For those of you with diesel HD trucks that lower their tire pressures when not towing, what do you set them to?My Ram calls for 60psi front and 80 in the rear. As most know, this gives a pretty harsh ride. I finally found someone to reprogram my TPMS to lower the thresholds so I can now lower them more than 8psi before triggering the dreaded dash light.I’ve currently set 55 front and 60 rear which is a much smoother ride but I’m wondering about the effects. Tire wear? Controllability?I have 60k kms (42mi) on my Toyo’s and they are at about 50% wear and evenly worn. I can already feel that the traction in the wet is much better as it will be in snow too. Will lowering the fronts cause steering issues? Since all the weight is up front with the diesel should I lower them at all? In theory, with all the weight up front and little in the rear I should be able to lower the rears to less than the fronts. Any problem with that?

My older (2007.5) Ram 2500 has two pressures listed on the tire pressure placard in the door jamb. 60 Front and 80 rear for loaded, and 60 front 45 rear for unloaded. It also has a light load button that tells the TPMS to expect the 45lbs in the rear. If the newer Ram's don't have it, it is a shame.

Assuming stock or close to stock tire size for your truck, 60psi front/40psi rear is a good starting place.I rarely take the rear tires over 40psi unless towing really heavy or heavy load in the bed.Front, you can get down to 50psi easy and be within the load rating charts, but starts getting a little squishy.Winter time, I run around 50/35 and have been gone a bit lower if really bad ice and need more traction, but not as a general rule.Read a load rating chart for proof of concept. Your truck is about 8000lbs round numbers and 5000 +/- on the front and 3000+/- on the rear, unloaded.

Have them Toyos siped if you want even better traction in the wet and particularly the snow.

Door placard psi in front.35 - 40psi empty truck in rear.Load inflation table psi in rear based on load, distance, and laziness...

On my tires it states 80 lbs pressure. That is what I leave them at towing or not. However, if you want a softer ride I would follow the guidelines on your left vehicle door jam, but not any less.

Lowering TV tire pressures | Good Sam Community

Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Oct 20, 2019
Grit dog wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
alboy wrote:
JUST rolled into mesquite approx a 1000 miles trip with our 40 ft Landmark on the back of a 2015 Ram dUALLY .4000LB PIN truck is 4000 empty ,tires are Yokohama 245/75/17 e at 55psi.AVG speed 65-72mph,tires run cool and the ride is very nice,rec pressure at 65 is not nice.

"Recommended pressure" is for FULL RAWR. Did you weigh your truck loaded and then use the weight/inflation chart for your rear tires?

I think you're arguing with the wrong guy...looks like he's already on team 12V wrt tire pressures.

HA, thanks!!!
Grit_dog
Navigator
Oct 19, 2019
Cummins12V98 wrote:
alboy wrote:
JUST rolled into mesquite approx a 1000 miles trip with our 40 ft Landmark on the back of a 2015 Ram dUALLY .4000LB PIN truck is 4000 empty ,tires are Yokohama 245/75/17 e at 55psi.AVG speed 65-72mph,tires run cool and the ride is very nice,rec pressure at 65 is not nice.

"Recommended pressure" is for FULL RAWR. Did you weigh your truck loaded and then use the weight/inflation chart for your rear tires?

I think you're arguing with the wrong guy...looks like he's already on team 12V wrt tire pressures.
Me_Again
Explorer III
Oct 19, 2019
Cummins12V98 wrote:
alboy wrote:
JUST rolled into mesquite approx a 1000 miles trip with our 40 ft Landmark on the back of a 2015 Ram dUALLY .4000LB PIN truck is 4000 empty ,tires are Yokohama 245/75/17 e at 55psi.AVG speed 65-72mph,tires run cool and the ride is very nice,rec pressure at 65 is not nice.

"Recommended pressure" is for FULL RAWR. Did you weigh your truck loaded and then use the weight/inflation chart for your rear tires?

There are all kinds of yellow books for dummies, https://www.dummies.com/, on the list I do not see one for inflating tires correctly! So the wheels of the bus go around and around at max sidewall.
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Oct 18, 2019
alboy wrote:
JUST rolled into mesquite approx a 1000 miles trip with our 40 ft Landmark on the back of a 2015 Ram dUALLY .4000LB PIN truck is 4000 empty ,tires are Yokohama 245/75/17 e at 55psi.AVG speed 65-72mph,tires run cool and the ride is very nice,rec pressure at 65 is not nice.

"Recommended pressure" is for FULL RAWR. Did you weigh your truck loaded and then use the weight/inflation chart for your rear tires?
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Oct 18, 2019
camilllit wrote:
My 06 Ram 3500 4x4 DRW Cummins states 80psi all tires when LOADED.
When EMPTY rears get 40psi and fronts 60psi.
Front tires need 60psi because the engine weighs 1,000lbs.
I keep fronts at 80psi because my BOSS V plow weights 1,000lbs.

I will bet you are under inflating your fronts when not towing. FACT is I have more pin than most at 5,800# and I only add around 150# to my front axle. Mine fronts are aired 80 ALL the time.

You are WAYYYYYYY overinflating the rear tires towing at 80psi.

For FULL RAWR of 9,750# 65 psi is all that's needed. I am betting you are no where near that weight.
alboy
Explorer
Oct 18, 2019
JUST rolled into mesquite approx a 1000 miles trip with our 40 ft Landmark on the back of a 2015 Ram dUALLY .4000LB PIN truck is 4000 empty ,tires are Yokohama 245/75/17 e at 55psi.AVG speed 65-72mph,tires run cool and the ride is very nice,rec pressure at 65 is not nice.
camilllit
Explorer
Oct 16, 2019
My 06 Ram 3500 4x4 DRW Cummins states 80psi all tires when LOADED.
When EMPTY rears get 40psi and fronts 60psi.
Front tires need 60psi because the engine weighs 1,000lbs.
I keep fronts at 80psi because my BOSS V plow weights 1,000lbs.
camp-n-family
Explorer
Oct 16, 2019
OP here. It was interesting to read the arguments and see different points of view. I’m in the boat that pressures can be adjusted according to conditions. Manufacturers can’t possibly include pressures for every scenario so they list the max to cover what the truck is rated to. That doesn’t mean that is what it needs to be kept at, nor is it always an ideal pressure for all conditions.

I should have included that I do not have stock tires on my truck, but 35” Toyo ATs, so the door placard doesn’t really apply anymore. Toyo does supply a load rating chart for various tire pressures. According to the chart I can safely reduce the pressures significantly while unladen for a better ride. I’ve chosen 55psi all around for now. I’d like to lower the rears more but my tpms threshold is set to 50psi.

So far the ride is much improved. Way smoother and I can now go over railway tracks etc without the rear end getting kicked in the air. Traction is better in the wet and I expect the same for snow. I have noticed a very slight drop in mileage (on the lie-o-meter) but it could also be from the sudden drop in temps. Only time will tell if the is any adverse affect on tread wear.

Thanks again for the responses.
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Oct 13, 2019
blt2ski wrote:
noteven wrote:
All’s I know is it is tiring loading rocks in my truck to bring it up to the other “MAX” sticker (for weight) every time I don’t have anything real to haul on my MAX psi tires...

Signed MAX

Hmmm.
I prefer tossing reels in truck vs rocks. Much more useful, and I still get to haul something REEL useful!????????

Then locally in Washington State, you cans find a print version of "The Reel News" in some places too! The ONLY place to get reel news. Unlike on FOX MSNBC CNN etc.....

Marty

My Puget Sound 23’ GlasPly boat is named “REEL FAST”
Me_Again
Explorer III
Oct 13, 2019
When I load reels as ballast I take left hand reels, and leave the right hand ones in the junk pile.

The problem with rocks or reels(left or right hand) in a sudden stop, think wreck, can turn the ballast into missiles, not be be confused with mussels, which tend to stick tightly to things.

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