2011 F350 Super Crew 4x2 unloaded ride quality

[F5Pro]

While I will mostly be towing with this vehicle, after we arrive at our campsite for the day or week, it will be our drive around vehicle. It will have a topper. At the rated pressure for the tires being around 85 psi., is it going to ride like a wheat truck and if so, what else can I do, beyond carrying a couple dozen concrete blocks?

[Grit_dog]

F5Pro wrote:
Guess I am looking for a happy medium without undue tire wear fron over inflation or under inflation. I suppose I can air down until the tmps light shows up and then up it enough to shut it off. Thanks.

You're not listening to us. While understandable that folks don't understand stuff, it is weird when those that ask questions about what they don't understand won't even consider reading their owners manual or other documentation that supports the answers they're being given.
Happy medium for what?
You could have anywhere between 3klbs and 8klbs on the rear axle depending on what your hooking or hauling.
And you Don't have tpms, so no light will go off. But you'd know that if you spent 5 minutes reading your owners manual or 5 minuts adjusting your tire pressure.
And you apparently haven't spent 5 minutes learning about tire pressure vs load either, as suggested.

On second thought, the door sticker IS the right answer for you. That's why they put those stickers on vehicles. For owners who don't know or don't care or don't want to learn, they have an easy button. Not a best button, just an easy button.

[Cummins12V98]

F5Pro wrote:
Guess I am looking for a happy medium without undue tire wear fron over inflation or under inflation. I suppose I can air down until the tmps light shows up and then up it enough to shut it off. Thanks.

I repeat

"Looks like you know your weights. Now use the weight/inflation chart for your tire size and load range. Add 10psi to front and 5 psi to rear over chart numbers. Now doing so you will have the best tread wear, stopping and ride."

[F5Pro]

Guess I am looking for a happy medium without undue tire wear fron over inflation or under inflation. I suppose I can air down until the tmps light shows up and then up it enough to shut it off. Thanks.

[Dave_H_M]

OP ha it all wrong. Mine rides like a log wagon, not a wheat truck. 😉

[Grit_dog]

F5Pro wrote:
Have the truck now. Door sticker says 60 psi in the front and 80 in the back. Tire shop that swapped my tires onto the new truck did 55 and 70. On smooth pavement it rides pretty well, only a little worse than my max trailer tow F150. On rough pavement it skitters and jitters around and makes me slow down some. I'll have to reserve judgement until I get my topper back on.
Front axle #5000, rear #6730.

Cornfusing post...
You swapped the E tires from the 1/2 ton to the new 1 ton...got it, must be nice tires.
Truck is empty now, but going to put a topper on it, rear tires at 70psi and it skips on rough pavement bad enough to have to slow down...makes sense since its too high of pressure.

Reserve judgement for what? 6730# rear axle? Rated weight I presume? Since if you had 6700lbs on the rear axle now it wouldn't skip around.
So drop the pressure to 35-40 psi in back. How does this even sound right if the heavy front end has less psi than the light rear end and you're waiting to add the equivalent of 10 bags of dog food (the topper) to see if double the tire pressure you need will feel good?

THIS is why mfgs put TPMS on passenger vehicles, to save people from themselves who can't even conceptually understand the relative weight of objects.

[Cummins12V98]

F5Pro wrote:
Have the truck now. Door sticker says 60 psi in the front and 80 in the back. Tire shop that swapped my tires onto the new truck did 55 and 70. On smooth pavement it rides pretty well, only a little worse than my max trailer tow F150. On rough pavement it skitters and jitters around and makes me slow down some. I'll have to reserve judgement until I get my topper back on.
Front axle #5000, rear #6730.

Looks like you know your weights. Now use the weight/inflation chart for your tire size and load range. Add 10psi to front and 5 psi to rear over chart numbers. Now doing so you will have the best tread wear, stopping and ride.

[F5Pro]

Have the truck now. Door sticker says 60 psi in the front and 80 in the back. Tire shop that swapped my tires onto the new truck did 55 and 70. On smooth pavement it rides pretty well, only a little worse than my max trailer tow F150. On rough pavement it skitters and jitters around and makes me slow down some. I'll have to reserve judgement until I get my topper back on.
Front axle #5000, rear #6730.

[Grit_dog]

F5Pro wrote:
Good point. I looked at the tires on my F150 and it said about the same thing: max load pressure was 80, but the truck didn't say that-only 35 front and rear. I haven't seen the 350 yet to compare. Thanks.

Nothing to compare. The "sticker" on the door is going to be for max load and say 80 psi or something close. Unless the truck has the wrong tires or big wide tires (not likely on a 2wd), they too will say 80psi (possibly 65psi but not likely).
But the truck doesn't weight "that" much more than your 150 that you apparently have D or E load tires on, so weight vs load still applies the same whether it's on a F350 or something from Uzbekistan.

[Cummins12V98]

F5Pro wrote:
The guys at the local tire shop mentioned the unloaded ride to me and told me that many of the owners of heavy trucks do lower the tire pressures to help with the ride. However the penalty for that is abnormal tire wear from under inflation.

That is a complete BarbraStreisand statement!

Tire wear is BEST when proper inflation is used based on weight.

Tell me my tires have uneven wear. 65-68psi loaded with FULL RAWR and 35psi running solo.

[F5Pro]

Good point. I looked at the tires on my F150 and it said about the same thing: max load pressure was 80, but the truck didn't say that-only 35 front and rear. I haven't seen the 350 yet to compare. Thanks.

[schlep1967]

F5Pro wrote:
The guys at the local tire shop mentioned the unloaded ride to me and told me that many of the owners of heavy trucks do lower the tire pressures to help with the ride. However the penalty for that is abnormal tire wear from under inflation.

Actually it can work both ways. If your tires are inflated to max for a load, and you are not carrying a load, you will wear out the middle of the tires faster.

My 2008 Ram 2500 has two inflation pressures listed on the door for the rear tires. 70 lbs for heavy loads and 45 lbs for light loads. If you want to "air down" after parking the trailer for the weekend or week, carry a decent compressor or make sure there is an air pump nearby.

[F5Pro]

The guys at the local tire shop mentioned the unloaded ride to me and told me that many of the owners of heavy trucks do lower the tire pressures to help with the ride. However the penalty for that is abnormal tire wear from under inflation.

[bid_time]

Face it, it's a truck built for carrying several tons of load. It's going to ride like a freaking truck. You want a better ride, buy a truck made to carry less load and load it accordingly. Trucks aren't built to ride smooth as butter, they're built to carry a load; the two are mutually exclusive.

[Cummins12V98]

Know what your ACTUAL loaded and unloaded weights are. Use tire weight/inflation chart for your specific tire size and load range and add 5psi to rear and 10 psi to the front for what the chart says.

Class Dismissed!