Tires & wheels for towing

[Herzog]

I have a 2016 Ram 2500 with 275/70/18 tires mounted on factory 8" wide wheels....I hate the wheels.

I've been looking at several aftermarket wheels that I would like, but they are all 18x9". I have the crappy Firestone Transforce tires that only have 3400 miles on them, so I am not ready to buy new ones.

I was going to re-mount the tires on the new 9" wide rims, but a tire store guy said that it would be ok only if I wasn't pulling a 5th wheel.

I asked a couple of other, and they said all would be good.

Of course, I do not want any issues on the hiway pulling our 8,000 pound 5th wheel.

Sooo, I would like any/all advice you all might have regarding this swap...yes, it's all good OR no, you will die on the road!!

Anyone have this combination without problems??

Thanks

[Grit_dog]

What Ida d said.
Never seen a 8lug aftermarket rim rated less than 3klb either.
For what you're doing, most any rim will fit the bill. 8k fiver is not a lot of pin weight.

[zogg]

jus2shy wrote:

Bedlam wrote:

vonzoog wrote:

Bedlam wrote:

vonzoog wrote:
OK I'll bite. What in the world does towing a fifth wiheel have to do with the weight rating. Loading 6000 pounds in the bed or putting 3000 pounds of fifth wheel in the bed, what in the world is the difference? Maybe I just totally don't understand. Would someone please explain?

Many of the bling rims have a 2000-2500 lb rating which is just fine for a grocery getter but outright dangerous for someone that carries maximum weight in their bed or tows a FW with a heavy pin weight.

So what you/they are saying these wheels are useless for any type of towing or load carrying. Then for everyone in this forum my thought would be, did you buy the truck to do a job or did you really what a grocery hauler?

My point being is, if you are limited to 2500 lbs.,the whole purpose of owning a truck is useless for what the truck is design to do. It's kind of like the young guys that pay for a diesel only to put oversized tires on it to go "muddin". I must be getting old. I just don't get it.

It gets even worse. My F250 PSD was 4500 lbs on the front axle before I loaded it up. Many of these aftermarket rims are overloaded with an empty truck and no driver or passengers...

Yep, plenty of "Bro-Dozers" out there. Impractical Lift, huge rims with extremely low profile off-road tires, etc... Some people love trucks for the status, size and looks; therefore they modify to such standards. Some buy trucks for practicality and build to suit their standards. That's America.

Heck, I think trucks are just as much a status symbol now a days as a BMW in the 80's and 90's. That's why such super-high-end trims as "Platinum", "Platinum-Reserve", "1892 Edition", "Longhorn Laramie" (etc...) all exist.

You are probably doing it the right way. Stay with factory wheels and no worries. I do like yours. Thanks

[jus2shy]

Bedlam wrote:

vonzoog wrote:

Bedlam wrote:

vonzoog wrote:
OK I'll bite. What in the world does towing a fifth wiheel have to do with the weight rating. Loading 6000 pounds in the bed or putting 3000 pounds of fifth wheel in the bed, what in the world is the difference? Maybe I just totally don't understand. Would someone please explain?

Many of the bling rims have a 2000-2500 lb rating which is just fine for a grocery getter but outright dangerous for someone that carries maximum weight in their bed or tows a FW with a heavy pin weight.

So what you/they are saying these wheels are useless for any type of towing or load carrying. Then for everyone in this forum my thought would be, did you buy the truck to do a job or did you really what a grocery hauler?

My point being is, if you are limited to 2500 lbs.,the whole purpose of owning a truck is useless for what the truck is design to do. It's kind of like the young guys that pay for a diesel only to put oversized tires on it to go "muddin". I must be getting old. I just don't get it.

It gets even worse. My F250 PSD was 4500 lbs on the front axle before I loaded it up. Many of these aftermarket rims are overloaded with an empty truck and no driver or passengers...

Yep, plenty of "Bro-Dozers" out there. Impractical Lift, huge rims with extremely low profile off-road tires, etc... Some people love trucks for the status, size and looks; therefore they modify to such standards. Some buy trucks for practicality and build to suit their standards. That's America.

Heck, I think trucks are just as much a status symbol now a days as a BMW in the 80's and 90's. That's why such super-high-end trims as "Platinum", "Platinum-Reserve", "1892 Edition", "Longhorn Laramie" (etc...) all exist.

[Me_Again]

I think the Laramie wheels are really nice looking. Best looking of all the RAM wheel options.

Maybe you can find a set of take offs. Chris

[Bedlam]

vonzoog wrote:

Bedlam wrote:

vonzoog wrote:
OK I'll bite. What in the world does towing a fifth wiheel have to do with the weight rating. Loading 6000 pounds in the bed or putting 3000 pounds of fifth wheel in the bed, what in the world is the difference? Maybe I just totally don't understand. Would someone please explain?

Many of the bling rims have a 2000-2500 lb rating which is just fine for a grocery getter but outright dangerous for someone that carries maximum weight in their bed or tows a FW with a heavy pin weight.

So what you/they are saying these wheels are useless for any type of towing or load carrying. Then for everyone in this forum my thought would be, did you buy the truck to do a job or did you really what a grocery hauler?

My point being is, if you are limited to 2500 lbs.,the whole purpose of owning a truck is useless for what the truck is design to do. It's kind of like the young guys that pay for a diesel only to put oversized tires on it to go "muddin". I must be getting old. I just don't get it.

It gets even worse. My F250 PSD was 4500 lbs on the front axle before I loaded it up. Many of these aftermarket rims are overloaded with an empty truck and no driver or passengers...

[IdaD]

FWIW, I checked several 18" options on Discount Tire and the ratings varied from 3400 to 3650 lbs per wheel. My and OP's tire rating is 3640 lbs each (275/70R18). I would definitely not get a wheel rated for less than the tires.

[vonzoog]

Bedlam wrote:

vonzoog wrote:
OK I'll bite. What in the world does towing a fifth wiheel have to do with the weight rating. Loading 6000 pounds in the bed or putting 3000 pounds of fifth wheel in the bed, what in the world is the difference? Maybe I just totally don't understand. Would someone please explain?

Many of the bling rims have a 2000-2500 lb rating which is just fine for a grocery getter but outright dangerous for someone that carries maximum weight in their bed or tows a FW with a heavy pin weight.

So what you/they are saying these wheels are useless for any type of towing or load carrying. Then for everyone in this forum my thought would be, did you buy the truck to do a job or did you really what a grocery hauler?

My point being is, if you are limited to 2500 lbs.,the whole purpose of owning a truck is useless for what the truck is design to do. It's kind of like the young guys that pay for a diesel only to put oversized tires on it to go "muddin". I must be getting old. I just don't get it.

[Bedlam]

American Force: http://americanforcewheels.com/en/wheels-collection/item/7

Vision: http://www.visionwheel.com/wheels/5456/vision-hd

Rickson: http://www.ricksontruckwheels.com/wheels-dodge-srw.php

[Bedlam]

vonzoog wrote:
OK I'll bite. What in the world does towing a fifth wiheel have to do with the weight rating. Loading 6000 pounds in the bed or putting 3000 pounds of fifth wheel in the bed, what in the world is the difference? Maybe I just totally don't understand. Would someone please explain?

Many of the bling rims have a 2000-2500 lb rating which is just fine for a grocery getter but outright dangerous for someone that carries maximum weight in their bed or tows a FW with a heavy pin weight.

[IdaD]

Discount Tire appears to have weight ratings for most of their wheels listed on their website.

[vonzoog]

OK I'll bite. What in the world does towing a fifth wiheel have to do with the weight rating. Loading 6000 pounds in the bed or putting 3000 pounds of fifth wheel in the bed, what in the world is the difference? Maybe I just totally don't understand. Would someone please explain?

[goducks10]

When I went shopping for new rims and tires for my 12 Ram 2500 CTD I found out some interesting things. Like mentioned some of the nicer looking rims aren't strong enough. I went to Discount Tire and worked with one of the sales guys. He got out a book and we both looked thru for some rims. I was going from 245/70/17 to 275/65/18. I found a few rims I liked and had already told him I tow a 5th wheel. On every rim I was interested in he called the rim MFG and asked about towing with them. One MFG actually said no if I was towing a 5th wheel. Long story short I finally found some that worked. So even though the rim has the load rating it's possible it may not be recommended for 5th wheel towing.
Sad but true story, I went to Les Schwab before and briefly talked about rims and tires. Some don't have load rating info on them so when I asked the LS sales guy he said don't worry about it, that if they have 8 lugs then they'll be fine. So not true.

[Bedlam]

A 275mm tread width is almost 11". It is fine on a 9" wide rim. I will warn you that many aftermarket rims are for bling and and are not forged or rated as high as your OEM models. Have you considered going to a 245/70R19.5 tire on a 19.5" Vision or Rickson rim? These are the same height as your OEM's but much better at weight handling (4500+ lb rating per wheel).

[IdaD]

Following. I haven't shopped new wheels yet but I'm planning on swapping out the factory for aftermarket when I get new tires later this year. I've got the same crappy Firestones on my truck and with just under 25,000 they're getting pretty worn down.