? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

[Kenneth Brown]

I just converted my F250 to a dually. I put a one ton rearend with the heavier springs and all in. Previously I had 285-75-16's. The dually wheels have 235-85-16's but need to be replaced. One tire shop locally has reccomended staying with the same size. I do get in some nasty stuff so I want the widest I can go without the tires touching each other. I feel as if I can easily go to a 245-75-16 but would like to put a 255-75-16 if it will fit. Anybody know or done it before?

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: ? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

I have been noticing a lot of DRW pickups with pretty wide tires on the rear. The two sizes you mention seem reasonable to me. The wheel should be wide enough for that.<br />I always thought one of the advantages of duals was to have all your tires the same size (fronts are the same as rear), that way if you blew two tires, your spare plus one of the rears could be used anywhere. Will the larger size tires cause any rubbing on the steering?

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: ? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

I didn't change over the frontend to the dually style wheel, left it stock. I figure that if I have a flat on the rear I'll just take off the flat tire and limp home. Most of the tires I'm looking at are rated around 3000 each so I'll have at minimum 6000 minus about about 2500 for the rear of the truck and at most 1000 pounds for the gooseneck for a leftover rating of 2500 pounds extra cap, and thats just with single wheels on the back. I did the conversion for a couple of reasons. The rear I had was about to die. The pinion had sheared some of the splines and the yoke would slip, sounded like every u-joint I had was about to fall out. I really like my tires and had only gotten stuck once. The problem is my tractor weighs about 7000 pounds plus the tag trailer at 1000 or the GN at about 2000. The tires being so tall and a load rating D would wobble back and forth if not aired to capacity. The duals should take out all of the side to side movement. The dually springs had and extra leaf plus an overlaod leaf so that was nice also. I got the donor truck from a friend for free so it was great for me. The rear diffs run about $750 and another $500 or so for the bed, all gratis. I have a steel flated I can put on it (free from another friend) but I know I'll just sling stuff off so I'll stick with the regular style.

 

[Slowtoplane]

Re: ? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

The determining factor is "Minimum Dual Spacing". Dual Spacing is determined by the "Offset" of the Wheels that you have on your axle (the depth of the dish in the wheel). Minimum dual spacing is measured from wheel centerlines. Some newer and aftermarket wheels have a deeper dish to accommodate a wider tire, but likely the 235 or 245 is going to be close to the max on an older OE Ford wheel. If you are trial fitting tires on your rims, please remember that as load increases, so does the "radial bulge" you do not want to end in a predicament where your tires are even close to touching one another when loaded. The critical issue with close tolerances isn’t rubbing/chafing but heat build-up and reduced dissipation - leading to catastrophic failure.<br />My recommendation (for what it is worth) is stick with the 235 and go with a tread design suitable to meet your traction requirements. Tread width on a 235 is about 6.5" x2 (duals) = 13 inches of tread on the ground, 285 = approx 8.5 inches of tread on the ground. Duals work very well in the "nasty" stuff, as long as you look at an aggressive tread design. Hope this helps

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: ? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

Thanks STP

 

[ndemge]

Re: ? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

KB, I'm jeleous I'd love to switch my '84 250 to a dually. (rather trade it in on chevy dually really) pulling our gooseneck, can realy feal it.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: ? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

Looks like STP is right. I still haven't changed out the slicks yet. As most of you know we finally have rain. Some of my land is swampish, it gets real slick and deep with just a little rain. Went to feed last night and figured I'd try it out, I had the tractor any how and muddin's so much fun. It spun the tires one time for about two feet. This was with the slick tires I remind you. I was driving through standing water in the feild and it just kept right on going. The slicks beat my former monster mudders to death. When I get some small mud grips on it this thing will be almost unstoppable. Now if I could just find a wrecked 4X4 with 4.10 gears and trans case intact........<br /><br /><br />Go ahead and do it Noel, its worth it.

 

[heycods]

Re: ? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

Originally posted by Kenneth Brown:<br /> Looks like STP is right. I still haven't changed out the slicks yet. As most of you know we finally have rain. Some of my land is swampish, it gets real slick and deep with just a little rain. Went to feed last night and figured I'd try it out, I had the tractor any how and muddin's so much fun. It spun the tires one time for about two feet. This was with the slick tires I remind you. I was driving through standing water in the feild and it just kept right on going. The slicks beat my former monster mudders to death. When I get some small mud grips on it this thing will be almost unstoppable. Now if I could just find a wrecked 4X4 with 4.10 gears and trans case intact........<br /><br /><br />Go ahead and do it Noel, its worth it. <br /><br />rub it in KB so you had rain, Big deal hope you get stuck

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: ? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

Funny you should mention that HC. I went out that very night I posted this update. I was missing two horses so I had to go to the back pasture. To do this I have to cross a low water crossing about 40 feet long that gets REAL soupy but does have a base, ya just have to dig down to it. Would you beleieve that a Ford can run 85 mph in 4th gear while only going about 6 inches a minute for almost 25 feet? The slicks just spun. On the return trip I hit the hole ALOT faster so it just skidded across it. Not stuck but damn close.

 

[heycods]

Re: ? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

when it aint 4X4 speed + more speed is the ticket. But sometimes its bad when their is a turn right past the mud hole. Took out a few mesquites that way.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: ? for dually owners or tire guys-UPDATED INFO

Thats EXACTLY my situation except that the turn is in the middle of the crossing and its BIG ceders and yaupons. I do the "bump and pass" thing sometimes. The truck ain't too pretty anymore but it works real good.