[Satz28]

Does anybody add air (above the recommend amount stated on the door tag) to the front tires when you are getting ready to plowfor the season?

If so do you keep the tires slighty above the recommended amount for the entire season?

Is the amout 5, 10, 15 PSI? Or do you add to the max amount as stated on the tires?

 

[snowjoker]

I prefer to run mine soft so I have increased traction maybe 40psi on my tires 235/85/16 which will take 80 psi.

 

[Ecurb]

Same here drop them down to 35 in the front and 28-24 in the rear....I run no ballast or sander. Spring they go back up to 65front 60 rear unless towing

 

[wyldman]

BE CAREFUL RUNNING LOW AIR PRESSURE WHEN PLOWING !

You will actually need more air in the tires when you have the blade on.Most trucks are running right up near the max FAWR when carrying a blade.Why would you only run 30 PSI when the door sticker or owners manual calls for 80 at max loaded weight ?

For most trucks,you should be at or very close to the max pressure on the sidewall (hopefully it's the correct load range too).If you have have a smaller truck,with a gas engine,and a light blade,you can run less.A bigger truck,with a diesel,and a big blade would need the max air pressure.Too little air pressure can cause tire failure.

The rear can be dropped if your not running as much ballast.You really should have a decent amount of ballast,which requires a fair amount of pressure in the rear too.Most trucks with 5-800 lbs of ballast can get away with 60 or so in the rear (for a load range E tire).

 

[John Banks]

Chris, how about the added amount of heat generated with a lower tire pressure? Sounds crazy for winter driving, but I imagine this can cause problems as well. eg rolling resistance, etc.

Also, lower pressure means a typically wider tire yes, but a taller, narrower tire is better than wider in the snow.

 

[wyldman]

It's the heat that is the problem John.Nobody thinks about it in the winter.Even at low speed,and in cold weather,an overloaded tire can quickly overheat and fail.

The problem is every truck is different,and the loaded weights,and the tires being used.

Scale your truck loaded,as you would normally plow with it.Find your axle weights,and divide by two to get the loaded weight per wheel.You can then look up the minimum tire pressure from the manufacturer.Some vehicles (mostly trucks) will have a tire pressure chart in the owners manual.You will probably be suprised just how much pressure you need.

 

[wyldman]

I prefer to run mine soft so I have increased traction maybe 40psi on my tires 235/85/16 which will take 80 psi.

At 40 PSI your tires now have an effective load rating of only 1800 lbs ! That's only 3600 lbs of total front tire capacity.I'm sure your WAYYY over that with your truck.Air them up !

 

[Ecurb]

I guess i have checked tire heat and decided they run fine. I also do no road travel many accounts(too many) in a 5 mile radius. Never have seen the need for balast unless something went wrong with the 4x4 and i have had a guy dump a load of snow in to get me to the end of the night.(in 2 wheel) Seems i get a bunch better fuel milage with the least amount of weight. I run gas motors in all my plow trucks so not a lot of weight. Guess i am lucky 33 years aint lost a tire....now i will go out and put the spare in(JinXed) It does drive like a sprint car in the middle of the night when your flyin around...but what do you expect from and ole circle track driver LOL We never folloed the rules 7-8 lbs in the left rear now thats scarey at the start :cash Probaly could go up a bit with this new duellers as they stick like glue.

 

[John Banks]

I had one if my guys in the F-550 last week hit a curb or something with the outside right rear wheel. He noticed when he got back to the garage that the tire was low. He put some air in it and thought all was fine. That was until the tire went low again. Sure enough, with about 3 tons of material in the dump body, the tire heated up and blew out. Thankfully with the dual wheels, we were able to limp it about 1 1/2 miles to the local tire shop that we do most of our business with. A new (recap) tire and $125 later, we were back up and running. I tell all the guys to do periodic spot checks of all the trucks and equipment every few hours or so.

 

[Alan]

It's not that you'll see extra heat from running soft in the winter but you will get more fatigue in the sidewalls from all the flexing.

It might be a good idea to put the front axle on a set of scales, if you have access to any) and see just what the weight is when the plow is lifted. If you're anywhere near max you really should be runnign air pressure at max as well.

In an idea world you should have fronts inflated higher than rears unless you're running a spreader. Rolling radius, the distance from the ground to the center if the tire should be the same on both axles. Nobody does it, and I'm not sure it's possible, given the varying load conditions, but it would eliminate a lot of the hop and steering twitch we get in 4wd.

I saw an extreme example of mismatched rolling radii on a snowblower at the airport in Lebanon, NH. This was a monster blower on a big, forward cab, Oshkosh chassis. The blower was the typicaly huge airport rig and had originally had hydrauliclly lowered helper wheels to take some of the weight off the front axle. They had removed the wheels and started breaking rear axles. They let on that it was usually when they had the blower raised that an axle would let go. My theory was that they had run afoul of mismatched rolling radius. The fronts were squashing down a lot from the weight of that huge blower, changing the radius of the tires. When the blower was lifted that made a huge torque build up in the drivetrain. The rear axle being less heavily loaded I think that a tire was breaking loose and then grabbing, when the torque got too extreme, and the shock load was snapping the axle.

 

[wyldman]

When scaling the vehicle,you also need to add in a little safety margin too.When braking,with the plow on,there is a huge weight shift\transfer to the front wheels.This can add up to a 1000 lbs or more of front weight when braking.

 

[Satz28]

I forgot about the heat issue, but had concerns about the added weight. The local oil change had taken air out of the tires to the recommended setting, and I had to have them put the air back in.

 

[EZSnow]

FULL SIDEWALL PRESSURE!

We're not running sandrails, here. If you can have a full contact patch with the tire at full sidewall pressure, then the tire needs that air to support the weight.

The goal of "airing down" in off-roading is twofold:
1. to increase floatation in loose terrain such as sand or mud
2. to allow the tire to conform to obstacles, as in rockcrawling.

I can't imagine how either of those would help while plowing. I run full sidewall in all 4 tires almost year-round, unless I'm going road-tripping with an empty bed/hitch. (not likely) It's all about the profile- if your tire has more than a slight bulge when loaded, you probably need more air for that application.

BTW- no flaming intended- but for goodness sake, start carrying some ballast- it makes everything better. If your business can feel the difference between 4.2mpg and 4.3 mpg, then it will really enjoy the increased productivity from carrying some weight in the back.

 

[EIB]

I run 80psi front and rear.

Everett

 

[CT18fireman]

We run them right up at max. The work truck sees this year round anyway. My truck I air up a bit for the winter to take the weight of plow and spreader. In the summer I drop it down slightly for a better ride.

 

[cardoctor]

when im out plowing the truck is fully loaded
i run 75psi all around
john

 

[bud16415]

EZSnow summed it very well I thought when he said “look for that slight bulge when loaded” I find that is maybe the best indicator of any as to when you are aired up correctly. Not to say weighing the truck front and back loaded and referring to the manual isn’t a good idea also.
I also subscribe to the other school of thought a little. I have a ¾ ton with a fairly light plow load and only run 500 pounds of ballast with limited slip rear end. the only time I take the tires to full pressure is when I’m running fully loaded. I run them just a tad hard in the summer by the foot print test / bulge and for me that’s around 55 / 60 PSI on the load range E tire. With the higher pressure in the front. They run smoother and less noise and better mileage slightly harder and when I throw a load in I’m in fairly good shape. They do wear a bit more in the center that way. the way my truck is loaded if I took them to max pressure IMO I would be way to hard unless I had a ton in the bed. In winter I drop them back to a slightly bigger bulge. Maybe 5 to 10 PSI lower is all. I plow a lot of gravel and drive thru tons of mud in the fall and winter months. I think the snow and mud clears from the tread better. And being slightly lower I think the tread wear evens up.
Keep in mind tire pressure also drops with temp.

As for weight. This fall I made the ballast bumper and its fair to say I really notice a difference. Hanging 300 pounds on the back didn’t seem to change drivability at all and IMO works much better than 300 over the axle as I used to do. It’s doing a great job of protecting the rear end also. My friend that did the welding for me on it was skeptical about the 12 inch high monster and how I hung it fairly low. Well 3 days ago he got rear ended sitting at a light in his ¾ Dodge. Small car totaled Dodge rear bumper mangled and hitch bent down. He’s now cutting up the rest of the 12 inch C channel for his truck. you guys that don’t add weight might want to think about one of these.

Bud

 

[TLS]

80psi on all 4.....why chance it?

With the big BOSS out front, and two ton of salt/equipment out back, I need/want full capacity.

Not to mention, a full front tire will prevent some of your front end sag when the plow is lifted.

 

[Ecurb]

If it works for you great. But hangin 300 lbs of ballast off the back end of your truck is not a great idea if you start to slide or get in trouble.(not really great idea on anything from a 18 wheeler to a tri axle to a race car) Think of it this way. Were would you want the weight on a base ball bat when you were swingin it if you had to check up? On the end of the bat or a little bit closer to your hands? If you use ballast it really should be over the axle. I think i have run some ballast in the past but its not needed in my case. Its harder to stop. Its more weight to tranfer going back and forth. All and all it tougher on equipment. Now i am just using chevys with gas motors and no spreader here. Small lots that i split up. Not plowing roads On tire pressure i do watch front tire bulge. My tires will never wear out they just get old and cracked and need replacement...dont use trucks too drive much other than plowing and 2 trips a year to the dock with the boat..

 

[wyldman]

300 lbs hanging off the back end of the truck will barely affect handling at all.If you were driving at a race track yes,but in the snow,you won't be going that fast around corners anyways.

I've got at least that hanging off my bumper (2 of them actually),and I can step out the rear quite easily with the loud pedal.It doesn't swing around like you think it would (the baseball bat theory).It handles no worse with or without the ballast at the rear.

You should be running at least some ballast.I have never seen a truck yet that was even close to balanced without some ballast in the back.Your weight bias will be way off,and traction,handling and braking will all suffer.It's actually way harder to control (with no ballast) than with a 300 lb bumper on the back.