Went looking...getting a little closer

[COBOZ]

Well, this weekend we went and looked at/walk thru a bunch of campers. Taking in all the advice from this forum. Looked at some BFs, Wolf Creeks, Arctic Foxes, Northern Lite, Eagle Cap, and Adventurer. We have a 2016 Chevy 3500 SRW CCLB, D/A...we weighed the truck on the way to the camper places...figured with our tire capacity we could handle 4200 lbs...but that not factoring in my boat which has a 150 - 200 lb tongue weight...so figure 4000 wet ready to roll to be safe. Arctic Fox was nice, wife loved it...but I knew this was too heavy from reading here..even though the sales person showed us his on a 2007 Chevy SRW and said it handled it fine. Of all the others we looked at, we liked the Adventurers. Really liked the 910FBS, but crunching the numbers, I don't think I can get under 4K loaded...so next best was the 86FB. I think wet and rolling, this will be around 3200. Didn't get a chance to look at Lance yet..the only two that might work are the 975 (again, looks to be too heavy wet) and the 850. By the pix, not really sold on the dinette..plus we like the mid bath plan to make the cabover like a cave. AF dealer did say he was getting in a couple 865s at the end of the month that we will go look at. Anyone have real world numbers..wet..on the 865?? Will it be under 4K?? Any opinion on that vs the 86FB? I guess I didn't think of this till just now, but I'm sure some of these campers will put weight on the front axle also...Sorry for being so winded. Thanks for all your help and advice.

[Ski_Pro_3]

I used the Hummer H2 chromed aluminum rims and those are strong. No doubt in my mind. It was the tires I was most concerned about, Nitto's rated at 3700 pounds each. I'm sure they would hold the 3700 and probably more, but how much more? And what is the effect of, say, hitting a curb for example, or any sharp edge like a 2x4? I was afraid that, at speed, the tire belts would be affected. Hopefully an unbalance would occur and give you warning, but running at 'RATED' max, hitting somethings over the course of the tire's life, would seem to add up and risk failure.
I have no way of knowing of course. There are no ways to test for that sort of damage I know of other than perhaps a balance that is hard to achieve.
Still, I think that at some point, the straw that breaks the camel's back is going to happen sooner on an E 3700 pound rated Nitto sooner than it will on a H rated 5500 pound Toyo. And since the load is already right at the rated on the Nitto's, I went and upgraded my Hummer H2 rims and Nitto tires to Rickson steel wheels and Toyo tires. I got a good price on my old set of tire/wheels and bought the Ricksons used and the Toyo's from Les Schwab with a heck of a guarantee.

Remember;
In the end, you get to make the decision. It's what you are comfortable with. I was very careful with speed; never went over 60 and set cruise at 55. I felt I could probably handle a blow-out at 55 and under.

Oh, hey! I just remembered; I bought one of those infrared thermometers and measured my E rated Nittos after running on the freeway. Those things got HOT! My 19.5's run much cooler. Another point that will affect tire failure is heat due to flex.

I recommend checking tire temps regularly and see how hot yours get. When outdoor air temps are in the 90's, my tires got well over 120. pressures also rose from 80psi to 100+. That scared me too.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006V4WNYU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

[COBOZ]

Agree...but those wheels are also higher capacity than whats advertised. GM rates their wheels like the trucks...exactly to the capacity of the tire that came with it. There was a long discussion on the duramax forum..alot of guys use the Hummer H2 rims on the older trucks and haul heavy campers, and do completion pulls. Those wheels are only rated for 2750, which was the OEM tires that came with it....noone has ever reported a problem of the rim breaking. Do you want to take a chance? That is a decision the owner must decide.

On the Toyos...I had them on my other truck and looked long and hard for the older version with the higher rating.....but did read numerous articles and the DOT made them lower the rating cuz they want all tires of the same rating (E) of the same size to be the exact same weight rating.

[Bedlam]

It's not just the tire, but the rim rating you have to worry about too. Don't be surprised if the newer Toyo has cheaper material using the same mold which required the tire rating to drop...

[COBOZ]

Just playing devils advocate here...but you are rolling the dice since you over the published weight rating of your truck, So you are choosing what number to ignore. I know very well that the limiting factors is the tires, but still doesn't change that number on the door jam. I will almost bet that every tire out there is really rated a lot higher than what is printed on the sidewall. The manufacturer is not going to make a tire that blows up when it is close to max. Look at Toyo/Nitto. There previous generation 285 tire was rated for 3750...the new generation is 3400. Nothing has drastically changed..its the lawyers/DOT that made them reduce. Not taking sides..just throwing out some facts.

[Ski_Pro_3]

Regarding weight police, driving on the edge of max tire ratings and all that;

Do you wear a seatbelt? Ever need it? Same thing with the tires. You won't know when, but some day you will be the guy with the stone bruise on the tire, the tread separates, etc.

If you are comfortable with that, all I can suggest is head to Vegas and put your bank roll on the red or the black. Cause YOU are lucky. I'm not. If it can break, it will break. That's the way my luck rolls; if I'm made aware of a situation, I'm sure it will come to pass. Ha!!

[Vinsil]

I'm far from the weight police. Especially consider I have a 2500 series truck in the heaviest factory configuration sight 4x4, diesel, megacab...but when I was 8200 lbs on my rear axle, that put me 1200 points me over my limits.

Point is, I have one of the "lighter" hard side campers and it "should have been in my tire limits. I hit the scales with a real world load out. I won't speak to all that actually do that or just add up the numbers based on manufacturers specs.

As to my daily ride with 19.5's...it's fine. It is no car but I expect my truck to do truck things like carry my camper and tow my toys. I ddon't not me me it at all.

[Bedlam]

If I was only carrying a TC on my F250, the 18" OEM would have been enough. The fact I also tow a heavy hitch weight trailer behind it is what made me go to 19.5's. Before the wheel upgrade, I played loadmaster on each trip making sure the TC had all the heavy items stored forward or in the truck cab and the trailer had all the heavy items stored in the tail. After the upgrade, I still ran across the scales if I had loaded items differently, but it was only to make sure I was at optimum tire pressure for the weight.

[lonegunman]

I have a co-worker with a TC that is longer and heavier than my 865 and he carries it on a 2006 F250 diesel, 4x4 crew cab, short box. He runs stock factory tires and wheels, Bilstein shocks and air bags and has driven from Washington state to the east coast twice and once to New Mexico with nary a problem. He has had zero issues and no problems at all.

If you check with the weight police from this forum that is all but impossible to do without 19.5" wheels and tires. Judging from the sheer number of TC's I see rolling down the road on SRW trucks with factory wheels and tires and the near complete lack of exploded and wrecked trucks filling the ditches and medians of the highways, someone is probably wrong to panic at the first sight of GVWR.

[COBOZ]

Lots of places on this forum and google confirm this. We use the same exact axle as the DRW. Here's a post.

https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26367380/print/true.cfm

[Otterman]

COBOZ wrote:
I have a GM duramax axle...its real rating is 10900..limited by the tire capability. That's what I'm going off of.

Where are you seeing that number? If so that would be good news. I have the same truck, just 2015.5.

[Ski_Pro_3]

Also consider, happened with me, after I got my camper all loaded, I was within my E range tires. But, I was not happy with the ride. I added air bags, a Hellwig BigWig sway bar, stable loads. Then I bought a generator and all of a sudden I was over loaded. ARG!! The ride was now comfortable, but the load was at full max load for the 3700 pounds each tire was rated for. Yup; 7200 lbs on the back. The 19.5's added even more weight but I've got plenty of 'elbow' room.

Just keep that in mind and weigh your rig each time you add stuff to it. My guess is that eventually you will be considering the 19.5's.

[COBOZ]

Thanks. My close to current max tire is with the 910FBS. If I go 86FB, that will be 800 lbs less. Ready to roll around 3200...but yes, I need to think if having a bigger/nicer camper is worth getting the 19.5s. I use my truck as a daily driver. How does the truck ride with the camper off? I can swap out the tires for the winter and use my current brand new ones.

[Ski_Pro_3]

Reddog1 wrote:
Consider upgrading your tires. You are going to spend thousands on a TC, and to choke up on the cost of upgrading your tires makes no sense to me. Simply too much money involved to compromise your choice of TCs due to tires.

Wayne

I agree. Running your current tires at max load is not what I'd call safe. Hit anything; potholes, a chunk of wood, a rocky road to get to a campground, and you will be maxing out the tires. The max load is for perfect road conditions. The first few smacks won't blow the tire, but they add up and eventually, a blow out on the freeway, as what happened to Buzzcut.

I went to 19.5's and I'm so glad I've got lots of room to go before I risk damaging a tire hitting something I couldn't avoid, or going down a rough road to get to a nicer camp spot.

[COBOZ]

I have a GM duramax axle...its real rating is 10900..limited by the tire capability. That's what I'm going off of.

[Otterman]

COBOZ wrote:


Not sure if this was directed at me...but nowhere did I say my tire combo was 8400...I said 7400. Tires are 3700 apiece...minus my 3200 current axle weight, I have 4200 of weight I can safely add.

If your axle is the same as mine, it's rated at 7050 lbs. That's the limit I am most concerned with. My wheels are rated at, coincidentally, 3525 each.