when looking at truck tires look at the load range heavy loads will require an E or better truck tires with weight comes heat. All this info is on the side of your tire.

 

You can get different tires and rims to make it look better but I would stick with the advice already given, if you go bigger in overall diameter, you will lose torque at the wheel. I think a good set of E rated 265/75 would be the ticket in this case. With air bags and E ranged tire you'll probably be okay. The air bags will definately help with the weight of the pin, but the axle and the tires still have to bear the weight. Check the weight rating on the tire. The Letters only refer to the number of Plys in the tire itself. i.e. E rating is a 10 ply tire. That is going to be a lot of weight to keep under control, my main concern would be stopping it, make sure that you have a good trailer brake controller and test to make sure that it is operating properly often. I check mine everytime I hook up.

 

I tow (daily) a 44' GN race/living quarter.
Pin weight: 3900 lbs (with out my air bags DRW 4x4 squats nearly 4")
Trailer weight: 17200 lbs (a wee bit heavy I know, but trucks handles it fine...have triple axle brakes)
Truck weight: 8300 lbs (drw,4x4,4.10)

Dont know as if I would put that load on a 250 srw, stability would be an issue

 

Pulling 13,600 pound 5th wheel (Loaded weight). '04 F350 4x4 SRW LB Supercab.

Do the math youself:

1. Truck with me and half tank of fuel and about 50 pounds weighed 6,940 pounds when brand new.

Afterwards, added spray in bed liner, toolbox, fifth wheel hitch, bed cover and some junk.

2.) After that added the 5th wheel. (Fully loaded with gen set fuel and 1/2 tank of fresh water). (Our target was not more than 2500 pounds of pin weight unloaded dry weight from the 5th wheel manufacturer.)

3.) Added rest of truck fuel, wife at 140 lbs, 40 pound dog, about 150 pounds of tools in toolbox, about 200 lbs of firewood in bed.

We weighed in at certified scales:

Total vehicle weight 23,600 pounds. (GCVW)

Front axle: 4,300 pounds

Rear axle: 4,900 pounds

Trailer axle: 14,400 pounds.

(I know, I know..it does not meet specs somehow???)

But it pulls pretty good even on bad backroads at under 60. I can push to 70 comfortably on moderately hilly and open Interstate, and on flat probably to 75 without wind.

(We are very careful about the condition of our rig and brakes and all, and when available we stay in the right lane to stay away from the "rockets" in the hammer lane.)

We think it's a very good rig, overall.

All I can say is watch the pin weight!!! And make sure the trailer axles, wheels and tires and.... importantly... the brakes can carry their own load.

Oh yeah! The truck does some major "squatting" when loaded, but we have not bottomed out axles yet even on the very roughest of roads.

One other point, the layout of your 5th wheel will tell you where the load is going to go. This includes the weight of water and fuel in tanks and all of the junk like gear and food you will carry along. If you add front of the trailer axes a part of this is going to the truck as pin weight! On the other end loads behind the trailer axle go almost exclusively to the trailer axles and may subtract some from the pin weight.

Also, keep in mind that most 5th wheels have a large forward storage copartment that often haul's some heavier stuff. That's at least partially additional pin weight!

It's my opinion to pick a 5th wheel with most of this weight centered near the trailer axles and not too forward or backwards from the trailer axles. That way, whether you are loaded or not doesn't substantially change your pin weight...loaded or not.

Given the above, what you are looking for is two things. Manufacturers actual or "as built" pin weight (dry) and the maximum loaded spring/axle/wheel/tire rating on the 5th wheel. (Ask your salesman or you may see an "as weighed" sticker on a manufacturers sticker inside the unit. An external sticker is required by federal standards that gives you axle ratings of the 5th wheel, but not the "as manufacturered" weight.)

The final thing we looked for was a fairly substantial load caring capability. We computed that by subtracting the allowable weight from the federal sticker from what the manufacturers dry weight was. This gave us an estimate of how much we could add in fluids and gear in the trailer. We figured only 15% to be transfered as pin weight to the truck because our tanks and kitchen was near center to the trailer axles.

Further, I'd be careful about 2700 pounds on the DRY pin weight. Seems a bit much...but might depend on how you load and what your interior lay-out is.

Good luck!