Ok I know this is going to sound dumb, but I have never really had to haul much before and someone told me this the other day. I was told I cannot tow over 6,500 pounds with my 2500 because the tires are load range D and are rated for 3,000 something pounds a piece. This cannot possibly be right can it? I know these trucks are made to pull and factory says they can pull 12,000 or so pounds on the hitch so I am confused. Sorry for the stupid question, just trying to get it straight.

 

You were told wrong. The guy must be driving a Chevy.

 

Thanks geico. Drove a Ford buy the way .

 

If your truck is GVW is greater than 8800 lbs, I suspect you should be running load range E tires. If the tire your using did not come in the E rating its personal preference. There is not a whole lot of differance between D rated tires such as yours, rated at 3000lbs and Load Range E tires that are good for 3040lbs. Some E tires are rated up to 3520. Anyway, the main thing is the side wall stiffness. E tires have two more plys in the tire and sidewall than D rated tires. Under extreme loads the D tires may flex alot more than the E's when dynamically loaded.

One brand of Trailer tire in a 80 seris is used on trailers with 6000 lbs axles
that have a 14000 lb GVW. These D tires are also rated at 3000lbs. They sometimes come apart in the sidewall when bonced under full load on the hyw.

Dave

 

Well, it's not entirely a lie. I posted a thread about just this not too long ago. It's true that our trucks are rated to tow many 1,000's of pounds. It's also true that load range D tires are rated at around 3,000 - 3,300 lbs. The limiting factor comes in how much load your truck is supporting, rather than how much it's pulling. I can easily pull a load on wheels that I couldn't begin to lift. I went to load range G tires, rated at 4400 lbs. in order to more safely carry the heavy camper on my SRW 2500.

Lar.

 

If you are towing with a trailer the object is to place the load so you have little tongue weight. The tongue weight is what you have to look at since the rest of the weight is on the trailer axles. I have had 24000 lbs behind my 2500 yes a little much but it handled it.

 

There's a big difference between what the truck can HAUL, and what it can TOW. If you are running Michelin LTX's like I am, they are rated at 3042 lbs each and are "Load Range E". That means I can haul up to 6,000 or so PER AXLE, although I would never load it that high. I'm not positive about this, but as far as I understand it, the GVWR of 8800 lbs is what you can safely haul or tow without overloading the brakes, for example. It'll go with it, but you've gotta be able to stop it when some fool cuts in front of you, too. With my fifth wheel hooked up, I'm about 4500 lbs on the drivers, which leaves me lots of excess capacity in the tires; the rest of the 15,000 total weight is carried by the tandem trailer axles, and the braking handled by the four brakes back there. If I can, I like to have my tire weight rating capacity double what they are loaded at. Hope this helps.