During the never ending quest for better tires than the Conti's, I have come accross a 275/65R18 tire (Maxxis Buckshot Mudder) It has a load range D, 3000 pounds at 65psi. The Conti's are E's and have a 3640 rating. The truck in question is a F350 crew 4x4. I used a D rated tire on my 1999 F250 with no problems. It was a 4x2 so it was a little lighter. My only other choice is the 285/70R17 with a 3195 rating.

 

What I would be concerned with is how it would limit your payload and towing capacity. I run BFG AT on my '01 SC SWB PSD, but I never have a heavy payload and only tow half of what its capable of.
I'd find out the "wet" weight of the truck and then go from there. Then you'll know how much you have left for passengers, payload, etc. I can handle a shorter tire life, but I would hate to have a tire fail and cause an accident and/or death because of my choice.

Good luck,

Austin

 

Because I haul a slide in camper , I need to stick with an "E" rating. The Goodyear Wrangler is the only other 18" "E" rating tire available now and I hope there are more choices soon. If you only tow , you might be OK going with a "D" rating.

 

I've pulled a 10k lb trailer on D rated tires (37" no less) and never had an issue. I guess the question would be, what are you pulling/hauling?

EDIT: Hey my 1000th post, woohoo! Now I'm a posting guru, sweeeeet.

 

I'd look at other tires. Not just because of the load rating, but the Buckshots are pretty noisy on the highway. I have them on my '97 F250 and they are terrific out in the field. But, on-road, they scream so loud that they drown out the rather throaty exhaust system of the 460.

 

My understanding of the rating system is not just the weight it can carry, but rather whether the tire can handle safely with the amount of weight. More of a dynamic loading rather than static loading. I'd stick with a load E tire. Try Nitto Terragrapplers they make all kinds of large tires in E range.

 

This is what I'm hauling so I need as much capacity as I can get.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...oid=82025&.jpg

 

Nice Rig and Toys! I second ColtM4 on the Nittos.

Good luck,

Austin

 

I can see you like to have a good time on vacation. Nice rig!

 

How does that handle with 2 ATV's on the bed? And what type of bed rack is that?

 

I thought I'd chime in real quick about those racks. I had a similar setup on mine when I had 2 quads. I got it from arpatv.com, click on the saft-t load system. It handled surprisingly well (even with the lift). Kind of scary to load the first few times but you get used to it. Easy to load/unload quads and easily removeable. Thank god for air tools! I think I paid $1200 for it about 8 years ago, sold it about 2 years ago for $600.

 

Nice rig V10man So many toys not enough time

Denny

 

Go with the E rated tires- Typically, E's are 10 ply & D's are 8 ply. If you aren't towing & hauling the D's would be fine...But you are doing both!

I recently was faced with the same decision and I went with the E's and have been pleased with the decision... Plus, check tire heights: It is always a good idea (& recommended by FMC) to have the spare tire be the same height-

 

In the past when I switched from load E to D tires on my old SD
the only noticable difference was when I was hauling alot of wieght in
the bed 3-4000lbs.--the side walls on the load D tires are alot softer and squish more -especially when cornering--I did not like the feeling
I would base your descision on how much weight you will haul

g/l

 

The D's will feel funny compared to the E's - been there with a lot of different tires on my '74 highboy and cube vans - too stiff a rear suspension with D's means lots of oversteer - at least that's my experience. Add weight, and everything goes haywire.

E's seemed to work best for heavy loads in terms of handling. The D's can handle the weight and not explode but that doesn't help when you try to avoid someone on the highway and the whole truck spins on you.

I put on a second set of tires on my SD last year, and wouldn't take D's no matter what.