P versus E tires

RobertN · Apr 1, 2013

It is not uncommon to see a 5,000lb limit, 500lb tongue when used w/o weight disti hitch...

GManBart said:
Good point. I started looking at the bumper hitch last night, and might have to resort to the manual to check on that. I wouldn't be opposed to he weight distro hitch either way....won't hurt anything.

Gary Fowler · Apr 1, 2013

I got a 12K rated trailer 20 feet in length that I pull with my 1/2 ton chevy Z71 crew cab truck. I got the 20 foot with 3 foot dove tail so I have plenty of room to balance the tongue load. E rated tires are about 180 bucks each as I had a flat once and ruined one. Another reason to have 12K rating rather than 10k if you have a flat tire, you don't overload the remaining tire too much while getting it stopped. When I put my P7010 on it, I have about 3 feet of trailer in front of the FEL bucket when I have it tongue loaded right and it pulls really good.
I did overload my hitch a month or so back hauling 10 of the 4x5 round bales of hay on it . I had 2 rows of 4 which completely filled the 20 feet of bed and then put 2 more over the trailer axles. My truck was setting down pretty good in the rear so I know the tongue weight was exceeded but it pulled fine and didn't break anything. I told my brother in law that I wont do that again though especially since he has a F350 with diesel engine setting in his barn (in storage for his daughter who is in Japan with her army husband). Tags are expired but I would chance that before I want to damage my hitch. I guess when I get back from my Angola 10 week assignment I am going to put on a load equalizer hitch.

newbury · Apr 1, 2013

I'm surprised no one has mentioned it BUT. I've read here and on the powerstroke forum that if your vehicle is rated to tow 10K max in some places the LEO will issue a ticket if you are pulling a 12K rated trailer - even if it's empty.

2458n · Apr 1, 2013

Even I might be able to beat that ticket in court.

Diamondpilot · Apr 1, 2013

I would go with the LT tires.

Chris

GManBart · Apr 1, 2013

newbury said:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned it BUT. I've read here and on the powerstroke forum that if your vehicle is rated to tow 10K max in some places the LEO will issue a ticket if you are pulling a 12K rated trailer - even if it's empty.

That would be pretty funny. That's like a ticket for driving a car that can exceed the speed limit.

Then again, I don't worry too much about tickets :laughing:

mikehaugen · Apr 2, 2013

GManBart said:
I keep doing the math, and if I assume I'm only loading the trailer, and it's right around 10K, I don't see how I'd go over the limits for the P rated tires. The truck empty is ballpark 5,500lbs, and the tongue weight shouldn't be over 1000lbs, so I'd only be adding 500lbs to each rear tire. They should be able to handle that pretty readily, it would seem

Am I missing something? Oh, BTW, the trailers I'm looking at all have brakes on both axles, and I've got a lot experience pulling heavy loads (drove big rigs, tandem dumps with tag-alongs, cement mixers, etc as a kid).

The E rated tires are actually $8 cheaper per tire, so it's not a cost thing, I'm just wondering how much harsher the ride will be going with the E tire, and there's no way to guess at that. Thoughts?

Keep in mind that adding 1000 lbs to the hitch will add more than 1000 lbs to the tires as it will transfer weight from the fronts, especially without a weight distributing hitch. As others have said, I would go with lt tires... but you probably don't necessarily need E rated- would probably be fine with D if available. That seems like a good compromise between the 2.