halftrack said:
Unless you want to be going through tires relatively quick, use the Max pis posted on the tires. It will tell you what the pressure should be for duals and singles.
Sorry but this is wrong. The MAX PSI is for when you have the MAX weight on each tire. For Ex. Say each rear tire is rated for 2000lbs and you have duals on each axle. So that gives a total load capicity of 16k lbs . OK So if you have a total of 16k on the rear axles and the tires say 80 PSI Max then in this case you need to put 80 PSI in them.
Otherwise you will wear the centers out of your tires in a very quick manor. You need to find out what the maker of the truck recommends for tire pressure at your rated load. Say empty. Most are half what the MAX PSI is if you need a generic answer.
Being most do not drive their trucks on road at high speeds for long distances the wear will not be as noticable.
But your tire wear and mileage will tell you just where you need to set them if you learn and watch them.
Higher pressure will net you more MPG (less surface area touching the ground) but it will in turn eat your tires. Each truck has its own happy medium you just have to find it.
And for a prime example.
I loaned my brother my 2500 Ram CTD over the winter last year to drive since he needed a car and couldn't afford one. Its E range tires are 80PSI Max. Well being the idiot my brother is trying to help he actally checked the PSI in the tires one day at the fuel station. (I am stunned he even did this.) But anyway they were at 35 front 40 rear. He then filled them all up to 80. I got the truck back this summer in July (After I bought him a Jeep Cherokee because he kept damaging my truck) to find out all 4 tires were bald in the center after the 3500 miles he put on it. So it now has new tires.
And FYI that winter he managed to make me get a new windsheild, New hood, New hinges, and took out a 35' light pole on the side of the street with my cow killer front bumper. If that bumper was not on there I would have lost the truck. I have still yet to fix the bumper and replace the broken headlight buckets.
Sigh
If any of you ever meet my brother. Don't loan him something with wheels.