RedOne

I am going to get new LT tires for my truck.
Stock tires are Scorpion ATR P275/55R20s with specs:
Weight 48 lbs
Dia 31.9" tall
Rating 2403 lbs
652 Revs Per Mile

I am thinking about getting 10 ply Michelin LTX A/T2s.
They are in sizes LT285/55R20 or LT275/65R20.

Specs on LT285/55R20 are:
Weight 53 lbs
Dia 32.4" tall
Rating 3305 lbs
643 Revs Per Mile

Specs on LT275/65R20 are:
Weight 61 lbs
Dia 34.1" tall
Rating 3750 lbs
610 Revs Per Mile

Leaning on getting the 285s as they are not as tall so I will not loose much in the way of torque and mileage when towing our 5er but I really like the taller looks of the 275s as it has larger sidewalls on the 20" rims. Does 2.5" taller tire make that much difference as it only makes truck sit 1.25" taller?

My signature has truck and trailer info in it but I am only a weekend warrior camping about a dozen times a year. Truck is normally a daily commuter of 60 miles per 5 day work week.

Who has upgraded their tires to LTs and what size did you go with?
Did you loose much in pulling power and mileage up sizing?
Please let me know what your experiences are?

Buying tires the end of this week...

smokeywren

Taller tires affect the speedo, odo, and tripmeter accuracy. And they also change the effective rear axle ratio to make the truck "feel like" it has less power and torque.

The change in all those areas is the same as the percentage difference in tire revs/mile.

Standard tires have 652 revs/mile.

285/55 have 643 revs/mile , or 1.4% change to speedo error and axle ratio. 3.55 axle minus 1.4% = 3.50 effective ratio. You probably won't feel that difference. Speedo will be slower by about 1 MPH @ 70 MPH.

275/65 have 610 revs/mile, or 6.4% difference. 3.55 axle will feel like a 3.32. You will feel that difference when dragging a heavy trailer up a steep grade. 3.73 ring gear and pinion won't be quite enough to get you back the lost feel of power and torque, so you'll need to go to 4.10. Speedo will be slower by about 4.5 MPH. Indicated 70 MPH will be 74.5 on Officer Bob's radar gun. 400 miles on a tank of gas will be an actual 425.6 miles, so your "hand calculated" MPG is going to be off by 6.4% if you don't correct for the tripmeter error..

acadianbob

LT tires are great for towing. Keep the stock size. What makes you think that upsizing will provide any benefit? Or are you going for "a look".

Leadsled124

I upgraded to 285-70-17s on my 2wd ecoboost with 3.55 gearing. Mpg went down about 1.5 mpg, although at the right hwy speeds im actually the same (more rotational mass but lower cruising rpms). I am tuned though with gives me much more noticable part throttle tq, so that may be helping. Basically my all terrains are a 33" tire but only 10" wide as aopposed to a standard 33" that is 12". BTW they are LT's and now when i tow or load the bed with drywall the tires look/feel solid as opposed to the tiny 17" hankook oem pizza cutters. Oh i can also drive in the rain now which was scary on oems lol

RedOne

Thanks for the help. I ordered the LTX A/T2 LT285/55R20s. Only 1/2" taller and much better tire than the factory P rated Scorpions.

They should be here the end of next week for mounting.

volsbear

Interesting. I'll be shopping for tires soon. I've got 29,xxx on my crappy Wranglers and they look awful and the back end is starting to shake loose way too easy.