buddy26

Im getting new BFs under michelin warranty, ? is sears says D rated would last as long. Do these trucks need the E rating.

hoot

If it was me I would sell the BF's. Sidewalls are too soft for these trucks.

Riddler69

Depends on how much load you want to pull. Tread life doesn't matter on the load rating. E is just rated higher that D. I suppose you would put more stress on the sidewalls pulling heavy loads with D rated tires and that could cause pre-mature failure. Unless you are pulling 12K plus loads all of the time, D should be fine. Don't have the actual load rating numbers handy, but I believe D is rated around 3500 lbs per tire. Also, D is an 8 ply tire(65 psi max) E is 10 ply(80 psi max)

nelrod

8 and 10 ply is oxymoron anymore. The whole rating thing is archaic. They don't even have the actual number of plies it says on sidewall. They are, and should be going away from Letter rating and going by max capacity. I put 285/70/R17 on my dually that are D rated. However, the max load capacity was a little higher on this particular D compared to factory E. Rides 10 times better. I know it has one less sidewall ply and if I towed max everyday I would study it more, but for me I won't have another E that rides like a logtruck when I can get a D that has higher load capacity and rides better. Any of em can blow out. Works great for me just hauling horsetrailers and flatbed gooseneck. Just my deflated 2 cents worth.

Pop-Pop

Can't speak for anyone else but from time to time, I tend to overload my truck. Over the years I've broken axles & busted tires on 1/2 ton trucks. That's the main reason I went to 3/4 ton. If a 3/4 ton truck with E tires are too rough for you, get a soft riding 1/2 ton grocery-getter.

Hounddog

I would stick with the proper load range tire.If anything higher is better then lower.Have a blow out and a wreck and I bet some liabiltys could be involved all the way back to whom sold them.

mule3010

There are plenty of D rated tires that have significantly higher load ratings than E's do. It can get a bit confusing.
Joe

njmaier

I'd personally stick with E rated tires. I had BFG 315 D rated under my truck for a while, but the sidewalls wore out and warped the tire...basically making it out of round. The BFGs wore well, but I think the weight of the truck killed the sidewalls quicker than they should have.

RickCJ

You are required by law to run tires with the same or higher than factory rating, not lower rated tires. All Dodge with Cummins must run E-rated tires to support the heavy front end. Weight rating is not the same as D-E rating!

As for riding like a buckboard lower the tire pressure on the E's.
Look in you door for proper psi.

Runnin M

Stick with the E's

shonne

I do not know what your requirements are, but I have the Hankook Dynapro MT RT03 (35x12.50x16E and 17E) tire on both my trucks. Not too expensive, good wet pavement traction, and good off-road capability.

Tmc243

Quick tire lesson.

First the ply ratings were originated when they used to use cotton as the side wall material, (before my time, and that’s been a long, long time ago) not relevant anymore. The industry then switched to load range A=2 plys, B=4 plys, C= 6 plys, D=8 plys, E=10 plys etc. Here’s where it get a little confusing.

For any given tire size (265/75R16 for example), the Load range actually determines the amount of air pressure you can put in the tire. For a tire with a load range of C you can put a maximum of 50lbs of air in, a load range of D, a max of 65lbs of air in, and a load range of E a maximum of 80lbs of air in. The amount of air that you put in the tire determines the amount of weight that tire can safely handle, (using the same size tire, different sizes will handle different weights).

Let go back to our example tire a 265/75R16, at 50lbs of air this size tire is rated to handle a maximum of 2470lbs, at 65lbs of air this tire is rated to handle a maximum of 3000lbs of air, at 80lbs of air the tire is rated to handle a maximum of 3415lbs.

It doesn’t matter what load range your tire is, if it is inflated to 50lbs of air that tire is rated to handle 2470lbs. even though it is a load range E, if you need it to handle more weight you must put in more air pressure.

DBLR

This reminds me of the time I lived in Oregon the salesman at the big yellow sign Les S. told me that a 3-ply tire was just is as good as a 4-ply tire for my Dodge 1500. He went on to say the 3-ply tire used better cords to make it then the 4-ply did. Yet I noticed that the 3-ply could not hold as much weight as the 4-ply and it also had a softer sidewall. Needless to say I did not buy the tires he recommended.

Like the others have said buy the tire that is equal to what is listed on the doorpost just to be safe.

reb0957

But what has to be equal? The load rating or the weight rating? Is 3410 lb. at 65 psi in a D rated tire not as good as a 3200 lb. tire with 80 psi?

RickCJ

The load rating must be equal or better! An E rated tire has a stronger sidewall and tread area than a D rated tire.
Compare a ballon with 20 psi to an inner tube at 20 psi. Which do you think is stronger!