Gladehound

Is there any standard procedure that wheel manufacturer's follow to rate wheels? If there was, you would think it would specify a certain profile tire with a certain pressure. But they don't do that, so what does it really mean? Ford doesn't always follow the wheel manufacturer's ratings when certifying a truck. The sticker numbers for GAWR are sometimes higher than 2x the wheel rating from the wheel manufacturer.

don4331

SAE specifications J966, 328a, 175 & 267 describe test procedures to ensure wheels meet manufacturer's ratings.

Note: All Ford OEM vehicle wheels are manufactured to Ford design & manufacturing specifications no matter who actually builds them. Therefore, Ford has rated the capacity of the OEM wheels.

I haven't seen any examples where the GAWR is more than 2X the wheel rating of the original wheels, but there's always a 1st I suppose.

Atlee

On my 2014 truck with HDPP, the rear axle is rated at 4800#, and each wheel is rated at 2400#.

Gladehound

There was a whole thread on here about the 2015+ HDPP "heavy duty wheels" not being rated as high as the axle. The thread started claimed that the wheels were rated at 2275 pounds. So 4550 combined. But the axle rating on the door is 4800 pounds. This is the basis of my statement above.

I tried to link to the source he listed and could not. Perhaps it was bad information. If anyone can dig up the rating on the 2015+ HDPP wheels that come with the XLT and Lariat, I'd be interested to know the real rating because I can't find it.

don4331

2017 Ford F150 eSource Book, page 57. 17 and 18" steel wheel, HDPP ones, are limited to 2275lbs. How do you get a GAWR greater than minimum component rating?!

Gladehound

Thanks Don! Unfortunately, the link doesn't work for me. Does it also include the rating for the aluminum wheels on the HDPP XLT and Lariat? This all might just make sense if the wheels on the HDPP XLT and Lariat are rated at 2,400+. I know from my door sticker that XLT has the 4,800 GAWR. Another person on this site has the 2018 Lariat and they also have the 4,800 GAWR (contrary to the spec below). The Body Builders Layout Book specifies that they should have 4,550 GAWR. I suspect this is an error and the 4,550 GAWR should have been matched up with the XL that has the wheels limited to 2275 pounds. If anyone has an XL HDPP we could confirm this is an error by checking the door sticker to see if it is indeed a 4,550 GAWR. I'm attaching the information below that might be in error (see rear GAWR for HDPP Lariat and XL)

don4331

Gladehound the chart had all the wheel choices:


Kind of as an aside: My RCSB 5.0 4x4 XLT is over front GAWR with just my son and I in cab & full fuel tank. We are bigger boys - ~475lb between 2 of us but that really is only 25lbs over 3 x 150 lbs "average" individuals. It falls into what was Ford thinking - my truck would have been much better set up with 1-2 stage heavier front springs/1 stage lighter in rear. And there is nothing I can officially do to fix it now.

Gladehound

So that begs the question... Has Ford effectively recertified the HDPP wheels for a higher rating by certifying the truck with a 4,800 pound rear GAWR? It seems Ford has officially documented that Ford takes responsibility for any issues due to being over the wheels weight rating but under the GAWR and GVWR. I wonder if they did any independent testing and decided the wheel can take more than what the wheel manufacturer rated it for?

Apples

Huh. That's strange... from the info posted recently it would seem the OE HDPP wheels don't measure up to the rear GAWR?

Again, while I don't own an HDPP rig (my simple truck is a 6800# Payload Package, with front and rear GAWRs of 3150 and 3800 lbs respectively), and since I run an inexpensive aftermarket cast aluminum wheel, I thought I'd better bone up on it's rated capacity. These Ion Alloys (Model) 135 17 X 8 wheels have a Maximum Load rating (single) of 2200 lbs. *phew*.

Thanks to whomever it was that brought this up!