Front tire pressure for 3500 long bed pulling 5th wheel

[smokeylew]

Have a 2016 Ram diesel long bed and pull a 36' NuWa 5th wheel. Haven't had the 5th wheel that long. Prior to this I pulled a heavy TT with an Egualizer hitch. Always put max air pressure in all 4 TV tires for towing. Weight distribution on TV is much different with 5th wheel.

Door sticker on Ram states 60# for front and 80# on rear.. Can anyone with similar TV and 5th wheel combo advise what front tire pressure should be? I've been putting 74# in front tires while towing 5th just on gut feeling. Tires have max 80# on sidewall. Trailer is 12,300 unloaded. 15,500 max.

Thanks

[Cummins12V98]

Me Again wrote:

YnotTurbo wrote:
I run 72 PSI in the front and 76 in the rear when towing. Truck and RV on the scales, 29,300 lbs. No problems.

I would run 80 all the time in you fronts according to my friend Cummins12V98 and 76 is more that needed in the rears. Chris

Yes VERY true! I run 65 in the rears at full RAWR of 9,750#. He has a triple axle DRV that will have a lighter pin than I do.

[Cummins12V98]

YnotTurbo wrote:
I run 72 PSI in the front and 76 in the rear when towing. Truck and RV on the scales, 29,300 lbs. No problems.

You may want to weigh your front axle fully loaded as in with humans and full fuel and hitched. At 72psi I am betting you may be overloaded. Look at your door jamb it will say 80# if you are a 4x4.

[RoyJ]

Durb wrote:
I would go with the manufacturer's recommendations. Why assume people on this forum know more than the engineers that designed the truck and the engineers that specified the tires? With this litigious society I'm sure their specifications are set with your safety in mind.

Hooking up my 5er does not change front end loading appreciably.

Because engineers very rarely have the final say in an OEM environment. If we did you wouldn't have Ford recommending 26 psi in those Explorers...

Engineers only spec psi based on max GAWRs (note I didn't say GVWR), with a factor of safety built in. In real life, you're rarely at both max F & R GAWR.

One can better the "engineering spec" by measuring the axle weight, and look up the inflation tables from the tire manufacturer.

[shepstone]

80 all round all time, 113,000km on them, still fair amount of tread left. But 90 percent of the time it's got the fiver in tow.

[azdryheat]

I weighed my truck with and without the toy hauler. Front end weight was the same on both weighs. Chevy says 70 front and 65 rear (duals). Have had great results with those pressures.

[BobKrogstie]

I run 73 front, 80 rear duals, scaled 23600 gross, 3320 pin weight.

[burningman]

Because the engineers who design these things aren't doing it on a case by case basis, they have to settle for general-use specs. We make all sorts of modifications to how the factory engineers - and accountants - built our trucks, based on our intended use. Mine is rather heavily modified, and does the job I want it to do MUCH better.
You can run max pressure all the time if your option is to trade a little harder ride for a little better MPG, or go softer and make the opposite trade.

Having said that, 60-65 is probably happy medium and the best way to fine tune from there is to try different pressures and see where you like it best.

[Durb]

I would go with the manufacturer's recommendations. Why assume people on this forum know more than the engineers that designed the truck and the engineers that specified the tires? With this litigious society I'm sure their specifications are set with your safety in mind.

Hooking up my 5er does not change front end loading appreciably.

[Me_Again]

YnotTurbo wrote:
I run 72 PSI in the front and 76 in the rear when towing. Truck and RV on the scales, 29,300 lbs. No problems.

I would run 80 all the time in you fronts according to my friend Cummins12V98 and 76 is more that needed in the rears. Chris

[Me_Again]

smokeylew wrote:
Have a 2016 Ram diesel long bed and pull a 36' NuWa 5th wheel. Haven't had the 5th wheel that long. Prior to this I pulled a heavy TT with an Egualizer hitch. Always put max air pressure in all 4 TV tires for towing. Weight distribution on TV is much different with 5th wheel.

Door sticker on Ram states 60# for front and 80# on rear.. Can anyone with similar TV and 5th wheel combo advise what front tire pressure should be? I've been putting 74# in front tires while towing 5th just on gut feeling. Tires have max 80# on sidewall. Trailer is 12,300 unloaded. 15,500 max.

Thanks

Sounds like a SRW truck. The 60 in the front is enough and no more than 65 if you want a little more capacity up front. 45 or so in the rear empty and 80 with the 5th wheel. Chris

[YnotTurbo]

I run 72 PSI in the front and 76 in the rear when towing. Truck and RV on the scales, 29,300 lbs. No problems.

[Halmfamily]

60 on the front and 65 in each dually.

[12th_Man_Fan]

I always use what is posted on the door jam. A 5th wheel puts very little extra weight on the front axle if your hitch is in the right place.

In my case it calls for 70 psi in front 65 psi in rear duals 4K pin weight.

[camp-n-family]

Fivers put very little, if any, weight on the front axle. No need to air them up higher than the recommended 60psi.

[Old-Biscuit]

I run 60# front ALL the time......towing or not
I run 80# rears towing 13,873# scaled weight 5vr
I run 50# rear not towing

With Michelins AT2s typically get at least 60K per set w/o rotating tires

Just put Cooper Discoverer ATPs on........same air pressures.
Will see how they wear