Landini1

I am wondering if adding 19.5 inch wheels and tires would stress the front end components due to the heavier tires and wheels, I am not sure of the weight but I think they weigh considerably more than the stock wheels and tires do.

The ball joints already seem to have problems would the extra weight make this worse?

Also would the brakes be less effective trying to stop the extra rotating weight and also wear out quicker?

Thanks

FarmerJim

I have been running Rickson Classics for over 70K with no adverse effects. I stuck with the 225/70/19.5 as it was basically the same diamater as original 17s. The wheels and load range F tires are deffinetly heavier but the narrower tread gives less rolling resistance and helps with mileage. This is of course anicdotal info as I made no test comparisons. I simply wanted commercial tires for hauling my 5er.

zulusafari

I didn't have any adverse wear issues on my 2nd gen, but mileage suffered. The rolling resistance was less with the 225's, true, but the extra weight did seem to affect braking and accelerating. The larger brakes on the 3rd gens should help, as would some minor power boosting. I used a Quadzilla Xillaraider chip on the tow setting to bring my truck back to performance levels I wanted -- I didn't have enough turbo for much else. Mileage didn't get better with the chip, though. I used GM Stepvan wheels, but my truck was a dually.

I really like the idea of the Rickson Classics for my current ride, but couldn't afford them. I went with Hummer wheels and Nitto Duragrapplers in the larger 285/75R17 size for a 128 load rating, up from the 121 rating I had with the stock 265/70R17's. I found this to be the cheapest option for now, as many 225/70R19.5's had lower load ratings than these Nitto's do. I lost mileage and power with this combo, though, as they are wider and taller than stock, dropping my effective axle ratio down (numerically) which has me out of the proper torque band. I need to get the new tire size programmed into the computer to see if the truck will shift in the right spots again, and probably add some sort of tuning to it for more power. Right now, the truck drops back to 3rd at approx. 48 mph, so I don't get the benefit of Over Drive when driving in lower speed zones.