Tires and Load Ranges

ProjekTJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Location
Salisbury
In the quest for a new tire I've hit a wall. In my local market I'm working with, many of the tire places are clueless as to the selection and sizes that are available. Most of my searching has been online as the prices are better but I'm all for supporting the local market but realistically I don't know that it's going to happen with uneducated sellers and limited selection.
That aside, what are the general thoughts about load ranges and towing? I'm setup for bumper tow or gooseneck pulling. I under stand the load will be greater on the tire in a gooseneck pull, but since I don't have a gooseneck or any trailer at the moment, would I still need/require a Load Range E tire? I'm more than likely looking into getting a single car/ 16-18 ft. bumper pull trailer. The other factor is the weight of my truck...it's a 02' Dodge 2500 CTD.
Selection is much greater in the D range, but would it compromise safety running a tire of that ply?

Thoughts, questions, comments...:popcorn:

Tires in question so far:

BFG All Terrain -E
Nitto Terra Grapplers - D or E
Bridgestone Dueler AT- ?
Bridgestone Destination- E
Michelin LTX - D or E
...others.

Thanks,

Staton
 
This has been covered completely on pirate, you could probably answer your own ques. there.
Pesonally I feel "safer" pulling a load at 75mph with an E rated tire under me. On the other hand I got 38K on a set of D rated procomp at's that I had many thousand miles worth of 12,000# plus pulls on. Didn't feel as safe but I didn't have anything to complain about either.
I'm running the E-Nitto's on my CTD now, It's hard to beat them on the price. If I would have had the money I would have went with some E rated BFG at's, taken care of I've seen guys get well over 50k on a set. Just my .02
 
Read up on somthing called "Service Index" It will be a number stamped on the side of the tires.

With a radial tire this is the number you need to be concerned with in reguard to tire loading.. The old days of Load Rating were when that equated to the number of plys.

For example I have 2 sets of tires 1 load D the other Load E, both have same number of 'actual' ply construction and BOTH have the same service index 120/119 (IIRC) The double number is the rating when used in SRW/DRW application..

Kudos for doing your homework. I had a shop install P tires on my PSD then try to tell me it was safe..
 
With the weight on the nose of a CTD, I wouldn't run anything but an E.

Even though a D may carry the same weight, I've heard more than a few times that the sidewalls roll more on a D vs. E, giving it more of a "marshmallow" feeling.. This comes from guys who ran them back to back.

Maybe it's the 65psi on a D vs 80 on the E, who knows, but no one I read, ever said "I'm going back to a D"
 
Rich said:
With the weight on the nose of a CTD, I wouldn't run anything but an E.
Even though a D may carry the same weight, I've heard more than a few times that the sidewalls roll more on a D vs. E, giving it more of a "marshmallow" feeling.. This comes from guys who ran them back to back.
Maybe it's the 65psi on a D vs 80 on the E, who knows, but no one I read, ever said "I'm going back to a D"
Click to expand...

I'm of the same feeling. Just the shear weight of the CTD is enough for me to run a E rated tire.
 
Good advice from all.

I have personally used both an E and a D rated tire. I used them on my 99 F250 psd. The tires that I have now are Bridgestone Duelers 285x75 in a load range D. They are rated to hold the same weight as a 265x75 load range E in the same tire. Never had the "marshmellow" feeling. Keep them inflated properly, and won't have any problem. (use my truck weekly to haul car trailer, 4 horse trailer, or 24' stock trailer full of cows - all gooseneck)

Your deisel is alot of weight on the front tires, but a trailer is not going to transfer continuous heavy loads to the front axle. Maybee in a hard braking situation -with no trailr brakes- but that would be it.
 
After doing some more reading and calling around I'm leaning on the Nitto Terra Grappler in a 285/75/16 with an E rating. The tire seems to be working well for folks and it's reasonably priced.
 
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