Tow Vehicle Tire Pressure

[Skippy38]

I have LT tires with LR E and run loaded 65 rear/60 front. Unloaded 45/45. gives a better ride when I lower it unloaded, and pull MUCH better loaded at the increased pressure.

[comfun1]

I was running 65/80 and recently dropped to 50/50. It made a big difference in ride quality. I see no need for an empty truck to have that much air pressure. I will be going back up when towing.

[textman]

Run 75 in the front and 60 in the back four.

[force]

Some interesting advice here. I may need to reconsider the rear tires. My 3/4 ton is bouncy as heck unloaded (I don't have to commute anywhere so a large portion of my driving is on secondary roads). Will have to experiment at 60 or even 50 psi to see how much it improves.

[TheUO]

I'm no expert, but I can take a stab at it and pass along advise I've received.

Just put new LTs on the truck yesterday since we are taking a cross country trip in a few weeks and the rears were getting a bit old and worn.

The "tire expert" at discount I was shooting the breeze with basically told me when under load to run them at basically their max since they hold the most weight when they are full.

The 2500's door sticker calls for 65 in the front and 80 in the rear which is what I keep her at all the time. Is the ride a bit rough at times? Sure, especially when unloaded.

Tires with less pressure have more contact area with the road and provide better grip, but more rolling resistance which reduces mileage. Theoretically, at least.

Since the bed is pretty light just by itself, reduced pressure when unloaded isn't necessarily a bad thing as you may want that grip and better ride at the cost of a bit of fuel. My truck is basically a work horse though and when she's out and about she's usually hauling something so I keep her at 80 in the rear all the time.

Since the front isn't really affected much when towing (other than maybe lifting a bit when the trailer bears down) I find that keeping the front at the recommended 65 is just fine.

If I had any advise, it's to increase the pressure before loading up. What you do unloaded is all personal preference, unless you run way to low pressure all the time then you're contributing to premature wall failure and such.

Again, I'm not a tire guy and most of this is basically hear-say. Feel free to correct anything that's incorrect or misleading, won't hurt my feelings.

[Cajun Po-Boy]

I have Load Range E tires that spec 80psi max cold...unloaded, I run 65psi in all fours - nice ride...When towing, I'll air up rear to 78psi as I have a pin weight just under 2500lbs and it rides great with that setup (rear airbags set at 40psi also).

[Smitty72]

hhhmmm.... door says 43 PSI all around. Probably just for casual driving. I am gonna try 45 - 55 maybe, just to be original. Will definitly add more before tow time.

[Smitty72]

Update - just burnt out my cheap air compressor. Do you guys usually go to service station or carry your own. For those of you that have your own what kind of compressor do you have? What kind of price should I look at paying for one that will do the job?

[SaskCampers]

First for all you guys who put LRE tires on your 1/2 tons and run them at 60 to 80 lbs when towing, I sure hope you had high pressure valve stems installed as the factory ones on a half ton are probably only rated to 50 psi and that you have checked to ensure your rims themselves are rated for those pressures. Another thing an equivalent LT tire must be run at a higher PSI to have the same load carrying capacity as the P Metric you replaced.

In this link go down to page 71 and have a read.

http://www.toyotires.ca/sites/default/files/loadinflationtable.pdf

I used to run LRE tires on my 04 Dodge 1500 but only ran them to a max of 45psi. I also run what the sticker on the door says in the case of my F250 it is 65 all around for a 9600lb GVWR truck. My old Dodge 2500 was 65F/70R for an 8800lb GVWR go figure although the Ford tires are rated for 500 lbs more max weight than the Dodge ones were so that is probably the deciding factor.

[SaskCampers]

Originally Posted by Smitty72

Update - just burnt out my cheap air compressor. Do you guys usually go to service station or carry your own. For those of you that have your own what kind of compressor do you have? What kind of price should I look at paying for one that will do the job?

Get one of these for home, when they go on sale you can get them for about 100 bux. They are a great little compressor and can be used with some air tools like nailers etc as well. I only go to a gas station if I am on the road.

Mastercraft 5 Gallon Compressor | Canadian Tire

[comfun1]

The sticker on my 1997 f150 says 32 front and 35 rear. My '05 GMC 2500 4x4 says 65 front and 80 rear. Obviously the f150 is not rated to carry as big a load as the GMC. I don't see why if there is no load in the GMC it it would be much different than my f150. Granted the GMC is a little heavier so I could see 40 front and 35 rear being ok without a load. I think the door stickers are reflecting a fully loaded truck. Why would the rear tires on a truck need more than the front if there is no load? In an empty truck all the weight is on the front tires. I think if you frequently switch from load to no load you might as well make it easy on yourself and leave all tires at the maximum pressure. That being said, I am still at 35/35 on my f150 and 50/50 on my gmc.

[force]

$200 at Lowes, 20 gal, handles everything I do in my garage. Overkill for just tires I suppose.

[Super Thirty]

I run what the label on the door of the vehicle recommends and monitor the tire wear. I'll adjust if tire wear indicates I need to.


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[Bamaman]

My truck's got the stock 16" LT tires, and it's 55 lbs. front and 80 lbs. rear.

I just run 55 lbs. in both unless I'm going to haul something heavy. They seem to be wearing equally.

Main thing is to not wait until 115K miles to get a wheel alignment--like I did. 3/4 ton and 1 ton trucks eat tie rod ends and lower ball joints, and spending $55 for an alignment is a small price to pay to have a professional watching the suspension for you.

[schrederman]

On tires rated for 80 psi, if you run half pressure, you heat the tire more due to side wall flex. Drop it some if you want it to ride a bit smoother, but if you drop it too much, you run the risk of ruining tires.

Oh... and then there's that fuel economy thing... Properly inflated tires will give you better fuel economy.

[Chunkychuck]

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[sellis1053]

Mine says to run 80 on rear and 65 on front. I would think there's more weight on the front tires than rear with an unloaded truck. From a weight carrying capacity, it seems backwards to me.


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[camper1999]

Originally Posted by sellis1053

Mine says to run 80 on rear and 65 on front. I would think there's more weight on the front tires than rear with an unloaded truck. From a weight carrying capacity, it seems backwards to me.


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That is true. With the truck unload you can safely run the rears at 65 also

[Ida Ratherbe Camping]

Sticker on my Dodge 2500 says to run 55 front 80 rear when loaded. 50 front 40 rear empty. What I do and tires wearing well.

[TheUO]

Originally Posted by sellis1053

Mine says to run 80 on rear and 65 on front. I would think there's more weight on the front tires than rear with an unloaded truck. From a weight carrying capacity, it seems backwards to me.


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When unloaded there is probably more weight on the front. The 80 rating is probably for loaded. The lower pressure in the front is for traction because those are the steering wheels.

On a tire with an 80 rating, I wouldn't go much below 60-65. Never would I go half the pressure...