HAHAHAHA!!! I would have done 24.5s but the wheels wells on these trucks are TOO small. I mean, a heavy duty truck like ours should be able to run 40" tires NO SWEAT, which is about the smallest you will ever find a 24.5" tire to be!

 

How tall are your tires?

 

36.9" tall

 

Went by a local tire shop in woodbridge va, they have a guy that works there that has 24.5" rims on his F-350 dually. But it is a show truck and has what looks to be low profile type tires as the truck is a 2wd so it looks lowered or it is a lowered 4x4. Didnt take alot of time to look at it as I was in a hurry but I may have to ride by and snap a pic when I have more time. Not the way I would do it as I think larger tires look better but was an eye catcher.

 

There are 19 posts in this thread, not a soul has mentioned driveability with the various sizes.

My 19.5's ride stiffer with the F load rated tires and stiffer sidewalls (doesn't matter how the airbags are adjusted) and my power steering pump groans a lot more than it did with stock wheel/tire sizes when turning. The truck is not nearly as responsive to steering input (sure couldn't autocross it!!) than stock.

I can only imagine what the 22.5 and 24.5's do!

The positives - - tire life more than tripled!! It does look better with the larger wheel/tire combo. But I logged 142,000 miles last year in my trucks, so looks were certainly not the primary concern. The larger tire simply worked better and handled the loads I was hauling far better than the stock wheel and LT tires.

So I guess it depends on whether you work your truck or not (or are willing to put up with the harsher characteristics of the bigger tire while pretending to be a work truck)

 

I think for the money the 22.5 are a better buy due to the fact that the tires will almost out last the truck. I have a set on my Mega cab and love the way the look and handle on the road. The place I got mine has tons of photos on their website you may want to go look and see what the 19.5" and the 22.5" look like on different trucks. The place is call theduallystop.com

 

I have not noticed any difference in steering except for a little bit stiffer on the highway (which I like). Also, if you saw a lowered F-350, what they did is shave the 24.5s down to 24s and run a standard 24" SUV tire. It is very comon in Florida these days to see duallies lowered and running a setup like this.

 

You had something wrong or bad tires. I pulled 30,00 gross and with Michelen xps rib tires got over 100,000. And I NEVER rotate.

 

Mr Wiggs, you have no idea what you are talking about. The .5 sizes are the tubeless designation with a completely different bead. 20 inch wheels are made, thay use the regular car bead. They are not shaved truck wheels.

 

You must have had a duallie with 5th wheel??

Here is a photo of my '98 with camper (before I retired it from service and started my "project"). It is a 3/4 ton (remember - - these are single axle!) with airbags and overloads, etc. This photo was taken prior to putting the 19.5 Ricksons on, but it is this truck and camper - with the trailer pictured below - that is being discussed.



Now, here's a picture of the entire rig (this is with the '05, but it is the same trailer setup as I used with the 98 and Ricksons).



Now that you know what is being discussed, let's start with the back tires. I had the camper weight, plus tongue weight of the trailer on them. Not abnormal by any means, except that this is a tag trailer - - not a 5th wheel. The trailer has cabinets and a generator box in the front - the generator is an Onan 7500 Gold Marquis (not light). The cabinets contain a large Marine battery, an 8500lb Warn winch, an air compressor, a toolchest full of hand tools, and other "stuff" (equipment that one needs thousands of miles from home trying to recover a car from God knows where). There is also a large ATP toolbox on the floor that contains various tiedowns, etc, Additionally, in a compartment under the floor there is a trailer spare, snow chains for all truck/trailer wheels, and tire changing tools.

In other words, I had terrific tongue weight!! Empty this rig towed like a pig with the '98, but when I had a car and a couple motorcycles in it, it rode quite nicely (and I wasn't empty very much or for very long).

With a weight distributing setup (a must have) the front 19.5 tires tended to cup and the rear 19.5's tended to wear faster than the front - if I didn't rotate. Not nearly as often as the 16's by any stretch of the imagination (as indicated in my posts) but rotation was still a necessity to get maximum tire life.

Trust me, if I didn't need to rotate, I would not have - -

G

 

I have looked at the 19.5" and to me besides the classic pattern they dont look different enough to spend the money. I have a dually so the issue of overloading the sidewall of a standard tire as opposed to a commercial tire is not as big a deal as with the srw trucks. I tow when I need to as I am a contractor and have no idea what the next job will bring as far as material and weight. I just want my truck to look better stand out and if I need to load the heck out of my trailers, pull a bobcat or two, or whatever be able to do so with no worries. The Rickson 19.5"s are real nice, but why so expensive? There are very nice well known rims for less. Again if Im going to spend 4-6K on tires I want people to notice them. At the same time the issues with the power steering may be a deterent from 22.5"s. At the moment I am leaning toward 22.5", and I guess I need to talk to some people that have them, tow with them and get some real world advice frome people that have them.

 

I can tell you anything you need to know.

 

Can you post some links? I want to get some 19.5 tires, but will not spend the money that Rickson wants for their stuff.

 

Try- theduallystop.com, or do a search D.Wiggs posted where he got his in one of his posts.

 

OK. I am going to speak (i.e., type) very slowly and clearly so there is no confusion. What many companies do (e.g., American Force Wheels) is take a 22.5 or 24.5 TRUCK Alcoa wheel and shave it down to a 22" or 24" so that they can run a regular, low-profile SUV tire. This is because neither the wheels nor tires could handle commericial use but are capable of light truck duty.

Here is the link since you seem to be in the dark: http://www.americanforcewheels.com/lopro_info.html

They even allow you to put on "all-terrain" tires such as the 37" Mud Grappler designed for 24" rims. Amazoing how they offer so much for something that does not exist!

Please do not ever claim to have a clue as to what I do or do not have an idea about, for you are attempting to argue with someone who will not only make you support your claims, but will complete refute and eliminate the ones that cannot "hold water" (viz. the aforementioned one in this post). There is no read to get "snippy" and start insulting; it's immature.

I hope this clears up any confusion on this very simple matter.