tire question

[renyren]

Hello I have 315/75/16 on a 2000 ford f350 cc lwb and just got new tires and when I picked up the truck they are load range D and my truck calls for Load range E. I called the tire place they said they would replace. I tow a 26 ft trailer and in the next year or two plan to upgrade to a 5th wheel. Do I need Load range E?

[deiter5262]

definitely do need load range E, especially if your are towing!

[JimTJr]

YES.,, if you just drove the truck as a daily driver, with average truck use, not a terrible problem to have "D". But to tow a 5er for sure,,, go back to get "E" rated tires.

[SmokeyWren]

Nonsense. The load range is meaningless. What matters is weight carrying capacity.

If you don't overload your truck by exceeding the GVWR of your truck, then your tires must have a weight rating of about 3,000 pounds or more. With 3,000 pounds weight capacity per tire, that's 6,000 pounds on the rear axle. If you have 6,000 pounds on the rear axle, you'll have about 11,000 pounds GVW on the 4 truck tires, which is overloaded for any SuperDuty SRW pickup with 16" wheels.

LT31575R16D tires have a weight capacity of 3,195 pounds (tire load index = 121). That's good up to a GVW of about 11,400 pounds on an SRW pickup.

And load range is now an obsolete term. They now go by Service Description, which is a combination of speed rating and tire load index (weight carrying capacity). Some of the newest tires no longer include load range, but they do include the Service Description. As long as the tire load index is 120 or higher, and you don't overload your truck to over 11,000 pounds GVW, then that tire is good for towing on our trucks.

I wore out one set of LT295/75R16D tires and another set of LT285/75R16D tires. Load range D. Both those sizes had weight capacity of over 3,000 pounds per tire. And almost all the miles on those tires were coast-to-coast towing my 5er. No problems of any kind with those tires and long-distance towing.

[Smiley1]

Smokey is right. I also tow with 285-75-16D's without any issues at all. They are rated for more weight than the smaller E rated tires that were on my truck.

[BullWagon88]

I have pulled a gooseneck flatbed with a load of hay the weighed 32000 pounds with both load range d and e tires. Not a problem for me. I never went over 30 miles and hour but thats pretty overloaded.

[deiter5262]

Originally Posted by BullWagon88

I have pulled a gooseneck flatbed with a load of hay the weighed 32000 pounds with both load range d and e tires. Not a problem for me. I never went over 30 miles and hour but thats pretty overloaded.

wow, now thats doing some work