Tire PSI and truck camper question

[robertjp]

My question is if the truck manufacturer (Chevy) says the max psi should be 35 (on the sticker) and on the tire it says 51 max psi, would it be ok to increase the pressure from 35 to say 45ish to account for the truck camper? Im assuming 35 is too low even if it only weighs 1400 lbs dry.?? Thanks in advance. Bob

[robertjp]

OK since I am a newbie to truck camping can anyone tell me what would be a good psi if the max is 51 and the camper weighs say 2,000 lbs? Also would the back be higher than the front? Thank you for all your replies. You guys are awesome!

[Grit_dog]

Yes you can air up to what the tire says.
Your little camper will be about 2000lbs if your lucky. Get any flavor of load range E tires so you can stiffen up the back. Will be a much better ride in your half ton. And you can air back down to 35psi when you don't have the camper.

[jimh406]

I'd probably look at load inflation charts for those tires, but the tires won't be worse for wear at max pressure. The handling will be different, and you could get some abnormal tire wear especially when unloaded.

The tire ratings in the door are designed to give you a guide for what is the pressure you should run at sticker max GVWR.

[lawrosa]

If they are p rated tire 35psi will be your max load rating on side wall. Increasing the PSI does not increase the load rating. Does make for stiffer side wall though.

Also the tire gets derated some 9% if p rated.

My tires are 2435 P rated. minus 9% = 2215 lbs. Thats 4430 lbs. My axle is rated 3750.

LT tires are different. The max inflation will match the load rating on side wall.

So LT tires for my truck at 44 psi will have load rating of 2436@44

These are 4 ply. I rather have 4 ply then the p rated 2 ply.

[Boatycall]

rwiegand wrote:
The "sticker" pressures are largely based on ride comfort at some assumed typical (low) load The tire labels are related to the load capacity of the tire. Go with the tire manufacturer if you are pushing towards the load limit on the truck. You're trying to have the tire be in full, even contact with the road, all the way across the width of the tire. If your tires wear more in the center your pressure is too high, if they wear at the edges it is too low for your load.

Agree 100%... couldn't have said it better myself.

I seldom drive my truck empty. I just got new shoes on my truck, tire dealer only inflated them to 85psi. Thought it was odd it was riding so smooth back from the tire dealer. First thing I did was pump them up to 105psi. The new tires are rated to be at 110, I go just a touch low when cold to compensate for road heat.

[rwiegand]

The "sticker" pressures are largely based on ride comfort at some assumed typical (low) load The tire labels are related to the load capacity of the tire. Go with the tire manufacturer if you are pushing towards the load limit on the truck. You're trying to have the tire be in full, even contact with the road, all the way across the width of the tire. If your tires wear more in the center your pressure is too high, if they wear at the edges it is too low for your load.

[Gripnriprod]

towpro wrote:
The chevy saying 35psi is based on weight of truck (full), the 51 on tire is based on design of tire with max weight on tire.

yes you can go over 35psi.

Agreed

[towpro]

The chevy saying 35psi is based on weight of truck (full), the 51 on tire is based on design of tire with max weight on tire.

yes you can go over 35psi.