Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Tires for a 3500 Ram Deisel ?

I put Nitto Ridge Grabblers on my RAM last spring. They are much better than the OEM Firestone HTs, but for when hauling a load. They get squirmy even at max air pressure. So, I am looking to replace them with something as aggressive, but also handles a load better. Basically, something that I can haul my camp trailer to camp and then go hunting and be confident is snow, ice and mud and be strong enough to haul hay or other heavy loads. Any suggestions.

TOYO

Hard to beat Michelins.

Which Toyo

I have thought a lot about Michelins, but all I have seen are fairly shallow in the tread department. Mud and snow on dirt roads have been a challenge for the Michelins I have had on our suburban's.

I see Toyo has a new tire called the Open Country R/T Trail. If it has a stiffer sidewall than the Nitto it might be the ticket.

Are you using load range "E" tires? If you aren't you should be.
They won't ride as nice, but it'll help your squirmy feeling when hauling loads.

I'd look at these Falkin WP3's

Have a set on my 2500 HD Chevy-------------LT285-75x16's.....yes E rated

Ride great & wearing well

https://www.discounttiredirect.com/buy-tires/falken-wildpeak-a-t3w

OR

https://www.discounttiredirect.com/promotions/nitto-tires

Always "E"

How are they when hauling heavy or pulling a trailer. Mine would be a 28" bumper pull. The Nittos do well until I put a load on them, then they get squirmy.

Is that total trailer length, or the size of the camper? You may not have a tire problem, but a weight distribution issue with your camper. I had a 27' TT (32' trailer) and that's a pretty big camper for a SRW pickup.

It is 28" total. I didn't have a problem with the Kelly TSRs and maybe should go back to them. This camper doesn't even stress this 3500 Deisel and can you explain what an SRW pick-up is. I don't recall hearing that term before.

Look at Rixon wheels and the everlasting tires they sell.

Mine went 80,000 and still had legal tread.

I just thought of something these Nittos do that I haven't seen others do as dramatically. They increased pressure fairly quickly as they heated up and went to a higher pressure than others I have tried. This is all from what the computer tire monitors said.

SRW means single rear wheel, not a dually.

Thanks

Nitto Exo Grappler. They've got an extra ply in the sidewall, entirely different ride and stability vs. any of the 2-ply sidewall Nittos. I've used Trail Grapplers, Terra Grapplers, and I'm half-way through my 2nd set of Exo Grapplers on my '11 F250 diesel.

Thanks

I just checked them out on the Nitto website. With that tight tread pattern how are they in mud and deep snow? They look like they would be good on light snow and shallow mud, but deep stuff is what I can expect while hunting.

+1 on the exo grapplers. Probably my favorite towing tire.

I don't really use mine in deep mud. They are not an aggressive tire, but they do work well in snow. I have been switching to a studded tire for winter due to all the ice we get, but the exos handle snow quite well.

I see the Exo Grapplers can be studded also.

I've used Coopers and been satisfied pulling up to 14K.

I like Hankook ATM10s. They are 10 ply and used to be tough tires. I havent bought any in a few years but they were nice tires when i did.

That tire is a Les Schwab exclusive... they are touting that they designed it and are having Toyo make it for them...

you see over here in Oregon, they are selling quite a few of them. May be the fact that they are a little cheaper, than Toyo name on the side wall.

This is what I run, and I've been floored by how many miles I have gotten out of them...

If you can believe it ( as I can't!), but I've got a pair on these on the rear end of my Honda Pilot, that I've put over 100K on these darn tires and I still have good tread depth. They come off when winter comes, and I put the Hankook winter tires on the vehicle, which are mounted on extra rims from the bone yard. Their winter tires provide more traction on wet rounds than the AT 10s do come Oregon Monsoon season...

OK. No wonder I can't find them anywhere.

I avoid deep mud like the plague, however, I did once drop all but the passenger's side rear into a mucky springtime field. Driver's front was up to the hub, passenger's front about half-way to the hub, passenger's rear was still on gravel. They self-cleaned pretty well while spinning fast and we drove out of the issue with a lot less drama than I was expecting.

In deep snow they work quite well. I ice-fish here in ND a fair amount and I have yet to be stuck out on a lake. I have been stuck on a couple of blown-in hard-packed section line prairie trails that were harder than I anticipated.

The Exo's are the best AT tire I've used on either of my 2 F-250 diesels ('06 6.0, '11 6.7) on packed snow/ice. No, they're not as good as studded or the super-soft "snow-tires" like Blizzak. That said, they were better for me than BFG AT KO/KO II, Nitto Trail/Terra Grappler, or Goodyear DuraTrac.

I'm thinking of east central MT and eastern MT where gravel is a foreign idea. It rained opening day of rifle season and from past experience we would just be hanging around camp since the roads would be almost impassable. But sometimes this happens when you are already 'Back There", and it is good to have good tires to get you out. I bought into the hype of the DuraTrac and found them wanting on my 1-ton diesel.

Just talked to a friend who knows people who went back into where we had planned before the rains hit. They got their elk on Saturday and are still there because they can't get out due to the mud. This is the type of thing I want a tire to handle while still being able to haul a load.

Chains are nice to have in that scenario. Anything by Michelin is probably good to avoid.

The old bfg mt's were pretty good in mud and decent for towing. They had to be death on ice although I haven't used them in that scenario. A buddy of mine ran them a lot, but he had them studded. His weather checked really bad eventually. The newer design doesn't look like it would work nearly as well in mud.

Good grief!

Get the Toyo Open Country M/T's

I hunt some of that country as well. IME, there isn't any tire one could really depend on in "Gumbo", especially if you're towing and/or driving a diesel, they're just too heavy over the front axel. That's what chains are for.

I had the MTs on a 3/4 ton for a while. Loved them for mud and deep snow. Scary on packed snow and ice. They were also surprisingly good on the highway, and I didn't lose any milage. I would switch to a different tire for winter as I do now. What really frustrated me about them was if I was stopped on gravel with a slight incline I would just sit there and spin. Had to put it in 4 WD to get going. Maybe if I got them siped like I did the Firestone MTs I had they would be better.

I hauled hay and what not with them with no problem. Seemed to have a much stronger sidewall than these Nittos. The Mickey Thompson Baja Boss AT looks interesting, but I have never used them.

Yep, have used chains quite a bit. One time I went across a semi dried reservoir and sunk up to the axles getting stuck. Put chains on and pulled right out.

I have wild peaks on a few vehicles.

One is a drw f350 that packs a heavy load as a service truck and we do pull decently heavy trailers too. They have been pretty decent tires.

Might consider toyos also if you can get one with an open tread and some lug to it.

Trying to find tires remotely here, and not doing so hot. I bought a truck from Dave Smith and am planning to drive it back up here shortly.

Tried to locate a set of exo grapplers, and I have been striking out. Last guy I talked to made it sound like nitto may be rebranding/renumbering that tire. Even hackas are sold out lots of places. I had sort of resigned myself to buying blizzaks at Costco, because that seemed like a can't miss kinda deal, but I can't get any of the 3 Costco stores I called down south to answer their phone. I know I am getting to be an old fart, but not answering your phone is a really quick way to lose my business. So, I will probably have a report for folks shortly on how studded Hankook ipikes do towing with a diesel.

What size do you need? Capt'n obvious question but, did you check Amazon? Also Capt'n obvious, but, did you try to have the dealer order them for you?

Looks like Discount Tire in Hayden ID can have them in a few days.

Both obvious answers were too obvious for me I guess. I got the last set on amazon, but last time I looked they didn't want to ship them to me anymore. Ill see how the Ipikes do and then I have a while to find summer tires.

I made it up the alcan. About 2400 miles towing a gooseneck trailer that I am guessing was 8-10k lbs.

Studded Ipikes did great, and I got to run them in a lot of variations of snow/ice. 1000 ft/lbs makes towing a trailer way nicer.

Good to hear. I am not familiar with Ipikes.

I put Cooper at3 xlts on my ram 3500. I really like them in all weather and their handling with and without a load.

I tried the Duratrack a few years on my 98 Ram. I had about 17K #'s. Truck, camper, horse trailer, gear ,mules. Using a load leveling hitch. Even at max pressure of 80 pounds they were squirmy. I switched to the Cooper M&S and they were a lot better. Stiffer side walls stopped that. Both were E load range.

I have heard they have been changed though. Anyone know about that?

On my 2019 Duramax, 2500HD it has the factory Firestone on it. They are about 1/2 way between the Duratrack and the Cooper.

I don't do mud as I never been in that situation. I was only in deep snow once. 2ft + but I had chains all for with the Coopers. Two Dodge diesels chained together, pulling an empty 20 ft gooseneck up a steep FS road get out.

Around home with the Chevy or Dodge empty, 4wd is a must with any snow or ice. One steep hill where I hunt is loose gravel and the rears will spin, that requires 4wd ,even with the heavy load.

Looking to put new tires on next year. How do the Toyo Open Country M/T handle under heavy loads?

I run Toyo, Nitto, Nokian and Michelin.

Nokian is the best IMHO... Value and Durability.