New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Converting Cargo Trailers into TTTs

New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Postby FlyBye » Sun Aug 27, 2017 4:56 pm

I was planning on getting new tires for my tow vehicle last week anyway, but last Sunday I had a blowout which expedited my purchase. I was able to get over 73,000 miles off my original tires (General Grabber HTS P245/70/17 108T)but they were rated as passenger tires and I assume that they would be unacceptable pulling the twin axle 16 foot trailer, so I went with the LT rating (General Grabber HTS 60 LT245/70R/17 E 119/116 ? Ten Ply).

They are much heavier and are rated for towing. However, either they are either a much rougher ride or the balance isn't fine tuned. I may take them back tomorrow and get them to double check the balance before I let them stretch their legs on the expressway.

What type of tires are y'all using for highway towing? I don't plan on doing any off road excursions with this particular rig, just highway.
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Re: New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Postby Padilen » Sun Aug 27, 2017 5:10 pm

Welcome to E rated tires. Yes the is ride rough. The side walls do not flex as a p tire or C,D rated.
Congrats on 73,000 miles I get 35-40 on tires that are labeled as 50 or more. But a blow out may have meant the were long gone.

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Re: New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Postby FlyBye » Sun Aug 27, 2017 5:34 pm

Padilen wrote:... But a blow out may have meant the were long gone.

You are correct, the tread was fine, but the tires were old. They were on the truck when I bought it new in 2011. The rubber breaks down over time and that was without a doubt what happened here. Another day or two and I would have had them replaced anyway.

Thanks for letting me know about the rougher ride. The stiffer side walls may be what I'm noticing!
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Re: New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Postby Padilen » Sun Aug 27, 2017 6:08 pm

I'm actually shopping for tires currently. I used to have more spendable money. I always had summer and winter wheel/tire combos. But with my pickups E's at 180, and up plus rims, I'm trying to find the "one". I had tried all terrains all year, on my Jeep (when I had it) and wasn't happy on ice or slush covered roads. My friend talked me into Winter Force tires. But those have a soft rubber compound and do Best in winter only. Which was fine for me as my All Terrains had at least one more summer. And I had the steel rims, plus the stock aluminum. At 40-80 to swap tires extra rims make sense. But this time my Silent Armor's do not have another summer. Nor do I have extra rims. I can get 3 steel rims and use my spare rim as 4th. Get the Winter Force then in spring I'd be buying another set of tires.

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Re: New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Postby EZDog » Sun Aug 27, 2017 7:07 pm

I need to have better than decent traction in all weather and am willing to trade off some smoothness for performance in the rain and snow and most tires require that you pick certain features over others which drives me crazy.

So a few years ago I discovered the Bridgestone Dueler Revo and put a set on my Tundra and I am in love with the tire!
I rarely need 4wd on the street even in snow but they are pretty crazy great when it gets deep and off road too!
They are really smooth on Highway though and have been rugged for me too.
Also freaky good in rain.

So I put another set on the same truck last year but went with the heavier E series in my size as they had just been released.
A little noisier but the same great performance,Highly Recommended.

So a few weeks ago I snagged another Tundra but newer and with the 5.7l V8 and with decent condition factory Dunlops I could not stop it from spinning out everywhere and sliding all over the place in the rain,it was terrifying really.

So I stuck the Revo on this one too and it is a whole different truck really!
All good too.
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Re: New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Postby fourbtgait » Sun Aug 27, 2017 7:50 pm

I never liked Goodyear tires until they put the Wrangler AT with Kevlar on company truck. Great in snow, ice, rain, dry, mud. If I didn't have only 15k on my personal Cooper AT3's, I would trade for Goodyear.
Always LT tires. P tires dont tow, to much sidewall flex.
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Re: New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Postby working on it » Sun Aug 27, 2017 10:25 pm

  • I'm totally sold on all-terrain LT tires for my 2004 Silverado 2500 HD Chevy pickup, and even for my 2000 lb trailer. I've never had a 4wd, so I can use all the traction an all-terrain can give to a 2wd truck.
  • 1) I started out in 1980 with all-terrain tires on my 1979 Ford Courier pickup, which were BFG s, but too large for the wheel wells, and I switched back to smaller tires after a week...but I liked the way I could go across fields in S.Texas, with nary a problem. When I went back to those same fields the next year, under similar conditions, with plain all-season tires, I had no traction. But, they were hard wearing, and lasted until I traded in that truck on a
  • 2) 1986 Chevy S-10 extended cab pickup, where I used only Goodyear Eagle street tires or Dunlops (both types H-rated, because I commuted with a leadfoot). I never left the pavement with that truck. Then, I got a
  • 3) 1969 Chevy C-10for commuting, restomod work, and towing my 1966 Chevelle to races. The day after I brought it home, I lucked into a deal at my local Discount Tire...a woman had just gotten a set of P-radials to replace her brand-new Pirelli Scorpions on her Chevy Suburban (she said they rode too harsh). I watched the manager roll them into the store, and I asked him for them, at less than half what other tires I was considering cost. This was my intro to LT all-terrain tires. I ran them for 75k miles, over every surface I needed to drive on, and they made the top-heavy truck handle well, too. But, they were tall, so I re-geared from 3.07 to 3.73, to be able to tow with the semi-race engine I installed in it. I replaced them with another, cheaper LT tire, I forget which, 4 months before I sold her, followed by a
  • 4) 1975 Chevy C-10, which I semi-restored with a hi-torque, low rpm engine, just for icy road travel and towing. I gave this truck away, for a spare 350 engine and tranny for my wife's GMC (I never received them...they were traded enroute for more Chevelle racing parts). Then came the
  • 5) 2004 Silverado 2500HD, on which I installed Dominator all-terrains, a LT tire, to replace the barely there tires that came on it (it was a dealer's shop truck). I got 90k miles on those, but they don't make them anymore. After 90k miles and ten years, they suffered belt separation over a gigantic pothole, so, I bought Cooper Discoverer RTX tires for the truck as replacements. Might be the best all-terrain tread I've had, with low noise and great traction; I have crossed fields, sandy roads, and muddy roads with no loss of traction.
  • It may be premature to declare a winner among all my truck tires quite yet; all four LT all-terrain tires have performed admirably (Pirelli and ??? as 15" tires, Dominator and Cooper as 16" tires), with no flats or wear issues. The stiff sidewalls lend them selves to crisper handling, and the deep block treads grab road (or dirt and snow) and didn't aquaplane, unlike the street tires that preceded the LT tires.
  • Though not a truck, I just recently installed a pair of General Grabber AT2s, in 27x8.5-14LT, on my TTT, after my failure to find as competent a ST tire for it. My positive experiences with LT tires swayed me from my former "ST on all trailers" position, to the "LT tires on trailers, too" viewpoint. With sidewalls early as stiff as ST bias-ply tires, and with all-terrain tread to boot, LT all-terrains will be my single axle trailer choice from now on, as well as for my trucks
2013 HHRv "squareback/squaredrop", rugged, 4x8 TTT, 2225 lbs
  • *3500 lb Dexter EZ-Lube braked axle, 3000 lb.springs, active-progressive bumpstop suspension
  • *27 x 8.5-14LT AT tires (x 3) *Weight Distribution system for single-beam tongue
  • *100% LED's & GFCI outlets, 3x fans, AM/FM/CD/Aux. *A/C & heat, Optima AGM, inverter & charger(s)
  • *extended-run, on-board, 2500w generator *Coleman dual-fuel stove & lantern, Ikea grill, vintage skillet
  • *zinc/stainless front & side racks *98"L x 6" diameter rod & reel carrier tube on roof
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Re: New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Postby RonS » Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:03 pm

FlyBye wrote:I was planning on getting new tires for my tow vehicle last week anyway, but last Sunday I had a blowout which expedited my purchase. I was able to get over 73,000 miles off my original tires (General Grabber HTS P245/70/17 108T)but they were rated as passenger tires and I assume that they would be unacceptable pulling the twin axle 16 foot trailer, so I went with the LT rating (General Grabber HTS 60 LT245/70R/17 E 119/116 ? Ten Ply).

They are much heavier and are rated for towing. However, either they are either a much rougher ride or the balance isn't fine tuned. I may take them back tomorrow and get them to double check the balance before I let them stretch their legs on the expressway.

What type of tires are y'all using for highway towing? I don't plan on doing any off road excursions with this particular rig, just highway.


What tire pressure are you running in them, and what was in the old tires? The P-series Grabbers have a max pressure of 44 PSI. The LT-series have a max pressure of 80 PSI. If the new tires are set to the max, that is very likely a big part of the problem. I don't know what vehicle you put these on, so I don't know the recommended pressure.
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Re: New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Postby bdosborn » Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:14 pm

Padilen wrote:Welcome to E rated tires. Yes the is ride rough. The side walls do not flex as a p tire or C,D rated.


X2.

I've never had a set of E rated tires on my Dodge that rode smooth or that I've gotten over 30K miles. There's just too many sidewall belts for that. The Tacoma has P metric tires and they ride a lot smoother. Of course the Tacoma is a different vehicle all together than the Dodge, about 2000# lighter. :shock:

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Re: New Tires for the Tow Vehicle...

Postby FlyBye » Sat Sep 30, 2017 4:06 pm

RonS wrote:What tire pressure are you running in them, and what was in the old tires? The P-series Grabbers have a max pressure of 44 PSI. The LT-series have a max pressure of 80 PSI. If the new tires are set to the max, that is very likely a big part of the problem. I don't know what vehicle you put these on, so I don't know the recommended pressure.


I kept the P-series at 40 psi and were happy with them. I have tried the LT-series at 40, 50 and 70 psi. I drove a few miles at 35 psi after they were installed on the truck, but the tires looked woefully low until I increased the pressure to 70. I drove the trailer home with 70 psi and have kept the pressure the same when not pulling a load. I have to be careful at highway speeds because certain abnormalities in the pavement will make the truck like feel like it is making mini-bunny-hops. Yep, airborne! Not what I'm looking for. I will soon reduce the pressure when not towing, but just haven't determined the ideal psi yet. The tow vehicle is a 2011 Chevy Silverado 1500 WT.
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