Ford F250 Front Tire Pressure When pulling 5th wheel

[mikeg]

Hi We are new 5th wheelers.  We have a 24 foot Coachmen 5th wheel with a total GVW of 9,500 lbs and a 5th wheel hitch weight of abouit 1500 lbs.  We are towing with a 2000 Ford 250 Super duty gas engine v10.  We have new load range E tires on the 5th wheel and have inflated them to 80psi as recommended on the tire.  We also have new load range E Michelin RIB tires on the Ford 250.  I have inflated the rear tires of the F250 to 80psi as recommended on the tire.

My question: How much tire pressure should I inflate the front tires on the F250?  Do I inflate the front tires to 80psi or something less?

Thanks in advance for your expert information.    mikeg













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[bross]

There should be a plate on the driver side door or door jamb of the truck that tells you what pressure to inflate the tires to. I have a chevy 2500 and it calls for 55# in the front and 80# in the rear.  I usually put a little more in the front when pulling the 5th wheel because of the added weight but never more that 80# which is max for the tires. 

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Your truck tires may be over-inflated at 80 psi.   The pressure shown on the tire sidewall is that needed for the tire to carry its maximum rated load, which may be greater than what is needed for the actual weight of your truck. Ideally you should weigh the truck and the trailer, axle by axle, and then look in the Michelin  tire inflation tables to see what pressure is needed to carry that much weight and inflate the tires on each axle accordingly.

 

[BruceinFL]

Check your Ford driver's door jam....the pressures will be listed there. My F-350 single rear wheel calls for 80 psi on the rear (which also happens to be the max load inflation on the tire sidewall) and 65 psi on the front. I keep 80 psi on the rear and between 70-75 psi on the front. Get better mileage that way even though the ride may not be as smooth. If I remember correctly, when I had a F-250 it was about the same.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Bruce,
Do you know if the pressure shown on  the door jam sticker is intended for a truck at maximum axle load or is it perhaps some other "typical load"? Passenger car labels used to show recommended pressures for typical load (some had a second number for a full load) but I've heard that most car companies changed to a number closer to max load after the Ford tire failure debacle several years ago. I would think that trucks would be more likely to use a loaded vehicle for the base measurement, but I don't have access to one to verify that.

Unfortunately, the federal regulation that requires the tire inflation sticker does not specify how it is measured and leaves it to the vehicle manufacturer to determine "proper inflation". Unfortunately, "proper" varies with both load and speed.

 

[BruceinFL]

Gary,

In the case of the Ford single rear wheel trucks, they don't specify that the tire pressure is for max load but one would have to assume that because the tire's sidewall pressure limit is 80 psi for max load and the Ford recommended tire pressure on the door jam is also 80 psi. And that would be so for a truck, since the tire pressures, especially on the rear axle, should pretty much always be at a point for max load since you never know when the truck will be loaded to its max. Guess it's a Ford CYA thing. I checked the placard again and the front axle recommended tire pressure is 60 psi but I always carry about 70 psi on each front tire and have never had a problem with handling nor with unusual tread wear.

By the way everyone, whenever your tires are rotated by a service facility, always check the pressures yourself before leaving the service facility. Happened to me more than once at several Ford dealers that they just rotated the tires and I ended up with 80 psi on the front and the lower pressure on the rear, even though I specified what I wanted on the service order.

Also, invest in a torque wrench and physically check the lug nut torques on each wheel before leaving the service facility. Can't tell you how many times I have found improperly torqued lug nuts.

Would rotate the tires myself but they're so heavy I might get a hernia.  ;D ;D

 

[Carl L]

Also, invest in a torque wrench and physically check the lug nut torques on each wheel before leaving the service facility. Can't tell you how many times I have found improperly torqued lug nuts.

Most of the time that can be traced to grease monkeys 'torquing' lug nuts with an air wrench.  Next time when getting the order placed specify manual torquing of the lug nuts and have that written on the order together with the torque setting.  Then use your wrench to check the job, first mistorqued nut, call the manager over and have the job redone right.

Next time they will remember the torque-happy SOB and do the job right the first time.