2000 F-450 4X4 7.3L Auto Trans Stock as they come.

I am in need of new tires for my truck. My truck is used for pulling a roll-off dumpster trailer so I am in and out of the landfill often (mud, re-rod, nails, lots of bad stuff and more mud). The tires that I have are 225/70/19.5 with a highway or on road tread. I will probably stick to the same size but would like to know what you guys think as far as brand and style. Would I be better off with "all around" tires or with steer tires on the front and drives on the back?? I know that an "all position" tire on the front would give me better traction in 4x4 but I don't want to lose steering control on ice and rain.

Any ideas are always welcome.

Tim

 

I wasn't even aware that tires came in a 19.5 size! I have seen 19's.....but never 19.5. Sounds like a ploy to charge more for tires to me

 

I thought they were all 19.5s

 

I recently re-tired my F-550 a couple of years ago with the same size tires. Be prepared for sticker shock.
My wife's cousin own's a couple of tire stores in the Corvallis, OR area and he told me that Michelin are the ones that give him the least amount of problems.
They are also some of the most expensive.
Don't get the straight highway tread like I made the mistake of doing. They tend to follow the cracks in the road. Stick with the all-weather, all-around tread and you'll have the best of both worlds. That's what I am getting next time.

 

look at Rickson Truck Wheels webs site. They are one of the sponsors listed on this site. They have alot of info on 19.5s I would put a traction tire up front if you have 4x4. Your steering and traction will only be improved in adverse conditions!

 

Kumho makes several tread styles.

 

19.5s are a commercial tire size. They came factory on the 99 and newer f450 and f550s. Most medium duty trucks have 19.5s.

 

So no one thinks that I will have a problem running a non-steer tire on the front? Anyone have experiance with re-treads on the rears? I have good cores but I have never had re-caps. Any thoughts?


Thanks for all the replys

Tim

 

All those interstate alligators that you have to drive around and then 1/4 mile later is the semi-truck sitting on the shoulder, waiting for the service truck to arrive. Those are re-caps.
Re-caps are a lot cheaper, but also a lot more troublesome.
Choice is yours.

 

A recap on a virgin core that you know the history on isn't to bad if the outfit doing the recap is good.But I really wouldn't rotate recaps on to the steer axle and you need to keep the air press. checked reg. I know it's not the same but on my dually I run 6 allterain tires they are 10ply 16" and I have no problem with the steers I have them rotated every 5,000 miles.

 

the KRD02 Kumho is what i run on all 6 tires. I've been very pleased. check this link. pricing was very good compared to most also. Barney

http://www.kumhousa.com/tires/commer...ck/regional.do

 

I think it really depends on what kind of miles you put on your truck. If it is local delivery type no problem get the drives recapped. If your running all day long at highway speeds I would go with new virgin tires. Heat seems to be the biggest killer on tires and recaps. JMO.

 

I think for your usage I'd look at more of the on/off road style. You can go to the Michelin website and see all of the tires and what they're designed for. In a commercial tread like that the terminology is a little different than you see in a LT tire. Drive axle, Regional tread . .. things like that but you can pretty much figure it out just by reading.
FWIW, mine are, on their site, listed as regional drive axle radials. They work just fine both on and off road, and by off road I'm not going to Tahoe just construction sites. But we've got a good mess of snow and ice at the moment and they're great on that too.
You might get sticker shock but another way to look at is is lifetime of the tread. You've got a truck that needs an E rating and you buy something with an H and a load cap of 6500lb each, they're not going to wear very fast. Mine came with 21/32 of lug and here we are about 15K miles later and I havent lost 1/32 of it yet.

 

My dad made the mistake of putting a "steer tire" on the front axle of a 4x4 F-550. Horrible decision in my opinion as the wheel is powered and not driven so to speak. Its on a landscape dump truck so it saw off road use and got stuck regularly. Good thing ford bought that back!

 

I never run recaps your size but did run Bandag caps on my dump trucks and had very good luck with them,they lasted as good or better than virgin tread

I alway run all position on all my trucks