at 80 psi. We finally chose four Michelin LTX M/S2 LT 265/75R16/E 123R Highway All-Season black sidewall tires. The Part Two post will describe some more of the things that went into our decision.
The new tire diameter is 1.3” greater than the Hankook, but no interference problems yet; even on twisting dirt roads. Van bouncing while turning is probably where rubbing would show. For our Ford, the larger tires brought the speedometer reading closer to being correct. The Hankook web site does not give a weight for our stock DynaPro AS LT245/75 R16E RH03. Maybe they have a light weight tire for better gas mileage and possibly less strength.
It is folly to think that I have improved on the design of the Ford engineers by using slightly larger / heavier tires. The powertrain tuning has probably been degraded; so I expect poorer gas mileage and some slight accelerated powertrain wear. Hopefully no other problems; including warrantee. I have read of cars with different diameter tires on front than back confusing the car’s computer; related to wheel speed inputs to safety software.
Miles per U.S gallon: 13.2, average for all driving. From the Ford computer. This is after installing the larger diameter tires, which brought the speedometer down to indicating "right on" for highway speeds, as seen by roadside radar. If the odometer equivalent mileage calculation has similar accuracy, maybe 13.2 is a good number.
In answer to previous posts, all four hubcaps now have the same part number molded into them. No RTV was found; a circular spring provides the holding force.
We could have bought the same tire with raised white letters; each weighing .3 pounds more than the black sidewall tire. Strangely, this heavier tire costs less than the black sidewall. This is similar to the late 1970’s when avocado colored shag carpets and appliances were going out of favor and white appliances’ cost reversed to more than that of the colored ones.
This Excel came with a Roadmaster 1.5” diameter rear sway bar kit and impressive rear wheel spacers. As mentioned by some, as time went on, stability of the original van improved as the driver learned and tires “wore in”. The only other related thing I did was to put some grease into the four steering joint grease reservoirs. It could be the new way of doing things, but each flexible grease holder looked flat and sucked in. I was used to having the reservoirs gently bulging out; like a radial tire sidewall. The zerk fittings came with the Ford. For whatever reasons, after about 1500 miles I was happy with the original Excel steering and stability. However, no emergency steering events have been experienced. With the new tires I am still happy with the steering and stability; any increased feeling of stability over the Hankooks could be due to the knowledge that I should now have safer tires on the back of the Excel.
A check of the spare Hankook tire showed it was inflated to 45 psi. After increasing the pressure to 80 psi, the tire was cranked back into its nest. A later check verified that the tire could hold air. This type of RV dealer preparation was typical for our “He Who Must Not Be Named” RV dealer. The spare wheel is made of steel and the other four wheels are aluminum.
We added a 10” skirt to the tire covers previously used on our departed 5th wheel trailer; so they cover the larger tires. New leveling blocks were needed, as the current tires are ½ inch wider on the road than the Hankooks.
The four Hankook tires were put out to pasture on our Suburban.
Chuck Sorensen
Buellton, California
2012 Excel TS
