Tow Vehicle Tires

[tljack]

Our Road Warrior is our first 5th wheel so I am ignorant about a number of things. We bought this unit last July. Shortly before we purchased our Silverado truck. The truck now has about 14,000 miles on it and it has towed the trailer a little over 10,000 of those miles. Presently I am noticing that my truck tires only have at the most 1/3 of the tread left.

Is this normal? If so I guess carrying so much weight all of the time may be the culprit. Is there anything that can be done to prolong tire life with this kind of use. Of course I do watch my pressure carefully, have tires rotated etc.

If anyone out there can offer me some advise I will be greatful. If not, I thank you ahead of time for allpwing me to cry on your shoulders.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

tljack, with a 3/4 ton truck, you're probably a tad overweight when it comes to GVWR on the truck. That extra weight on the rear of the truck can have that effect on tires. What is the weight capacity of the tires on the truck? Are they properly inflated for the load? OEM tires should last about 40K but that will lessen with heavy loads.

 

[SilverRhino]

Weight issues would definitely cause premature tire failure. To check your truck and trailer out visit http://fifthwheelst.com/and follow the easy directions to determine exactly what weights you are dealing with, then you can make safe decisions based on facts.

 

[tljack]

the tires are rated at 14500 lbs. The truck, according to Chevy is rated to pull a 16,000 pull trailer. It does not say about a 5th wheel. out unit with the load we normally carry is about 12,900 lbs. We are running the recommended pressure of 75lb front and 80lb rear

 

[TXBobcat]

When I bought my F250 it came with pirelli scorpion tires. They had a very soft tread and wore out quite quickly and I was not towing a trailer tha was a 29ft SOB.

I have always had great service out of Michelin tires.

BC

 

[Wrenched]

Your tires probably don't equally share your load. Your trailer has a pin weight of 2500# and your truck has a GVW of 2552#. If you add the weight of passengers and cargo in your truck (don't forget your 5th wheel hitch itself probably weighs 150#) you are seriously overweight - most likely around 3000# of payload.

The suspension will squat at the rear and will more than likely put a larger load on the rear.

If your tires are 17", then they are rated at 3200# each at full pressure. If they are 18", they are rated at 3525# each.

You should have your rig weighed axle by axle at the truck (a reputable tire company should be able to do this) to see what your rear tires actually see at the road (don't forget to be clear about your in-cab payload).

Your truck weighs 7500# empty - add the payload (guessing at 3000#) then your truck puts 10,500# down at the road.
The rear axle of your truck could be carrying 6000#, that would be 3000# for each tire.

Your tires are close to their maximum and aren't being treated well with the suspension being overloaded. I would suspect some fairly rapid wear.

I couldn't find tires with a higher load rating than the 18" ones, but even if you could that still wouldn't save your suspension or change the overload on your pickup.

I don't have a solution for a 3/4 ton pickup with this payload - sorry.

 

[tljack]

We have been weighed on a State of Oregon Hi-way Department scales. Fully loaded with 100 gallons of water and our Harley Davidson Road Glide (we do not carry that much water traveling) our hitch weight is a bit under 2,400 lb. The entire unit loaded weighs 13,250lb. Connected, the truck and the trailer are perfectly level. According to the17" tire's sidewall, they are rated at 3,185 lbs. According to Chevy my truck is rated to pull a maximum trailer load of 16,400 lbs. and a pin load of 3,000lbs. I can not find the papers for the scales but our total load is less than 23,000 lbs. My local Les Schwab tire dealership suggests we go with a heavier load range when replacing the tires. I can assure you that **** will freeze over before my wife would go along with buying another truck when this one is almost 1 year old. She does not drive and the truck is our daily driver also. If I were to buy a 1 ton, it owould be a dually for the stability but I am not going to run around in one of those trying to park in parking lots! =) Guess I will have to make do for now. Thanks for all of the input. Terry

 

[mobilcastle]

I run a dually and have no problems driving in town or parking-have you ever driven one?-they are excellent TV. I have Michelins on my Chevy and set air pressure according to weight on axles. What is the GVW of your truck? If you are exceeding it that may be your problem with wear. Have your truck axles weighed hooked up. There is a big difference with payload between SRW and DRW. When I changed trucks after going to a heavier rig I told my DW it is a safety issue. Good luck.

 

[tljack]

I recently talked to my tire dealer and a Chevy mechanic. The tire dealer told me that a big part of the problem is because Chevy requires me to run 80 psi all of the time. The mechanic agrees. He also to me that the only difference between my 3/4T and a srw 1T is one leaf spring. He said on a dually you have the advantage of side to side stability. The tire dealer also says the tire brand is part of the problem. He recommends going to a all weather Toyo with a 80,000 mile warranty. If I wear them out sooner, they will replace them.

 

[driver311]

i run michelins and regularly get over 100000.

 

[taken]

My Ford calls for 80 PSI rear and 65 front. Problem is, when unloaded, this give a bad ride and poor tire wear in the rear. And, because the TPMS won't let you run lower pressure without setting off the alert, I was stuck with it. Well, until I found out on the Ford trucks forum that this was a dealer adjustable parameter. Had my dealer lower my rear TPMS trigger to match the front. This way in the off season I can drop my rears to 65, get a better ride, and save some wear. That being said, I think your load is your problem being at 14k and down to 1/3rd. My truck has about 12k and I rotated at 10k. I also towed a lot. About 6 of the first 10k. For the first time in my life, the rears were worn a lot more than the fronts when doing the rotation. That weight takes a toll. Oh, and my truck has Michelin's too and there is no way I see 100k. 35 maybe based on the wear I see so far....