Tire Presure - 2003 Dodge 3500

[John]

I lost my door so now I have no label to tell me what Dodge recommends. Anybody willing to let me know? And please don't ask how I lost my door - it is really embarrasing.

[RustyJC]

John,

How did you lose your door? More importantly, do you have a replacement for it? It's getting cold, you know!!

Your 2003 has 17" wheels and tires, so it is probably different than my 2002 with 16" wheels and LT235/85R-16E tires, but IIRC my sticker says 60 PSIG front and 55 PSIG rear at maximum GAWRs. I'll bet a 2003 dually owner will check in here pretty quickly.

(On Edit: After thinking about it, I believe the sticker may say 55/50, and I just add 5 PSIG to those for good measure.)

Rusty

[John]

Thanks Rusty. The body shop after three calls finally found my door and peeled off the sticker. It's close to your data; LT235/80R17-E with 55 front and 65 psi rear. I want to drop the pressure for solo driving but cannot find what information I used to come up with lower PSI but it seemed like the rear was as low as 40 lbs? As to my idiot mistake; in an almost empty Walmart parking lot I decided to make a hard left and turned hard into a cement post topped with iron pipe and stop sign. It caugt my front door at the mirror and continued to the rear fender. About $9K - lots of new parts. And looks and drives good now. But boy did I feel bad.. There are a couple of pictures here. Not very good pics.Wreck

[RustyJC]

John,

Ouch!! Don't feel bad, though. When my truck was new, I was backing into a parking space at a meeting of the Houston Cummins and Powerstroke clubs. There were probably 50 people in the parking lot. They all looked my direction when I backed into 2 steel pipe poles sticking about 3 feet out of the ground - below the tailgate and hidden by the dually fenders so that neither the inside nor the outside mirrors revealed them. That cost me a new rear bumper plus the requisite paint job (the Sport has body-color bumpers). To err is human, I'm told.

(Again On Edit: I just went out into the garage and checked the sticker - 55 front/50 rear.)

Rusty

[Jeff_in_The_Dalles]

I generally run mine at 65 front and rear, but then my personal preference leans toward a firmer ride.

55/50 would probably be perfect for no load or light load.

[Bill1374]

Unloaded I like 65 in the fronts and do drop the rear to 40.

Bill

[wittmeba]

If you read the words closely on the sidewall, it states something like this:

Maximum pressure ###PSI at maximum load of ###LbS.

So I scale the pressure to the 'real' load. If the max load is 3315# and I am running 3085, then I would use 3085/3315=93%. If my tires are rated 80# PSI, then I would use 93% of 80 = 74 PSI minimum.

In reality I would split the difference between the calc value and max - so I would run about 76-77 psi.

I always use the information associated with the tires rather than stickers on a door. They do not know how my rig or TV might be loaded. Just as I would not ask a Tire mfg what kind of wood to use to fix my RV.

[CD]

Go to the tire Manifacture's website and find their tire pressure chart. As I remember, on my dully, 40lbs. will carry the max. rear axle weight. Since I use the TC at times I use 55. I like more stability. I run 65 in front.

[Jeff_in_The_Dalles]

I went out and looked at my door sticker.

It defines no/light load as 2 people and 200 pounds, and says 60 front, 40 rear.

At gvwr it says 65/65.

I think I've got mine at 70/65. I don't usually adjust when I'm empty. Especially in the summer the truck gets driven empty very little.

The rears are showing slightly more wear down the centers, but I don't think it is enough to effect the life of the tire much, if at all.

When I get the stockers replaced, I'll get some metal valve stems, and add the little extension things. That sould make it easier to change pressure, and I might start airing down for the middle of winter.