I have been wanting to switch to the 10 Lug, trucker wheels. Is it worth it? How much of a lift would I need, if any? Where is a good place to order the adapters? I go for quality.

 

No.

Depends on the size of the wheels and tires you choose, and/or how much valance panel you remove.

No place, only because....

And the best "quality" is the OEM wheels.

 

+1 on the above answers!

 

you will need enough lift to clear 48 inch tires, or around a 12 inch lift. then you will need to buy the tires and adapters. and the truck will ride like it is on concrete blocks.
it is going to cost you around $5500 to convert to 22.5 semi tires.

 

Closer to 40" for the common diameters.

This for the dually in your avatar?

I'd consider it for a SRW truck that was hauling heavy, wanted better hwy mileage, and needed more tire load capacity, a hot shot truck for example. But on a dually, not very practical at all, if only for the looks go for it.

 

I do like how it looks, but I had heard differently on how it helps for traveling.
Ex: tire wear, fuel

I didn't want to waste money going all out, if it hurts me more in the long run. There is really not enough advantages that I can see to make the change. I will get new wheels though eventually, even if it's the same size. Time to go shopping.

 

If I were to do anything I'd go to a 19.5 wheel, like the 450's and 550's. You can step up quite a bit in load rating and get into 12-16 ply tires. They will last for a very long time and don't weigh so much that it will hurt your performance.

You can get a tire/wheel package shipped straight to you from these guys http://www.ricksontruckwheels.com/wh...rd-f350drw.php

 

It seems to me you'd have to roll a Lot of miles to get your moneys worth because tires have a limited life based on uv damage/environmental ageing, etc. 'Course, if ya' got it...go for it!

 

Having fork lift tires is over rated.

I would get the 19.5" x 7" rims and run the 245 series tire. They fit on the rear and I think would fit on the front with a leveling kit. I have seen a few f-450s and 550s running the 245 series on the stock Ford 6.5" rim but I am not going to try that.

 

The F-450 and F-550 stock rim width on OEM 19.5" wheels is actually only 6", not 6.5". So that is even worse for those who chose to run 245's on their stock rims. At bare minimum, the rim width to run a 245 tire on a 19.5" rim should be 6.75".


And, for the OP, a larger diameter, much heavier, 245 tire, with heavier, wider rims, AND with the additional weight of the dually adapter plates... is an awful lot of weight for the dinky 170 mm bolt circle diameter to be wrangling with.


Compare factory installations of 19.5" wheels. The Ford 450/550/F-53 has a much larger bolt circle diameter at the hub mount, at 225mm. The GM Kodiak/Topkick 4500/5500 19.5" wheels have an even larger 275mm bolt circle diameter. Compare these diameters to the 170mm bolt circle diameter of the F-350 dually. The spread distance of mounting bolts is quite small by comparison.


Imagine the lateral, radial, centrifugal, rotational, and all the forces acting on that bolt circle mounting foundation... and add the mass of not one, but two 245 series 19.5 truck tires.


19.5" tires are heavier due to the additional steel in the sidewall, not just the in the tread plies. The 16" and 17" truck tires do not have steel in the sidewalls. Where two 33" (nominal) tires are side by side, one being a 285 16, and the other being a 245 19.5, the 245 will be heavier.


I stick with 225's on my 550. The OEM figured out all of this before hand, and I want the benefit of all the engineering I already paid for with the price of the truck.

 

I bought my 2012 F450 CC long bed 2 months ago - the previous owner had installed a 6" lift with 22.5" American Force wheels and Sumitomo 255/70R22.5 tires. The truck looks amazing and I do get a lot of comments about it - BUT... Knowing what I know now, I would never lift a dually truck that much, if the truck is to remain a hauler. Yes, it does ride much better with a load than it does empty, but so does the OEM. I do admit, however, that I don't know what this truck was like before the build.

As to practicality of the big wheels and lift, one really needs to consider the purpose of the truck. With the lift, EVERYTHING is impacted. With the Ford under-bed goose neck hitch I now have problems finding air bags that will work with the 6" lift, as they mount right where the hitch mounts to the frame. I'll also likely have to install traction bars to keep the rear springs from flexing under heavy load. With a truck camper, total height becomes an issue as well (just under 13' for me). I wouldn't even want to think about what mods would be required on a 5'er trailer. Additionally, the wheels are so heavy, even after having them shaved down, that fuel mileage suffers. And then there's the total width of the rear wheel base due to the required spacers at 101". I also read that these big wheels are hell on the steering components. With dual Bilstein steering stabilizers my truck still suffers from significant bump steer. This Thursday it's going in to have the rear sway bar end links replaced with longer Fabtech ones to fix the sway bar geometry the previous owner had messed up with the lift. At that time I'll have the mechanic look over the steering components incl. dampers to make sure I don't have any other problems at present. Lastly, once these tires need to be replaced, I'll be making the switch to a softer compound tire such as Michelins. I keep my Sumitomo tires at 65 psi up front and 60 in the rears just to make the ride acceptable...

 

GenGiant brings up some great points, and his situation reveals a couple more issues to consider that haven't yet been mentioned:


1. Speed rating is severely limited.

Sumitomo makes lots of different truck tires, but they only make two in the 255/70R22.5 size that GenGiant said he had. The ST727 All Position Rib (front axle) and the ST908 "Value Series" Open Shoulder Drive (rear axle). The ST908 is speed limited to only 65 MPH MAX. These tires are not even rated to safely drive the speed limit on Interstate 5 (a major highway in CA), let alone the 80-85 mph that many people drive.

Now maybe GenGiant got lucky, and has the ST727 All Position Rib tire in all positions. In that case, the maximum speed rating is still only 75 mph. The overall speed rating is limited to the lowest speed rated tire, so if he has the ST727's on the steer axle, and the ST908's on the drive axle, his maximum rated tire speed is still only 65 mph. I've had two blowouts in 19.5" truck tires that were speed rated to 81 mph, and I was only traveling 70 mph in one case and 65 mph in the other.

Some people believe big truck tires are bullet proof. They may very well be capable of carrying more weight, but they nearly always have lower speed ratings than pickup truck and passenger car tires. That was reportedly one of the reasons Ford returned to the 17" tire in the 2011-2014 F-450 pickup, due to the tire speed rating limitation of the 19.5" tires in the 2008-2010 F-450. In response to some customer's protests and demand, Ford brought the 19.5" tires back to the F-450 pickup for 2015, but there is only one tire that Ford fits them with... the Continental HSR/HDR series, which is speed rated to 87 mph. No other 19.5" tire on the market is speed rated that high, which is the same reason that Dodge, as stated in their press release, uses the HSR tires on the Ram 4500/5500 chassis cabs.



2. Ride comfortably, get injured catastrophically from UNDERINFLATION

Both the ST727 and the ST908 are Load Range H tires. Sumitomo's Load Inflation Table confirms that these tires have a maximum inflation pressure to achieve their H-Rated load at 120 PSI, and a MINIMUM inflation pressure of 80 PSI. GenGiant claims he runs his Sumitomo's at 60 PSI. This is a problem.

Sumitomo states: "Reinflation of any type of tire/rim assembly that has been operated in a run-flat or under inflated condition (80% or less of recommended pressure), can result in serious injury or death . The tire may be damaged on the inside and can explode while you are adding air."

Doing the math, 80% of 80 psi (the minimum recommended pressure) is 64 PSI. Running these tires at 60 PSI is operating at less than 80%, in an under inflated condition. As such, those tires now present a potential danger to anyone who might attempt to add air to them while still mounted on the truck.

Why is this a big deal on 19.5", 22.5", and 24.5" tires, and no big deal at all on 13", 14", 15", 16", 17", 18", 20", etc tires? Because the ".5" type of truck tires have steel corded sidewalls. When under inflated, the steel in the sidewall flexes back and forth some 600 times a minute at 65 mph. The metal fatigues from over flexing. Just like when bending a coke can back and forth a few times will severe it in half, bending steel wire too many times will sever it also. Or weaken it. The severing can come suddenly and catastrophically when more air pressure is added. This has happened enough times, to enough people, that safety cages were invented to deal with this problem.

It is fine to adjust the pressures in steel sidewalled truck tires according to the load rating needed and comfort desired, and there is a wide margin of a range to do so in the Sumitomo tires... a 40 psi range in fact. But that range begins at 80 psi, and goes to 120 psi. 80 psi is the minimum, and 60 psi is less than 80% of the minimum.

One cannot "see" underinflation with tires that are grossly over rated for the application. The steel sidewalls, and sturdy construction of a Load Range H tire can hold up a light pickup bed with only 10 psi of air without any distension of the sidewall.

 

Great info! Reps sent.

 

To be fair these are issues for there intended use, and warnings having a lot to do with lawyers and liability. In a severely under weight condition not really much of a concern. They would still suck, traction and ride horrible but they aren't going to blow up.

Both speed rating and tire pressure issues are largely about tire deflection, how much the tire deforms under the weight, with such little weight, there is also little deflection.

Speed rating is largely about heat, the more a tire deforms, and the faster you go, the more it heats up, the more it heats up the weaker it gets. This isn't to say I'd run a retread at high speeds, but a new tire on a pickup, I wouldn't worry about blowing up at 80. Now stopping from those speeds on the other hand, that's another story, the tires are just so hard, no traction.

Same for underinflation, no deformation no belt issue no matter the pressure. In storage they have 0 pressure, this isn't an issue. Being on a light truck at 60 PSI isn't much different. Again though deformation is a necessary part of traction and ride, both of which will suck.

I personally really wish tire makers would fill this niche by making something like a 295/75R20, but they don't.

 

Y2KW57 - good observation re the speed rating, though really not an issue when put into context. I bought the truck to tow and haul - I had no other reason to sell my "loyal" and beloved F250. Here in CA where I currently do much of my towing, the max allowed speed when towing is 55 mph no matter which interstate or other road you might find yourself on. So I typically set my cruise control at around 63 mph. Mileage only suffers 0.1 mpg vs driving the same road under same conditions (weather and load) at 55 mph. And the CHP doesn't seem to mind, as long as one stays under 65 mph when towing. Sure, in other states such as Nevada, Arizona, or New Mexico, much higher tow speeds are common, but then again, I probably wouldn't feel all that comfortable towing 10k pounds or more going faster than 65 mph - YMMV.


Another issue with the 6" lift I haven't even mentioned yet is regarding lateral stability and center of gravity. I do not yet own the cab-over truck camper I mentioned earlier, but at 4,200# (plus gear), a center of gravity 6" higher than stock will significantly increase the rollover potential, at least mathematically speaking. Again, this should be manageable, but speed is certainly going to be the foremost consideration in all of this.


As to the under-inflation issue, my commercial tire service actually suggested the 60/65 psi combo when empty and not towing. Under load, I do air up to a 75/80 combo. These particular ST908 Sumitomo tires are actually somewhat popular with the RV crowd and as several people who drive these tires have posted on a popular RV forum, the 60/65 psi combo is common without causing any problems. Nonetheless, I personally DO NOT care for these tires and will change them out when my funds allow.


All the best!
GG