Community Forums

rlyons · 04-26-2013, 06:00 PM

Has anyone did the Ricksen wheel conversion on the pre 99 F53? I am considering it due to running my tires at max load now. I would like to have a little safety margin as far as the tires go. Just wondering if anyone did the conversion and how it worked out. The wheels are rated at 3,000 lbs each and I am running at 5300 front and 11,900 rear now with no water. No way to shift any more weight forward,just crappy engineering by Winnebago. That would give me 6,000 lbs front and 12,000 rear and more than enough even at 85 lbs air in the G rated tires or even F rated which I can not buy in the 16" tires.

Pirate · 04-26-2013, 06:54 PM

Yes, I did it on my old 97 F-53. I did it for one reason only, to get more safety margin on the tires. My XPS RIBs were at the max load capacity. You will not gain any carrying capacity with the Rickson change but you won't be running at the farthest safety margin either. I waffle back and forth as to whether or not it was worth the money but today I suppose it was for safety sake. I had a blowout on a front tire 16" and did not want to experience that again. I did have some issues though later with trying to get the wheel covers to fit on properly. The stud extenders were never long enough after the mod to keep the covers on right and I ended up losing one whichh wasn't cheap to replace. Rickson didn't seem to "involved" to get this fixed so I would make sure all this stuff is worked out in the total price before you pay the bottom line.

rlyons · 04-26-2013, 07:15 PM

Did you go with the F or G rated tires, which brand and did you notice any differance in the ride?

Pirate · 04-26-2013, 07:27 PM

I think I had Bridgestone R250's. I don't remember exactly but I do seem to recall a better ride.

rlyons · 04-26-2013, 09:22 PM

Thanks

wrot · 05-15-2013, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pirate

Yes, I did it on my old 97 F-53. I did it for one reason only, to get more safety margin on the tires. My XPS RIBs were at the max load capacity. You will not gain any carrying capacity with the Rickson change but you won't be running at the farthest safety margin either. I waffle back and forth as to whether or not it was worth the money but today I suppose it was for safety sake. I had a blowout on a front tire 16" and did not want to experience that again. I did have some issues though later with trying to get the wheel covers to fit on properly. The stud extenders were never long enough after the mod to keep the covers on right and I ended up losing one whichh wasn't cheap to replace. Rickson didn't seem to "involved" to get this fixed so I would make sure all this stuff is worked out in the total price before you pay the bottom line.

Where did you get the wheel covers, from Rickson also?

Pirate · 05-15-2013, 07:34 PM

Rickson provided the covers from a big company in TN, alcoa or something? Anyway, the stud extenders to hold on the rear covers were never long enough. Rickson sluffed me off to the company in TN who tried real hard to make it right. It never was right though. The extenders were never long enough to keep the covers on properly. I had to use locktite and eventually lost one cover somewhere. I would make sure Rickson has all that figured out before they get final payment or send it all back.

Pirate · 05-16-2013, 06:46 PM

After pondering this overnight, I think the problem may have been that the stock studs ended up being too short one the rickson modified wheels went on which left only a couple of threads for the extensions that hold on the wheel liners. I don't remember exactly but you get the idea. There was plenty of threads for the lug nuts but not enough after that for the extenders. So, you would need new studs, or at least two of them on each rear wheel.

wrot · 05-17-2013, 04:48 AM

Yes that's right, the wheel stud are actually short now with the stock 16" wheels. The wheel studs aren't threaded to the end and as the stud end narrows out there is close to a 1/4" of threads lost. The conversion isn't cheap either and I don't think it would be worth it for me because i may upgrade next year. Yesterday I priced out Michelin tires, XPS Rib 235-85-16 for my existing wheels, 3 to 4 week delivery @ $315 per tire. They priced a Bridgestone commercial tire 16", Duravis R250 is $235 per tire. Has anyone had experience with this Bridgestone tire?

rlyons · 05-17-2013, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrot

Yes that's right, the wheel stud are actually short now with the stock 16" wheels. The wheel studs aren't threaded to the end and as the stud end narrows out there is close to a 1/4" of threads lost. The conversion isn't cheap either and I don't think it would be worth it for me because i may upgrade next year. Yesterday I priced out Michelin tires, XPS Rib 235-85-16 for my existing wheels, 3 to 4 week delivery @ $315 per tire. They priced a Bridgestone commercial tire 16", Duravis R250 is $235 per tire. Has anyone had experience with this Bridgestone tire?

The Bridgstone R500 is actually a better choice. I put a set on last fall for 1300 a set of six installed tax and all. So far a great tire, rides good and run very cool.

garykk · 05-23-2013, 07:00 PM

Switching from 16 to 19.5 will also change your speedometer speed to reading slower and a slight lose of power. Just a thought....

Pirate · 05-23-2013, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garykk

Switching from 16 to 19.5 will also change your speedometer speed to reading slower and a slight lose of power. Just a thought....

Not true exactly. My 19.5 were almost the same exact diameter as my 16 tires, so no change. If you choose the wrong tire, you are correct, it could screw things up, but, it doesn't have to.