P or LT - again

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disallow
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P or LT - again

Postby disallow » Wed Oct 01, 2014 7:50 am

Here is a summary of what I've discussed in other posts.

I've decided to go with General Grabber A/T2s for the following reasons:

1. Decently rated A/T tire.
2. Has the snowflake, which makes it eligible for the 'winter tire' program through my car insurance company.
3. The P version of the tire comes with a 96000km treadwear warranty. LT does not, but I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that the treadwear would be similar if I kept the load/pressure the same.

Now I need to decide whether to go with P265/70/16 or LT265/75/16. The difference is the load rating, primarily. Keep in mind that I do occasionally tow a travel trailer, it has 400-500lb tongue weight, approximately 5000lb overall weight.

The load ratings for the tires are as follows:

P265/70/16 - SL Rated - 2469lbs x 2 tires = 4938lbs
LT265/75/16 - E Rated - 3415lbs x 2 tires = 6830lbs

The numbers I've been able to dig up is that our rear axle is rated for a maximum of 4200lbs. Therefore, it would not make sense to go with the LT tire, as the P rated tire exceeds that maximum load value by a fair margin. They would be way overkill.

Does my math make sense? Does anyone have better info on the rear axle max load capacity?
Last edited by disallow on Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:47 am, edited 1 time in total.


Kestral
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Postby Kestral » Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:28 am

I have some expierence with both towing and LT & P rated tired so here is my take on this. I once put LT tires on my Jeep Grand Cherokee and the ride went right out the window not only that but within 10,000 miles it really beat my shocks up from the extra weight of the tire so I had to get heavy duty shocks. The fuel millage really dropped off also I really did not see any advantage on my jeep to going to the LT tire. As far as towing I tow a 5,000 lb Jayco travel trailer or rather did for many years with my Toyota 4Runner (have not towed yet with my Pathy) the 4Runner did just fine with the stock Dunlop crap tires that came stock (P) tire. I also ran a Mastercraft Courser A/T tire that you could call a (Mid) it was not an LT and was not a P series tire. This tire had a larger or greater load rating then the P series Donlop but not as high as a LT tire. Frankly the Donlop P series tire did just as well towing with 5 psi more air in them then the recommended 35 psi (tire is rated for 44 psi max) as the Mastercraft tires did. The P series tire is more then up to towing your camper. And the less weight will be less wear and tear on your truck suspension.


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