Ram 2500 tires/towing

[Thatdarncat]

Hi Folks I have a ram 2500 4x4 that I tow our 7500lb TT with. The truck came with those much hated Firestone transforce tires.
Since owning the truck I have gotten stuck on flat wet ground twice. Here's how it usually happens: While trying to ease away (even in 4 WD) the tires try to spin and once that happens that heavy diesel tries to drill to china. So before things get too bad I break out the shovel to get me out of another situation. ( the shovel now stays in the bed of the truck)


So what is a good all around tire to get me out of that typical situation while have a good towing tire too?

[007matman]

I have only had my Cooper's for 6months but already love them. We've put about 10k on them so far.


They are definitely a little more aggressive than the Transforce.

http://us.coopertire.com/tires/discoverer-at3-lt.aspx

Good price too..

[tomkatb]

Pretty simple.

A diesel is very front heavy causing this issue. Actually all pickups. In wet or snow they are bad at best.

Place #300 of play sand bags in the bed near the cab in October. Remove in spring.

Many trucks come with some sort of off road tires(any sport package)that also aggravates this. Good all season tires help.

The occasional use of four wheel drive in slippery situations when pulling our fiver helps too.

[jgroff]

do you have a light load setting on your truck? on my 2500 i can take the rear tire pressure down to 45 psi with out a load in the truck. this wouldhelp with traction if you ha that option. as for tires there area a lot of great tires out there. comes down to what you want road tires, off road tires. I currently have michelin ltx at2's. they would be better then the transforce but I can still get them spinning and I dont have the diesel. the michelin ltx ms tires are probably one of the best road tires. imo and what I am going to get next is the bfgoodrich all terrain ta ko2's.

[007matman]

Originally Posted by jgroff

do you have a light load setting on your truck? on my 2500 i can take the rear tire pressure down to 45 psi with out a load in the truck. this wouldhelp with traction if you ha that option. as for tires there area a lot of great tires out there. comes down to what you want road tires, off road tires. I currently have michelin ltx at2's. they would be better then the transforce but I can still get them spinning and I dont have the diesel. the michelin ltx ms tires are probably one of the best road tires. imo and what I am going to get next is the bfgoodrich all terrain ta ko2's.

I'd encourage you to take a look at the Cooper's. I included a link for above.

I have owned 3 sets of BFG AT KO's (LT tires) and was really impressed with the first set, ok with the second, and meh with the third.

The Cooper's are made in the USA (if you're into that kind of thing) and have a 60k treadlife warranty too (the AT KO's do not). On top of that they're about $50-60 less per tire.

The look is very good with side blocks and nice aggressive tread. Just a thought.. everyone has their opinion on what's best for them.

[Thatdarncat]

Hi Folks, thanks for the replies. I dont have a light load setting. Once when I got stuck I actually had about 400 lbs of tongue weight on the back end, had to un-hitch a drive on trailer, then go too digging to get the truck out, then get a tow strap out, drag trailer to a better position, re-hook back up...oh great fun it was!



Once I ease into a
roll, it goes without too much problem...its that initial "bite" I need to get rolling is what I seem to be missing. As it is now,I can not feather the pedal enough to gently roll it forward without it starting to spin


Im dealing with SC red clay " slippery when wet" and 50/50-sand/soil coastal region stuff



Yea, I need a good combination E range tire.


I had coopers years ago, seem to be pretty good tires, I will also look into the KO2's

[jgroff]

I actaully had the at3's load range c on my old 1500 ram. i liked them just didnt have it long enough to see how they would be in few years and mileage wise. had the discoverer ht plus tires on the dw's old chrysler aspen. Cooper is definitely a good choice. I like the at3 xlt's. reason i was thinking about the bfg's is a couple of my buddies have had really good luck with them. I am also going to look toyo open country when it comes time. heard good things about them too.

for the op. I havent heard many good things about the tranforce tires. Sorry!

Originally Posted by 007matman

I'd encourage you to take a look at the Cooper's. I included a link for above.

I have owned 3 sets of BFG AT KO's (LT tires) and was really impressed with the first set, ok with the second, and meh with the third.

The Cooper's are made in the USA (if you're into that kind of thing) and have a 60k treadlife warranty too (the AT KO's do not). On top of that they're about $50-60 less per tire.

The look is very good with side blocks and nice aggressive tread. Just a thought.. everyone has their opinion on what's best for them.

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by 007matman

I have only had my Cooper's for 6months but already love them. We've put about 10k on them so far.


They are definitely a little more aggressive than the Transforce.

Cooper Discoverer AT3 LT | Cooper Tire

Good price too..

X2 I liked my 1st set of Coopers so much, I got another set when it was time!! And agreed, good price!

[goduc]

Originally Posted by jgroff

do you have a light load setting on your truck? on my 2500 i can take the rear tire pressure down to 45 psi with out a load in the truck. this wouldhelp with traction if you ha that option. as for tires there area a lot of great tires out there. comes down to what you want road tires, off road tires. I currently have michelin ltx at2's. they would be better then the transforce but I can still get them spinning and I dont have the diesel. the michelin ltx ms tires are probably one of the best road tires. imo and what I am going to get next is the bfgoodrich all terrain ta ko2's.

The newer Ram 2500's wont allow PSI to drop below 65-66 without tripping the TPMS. BTDT. My 12 2500 had the load settings. My 18 doesn't.

[Jmw1]

3X
Go with the Cooper DISCOVERER AT3 LT.
Love mine even in Buffalo snow !

[JohnD10]

Did you try 4WD-Low?

That should crawl you out...

[Blender]

I dont have a 2500 but I do love and never have had issues with my copper discoverer stt pro II tires. Good with out weight and extremely great loaded.

[camaro80]

Just to add another option, I'm running my second set of Hankook Dynapro AT-M tires on my 2006 Dodge 2500. I'm in southern Saskatchewan, Canada, so don't deal with a lot of wet sloppy snow, but I've driven plenty in mud and snow. It's a farm truck as well as RV tow vehicle, so I've pulled a lot of loads with it, including on gravel, and get decent wear out of them, about 30,000km.

[moose074]

I don’t have a tire preference the OE tires on my Tundra bf Goodrich and I think Michelin on the Ford were ok all terrain a little bite but no road noise. That said trick I learned while serving in Alaska towing with two wheel drive bobtail up wet or frozen hill was to lightly set parking brake. Like you said hard to get rolling if you can’t slow wheels down. It was mostly the Dodge diesel that we had trouble with the other bobtail were weigh older but lighter being gas without the extra torque so they were just slow up regardless and hopefully don’t lose your momentum

[BigH]

Originally Posted by Thatdarncat

Hi Folks I have a ram 2500 4x4 that I tow our 7500lb TT with. The truck came with those much hated Firestone transforce tires.
Since owning the truck I have gotten stuck on flat wet ground twice. Here's how it usually happens: While trying to ease away (even in 4 WD) the tires try to spin and once that happens that heavy diesel tries to drill to china. So before things get too bad I break out the shovel to get me out of another situation. ( the shovel now stays in the bed of the truck)


So what is a good all around tire to get me out of that typical situation while have a good towing tire too?

Originally Posted by Thatdarncat

Hi Folks, thanks for the replies. I dont have a light load setting. Once when I got stuck I actually had about 400 lbs of tongue weight on the back end, had to un-hitch a drive on trailer, then go too digging to get the truck out, then get a tow strap out, drag trailer to a better position, re-hook back up...oh great fun it was!



Once I ease into a
roll, it goes without too much problem...its that initial "bite" I need to get rolling is what I seem to be missing. As it is now,I can not feather the pedal enough to gently roll it forward without it starting to spin


Im dealing with SC red clay " slippery when wet" and 50/50-sand/soil coastal region stuff



Yea, I need a good combination E range tire.


I had coopers years ago, seem to be pretty good tires, I will also look into the KO2's

If you are digging holes the tires are biting...the alternative is having a tire spin without digging as if on ice. It sounds like you are taking off from a dead stop with too much throttle and breaking the tires loose.


I have the TransForce AT and while I'm disappointed in how fast they are wearing from road use, I don't have any complaints about off-road or snowy conditions. Other than being used as a tow vehicle my truck hauls me to fishing and hunting spots. A guy parked next to me last weekend ice fishing and he needed a strap to get out. I just used 4 wheel drive.

I had Cooper discoveries on another truck, they wore like iron on the pavement but I wouldn't say they were better off-road than the TransForce AT.

[18CrewDually]

I don't think the tire is your problem. The problem is the wet clay you're driving on. It's like ice, any tire will slide.
I never had an issue with Transforce tires. I even run them on my trailers never had an issue.

[tuckerdog1]

I was not aware the Firestones were disliked. My brother ( 2015 3500 CD ) and I ( 2016 2500 CD ) have both liked those tires. I've been stuck several times, although never towing our TT, and switching to 4WD has gotten me out every time.

Tuckerdog1

[JohnD10]

My 2015 Chevy 2500HD came with Firestone Transforce HT tires from the factory.

They were great on smooth dry roads, but didn't cut on wet roads or in snow, unless in 4WD.

I barely got 40,000 miles out of them before they were smooth.

The spare had a large hole in the rubber down to the steel belts, but still full of air, which I tried to get covered under warranty since it had never been removed from the truck and the hole was on the side facing up, but GM and Firestone both declined to replace it.

Still have the best of the other four as a spare now.

Was gonna buy three more HT's and use the original spare and keep the best one from the truck as a spare, which is when the hole was discovered and this photo of it was taken:

[Waukesharvr]

I had to change my Firestone Transforce tires out today, picked up a large bolt through the tread and that put them out of their misery. I put on a set of the new Bridgestone Dueler Revo 3's much nicer tread pattern for winter in Wisconsin, will find out this weekend with snow on its way. The Firestones were terrible on anything but dry pavement.

[Toolman_GA]

My original tow vehicle has Goodrich TA tires (same tires as on the Jurassic Park Ford Explorers[emoji3]) - I still have that truck - I can pull a house off the foundation in 4WD low with those. My new vehicle has Goodyear SRA, not as aggressive as the Goodyear and ride better on the road. In 4wd low I can back my 7000 lb Vibe uphill on my gravel driveway without spinning the tires with the Goodyears..