Zackclarke
New member
Has anyone tried running a wider rear tire on a SRW HD truck for more stability while hauling a truck camper? Like a poor mans dually of sorts. I was thinking like 11.5 fronts and 13.5 rears? Same diameter of course. Thanks.
Pour Man’s Dually
- Thread starter Zackclarke
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UglyViking
Well-known member
Wider diameter tire on the same size wheel is going to flex more. 11.5 to 13.5 isn't a absolutely huge jump, but it's not going to help with stability, if anything it's going to hurt it.
You could install wider tires with wider wheels. That will help but obviously the more extreme you go the more wear on bearings because the vast majority of that extra width has to go outboard, so it's adding leverage. A buddy of mine ran american force wheels in 12" width, on his Ram 3500 and said it notably improved his towing stability, which I don't doubt, just no free lunch here.
Generally speaking, if you want to improve performance for carrying high COG loads, you should look at some sort of suspension (ie. airbags, leaf spring replacement, etc.) and an upgraded sway bar (Helwig is the king here IMHO).
You could install wider tires with wider wheels. That will help but obviously the more extreme you go the more wear on bearings because the vast majority of that extra width has to go outboard, so it's adding leverage. A buddy of mine ran american force wheels in 12" width, on his Ram 3500 and said it notably improved his towing stability, which I don't doubt, just no free lunch here.
Generally speaking, if you want to improve performance for carrying high COG loads, you should look at some sort of suspension (ie. airbags, leaf spring replacement, etc.) and an upgraded sway bar (Helwig is the king here IMHO).
The leverage on the bearings will also depend on the offset of the wheels used. If you add width to the wheels but also adjust the offset so the added width is split between the inside and outside of the wheel mounting surface, the bearing wear shouldn’t change.
However if the added width is just outboard, then yes the added leverage will accelerate bearing wear.
UglyViking
Well-known member
Yes, however most OEM wheels are already sitting pretty far inboard, so generally speaking literally any aftermarket wheel is going to add negative offset, and the wider the wheel the more negative the offset. This is not to say the wheels are guaranteed negative offset, just that they will be less positive offset than OEM.