Are 16" tires still common? South america.. And disk brakes

[rerod]

Ive got the old school diesel truck that will run on waste and cooking oil to pull my mini toyhauler, but I'm indecisive on the tire's I want to run..

I'm currently running 17" tires, but I'm considering going back to 16" tires/rims so that I can run the same tires trailer and truck. The trailer will have 8 lug hubs so that I can use a trailer spare as the truck spare even though it has less offset..

Anyway.. What tires are easy to get in mexico and south america? Is 16" still a good choice for me?

And a bit off topic.. Are disk brakes worth the expense?

[Grit_dog]

The truck wouldn’t have an issue running those wheels, sticking out more than factory. Especially with the little tires you’ll be using.
Idk if the van wheels have the right center bore diameter.

[rerod]

Grit dog wrote:
What does a Ford van rim have to do with this?

E350 rims fall within Dexter's guidelines of no more than 1/2" positive offset. Meaning I could run eight of them and interchange them, trailer to truck if needed.

[Grit_dog]

What does a Ford van rim have to do with this? And your Dodge rims have about a 45mm positive offset so different than the Ford rims.
The mysteries of what you’re trying to figure out here are not understandable.
Oh and 17” LT tires are as common as ever in the US and Canada. Can’t speak for Mexico.
:h

[rerod]

Ive learned a couple things. E350 rims have 1/4" positive offset and 17" tires are hard to find in mexico and the americas..

Reading that airstream are selling their trailers with LT tires on some has turned me into a believer..

I'm stuck trying to decide if I can run a aggressive 16" AT tread on the truck like a KO2, yet run a more trailer like same size LT spare like the rib or R250 if the truck gets a flat..

[memtb]

Can’t answer the Mexico/tire question!

Disc Brakes are an absolute “Thumbs-Up”! However, be “very” careful with brake gain adjustment. :M I badly, “flat-spotted” 4 of 6, brand-new, very expensive Continental 17.5” tires! memtb

[CavemanCharlie]

Before you swap out the rims between the trucks make sure the hole size (the part that goes over the hub) in the middle of the rim is the same. It's quite rare that it would be different but, there was one time; back in the day; when we tired to swap rims like that and found it would not work.

And, way ;back in the day; Dodges used to hare reverse lug bolts on one side of the vehicle. Don't twist them off. If the don't come loose easily try turning them the other way.

[rerod]

JIMNLIN wrote:


The OPs question ??
I didn't see what year model Dodge the OP was using but my '03 was the first year model new designed 3rd gen Dodge truck came with 17" wheels..... larger diameter brakes. My set of OEM size off road tires mounted on 16" OEM wheels on my previous '01 Dodge would not work on the new '03 truck.

It's a 12 valve with 3rd gen wheels..

[JIMNLIN]

Apples and Oranges. The Marathons are made in China and notorious for blowouts.

True this.
However before Goodyear moved their Marathons to china they were made in the USA and then Canada.
Yep they were still call st maypops for good reasons.

Goodyear made a attempt to "make them better" which they did with a circle 6 stamped on the sidewall. The circle 6 lasted maybe 6k-8k miles before tread loss or zippers. Before the circle 6 improvement all we could get out of them on our road trailers was 3k-5k miles.

I wouldn't use the term quality tire when referring to a ST C/D/E tire regardless of brand or origin.
Now some of the 16" load G ST tires are all steel ply carcass made for the regional service trailer industry and made in china and are considered a quality tire in that industry. They work on rv trailers also.

Many of our tires we use on rv trailers first came on equipment/other service trailers for the working folks. Word spreads to rv websites.
One of the tops in that industry was the Providers from Taskmaster in the C/D/E loads which were some of the first ST tires to carry a higher speed rating and a automotive type tread design and the nylon cap. Most O/O were running them in the 40k-45k range till wears bars got them.
I would put the Endurance as a second best mainly because of only 1/4" of usable tread depth. Works for most rv folks who never wear a tire out.

The OPs question ??
I didn't see what year model Dodge the OP was using but my '03 was the first year model new designed 3rd gen Dodge truck came with 17" wheels..... larger diameter brakes. My set of OEM size off road tires mounted on 16" OEM wheels on my previous '01 Dodge would not work on the new '03 truck.

[Grit_dog]

I think you're trying to create a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.
4 quality spacers will run you about $300. You're probably needing 1" -1-1/2" spaces to set the offset the same, but might need a bit more given the wider rims as well.
Then you're running on spacers for what? So you can use your old 17" Dodge wheels on the trailer?
Or are you just looking to have an extra spare tire?

[rerod]

After a little research I found 265/70/17's were actually the most popular truck tire, in 2018, and that's the size on the dodge already..

So let me circle back for a minute and consider adapters or spacers on the trailer, so that I could run truck 17'x8 truck rims. Before I can do that, I need to figure out the offset for the third gen 17" ram rims and search if spacers are available for the given offset.

And before I become public enemy number one for running LT tires AND spacers, keep in mind I'm using two 7K axles for a 7x16 cargo that might weigh 8K loaded.

To me running stock 17's with adapters the thickness of the offset minus 1/4" makes just as much sense..

[Grit_dog]

agesilaus wrote:

LT tires are simply not an option.

Why not? And are those Hercules ST or LT?

And the reason GY lost that suit was because they lied about the Marathons. Which does not make me trust them. Unless you are claiming they had a morality transplant when they came out with their endurance tires.

Aaaand we're off again!!
Maybe we could get a subject matter expert on what LT tires in 14" and 15" size are of equal or greater capacity than those of ST tires...

[Cummins12V98]

agesilaus wrote:

LT tires are simply not an option.

Why not? And are those Hercules ST or LT?

And the reason GY lost that suit was because they lied about the Marathons. Which does not make me trust them. Unless you are claiming they had a morality transplant when they came out with their endurance tires.

So what other quality RV tires then??? Most are Made in CHINA.

[agesilaus]

LT tires are simply not an option.

Why not? And are those Hercules ST or LT?

And the reason GY lost that suit was because they lied about the Marathons. Which does not make me trust them. Unless you are claiming they had a morality transplant when they came out with their endurance tires.

[CharlesinGA]

agesilaus wrote:
BTW GY is being sued and losing over the Marathon failures, cost them over $500,000 in on suit. Think about that before you believe them on their Endurance tires. Remember what Gomer said: "Fool me once....."

Apples and Oranges. The Marathons are made in China and notorious for blowouts. In contrast, the Endurance is made in the USA and I have not read or heard of one blowing yet due to cheap/crappy tire. I am sure someone has hit something and blown one, but Endurance tires are clearly better than other choices, by a wide margin.

For many trailers, LT tires are simply not an option. My trailer has tires that are way over rated for the weight and yet, second trip out on a set of 2½ year old Hercules I had one blow and shred less than 15 miles after leaving home. Hercules is supposed to be a good tire, but I had already replaced the '07 Marathon spare (it went on my rarely used utility trailer) and I replaced the blown tire with another Endurance and continued on the trip. I got home and found the other Hercules in front of the blown one had wires embedded in it, scrap. The two off the other side, one had cracks running the full circumference of the tire in the bottom of the treads, scrap, and the last one looked OK so it too went on the utility trailer.

Charles