After reading and rereading every post I could find about spacers and larger tires I finally did it. They're 265/75 BF Goodrich Commercial T/A All Season, Freds famous 2" spacers, and stock rims. With 75lbs pressure they ride a lot better then the 215's with 60lbs did. Also coated inside of spacer with Never Sieze so they don't become one with the hub. Here in Illinois they put down a 1/2" of salt because there is a chance of snow.

They look nice think i might try it on my truck too.

Can you estimate how far out they would be from the rear fender without the flares you have on?

1/4" to 1/2" past fender on mine. It really makes a mess on fenders if you go thru mud. IMO the 265/75/16 with the 2" spacer is a great combo.

I'll be switching to 265's with Fred's spacers here shortly. My dually is a chassis-cab, so it has a narrower axle, and the extra 4" will make a big difference. Right now, it looks like the utility body is too wide for the truck...

Can you estimate how far out they would be from the rear fender without the flares you have on?

I have pretty much the same setup only differences being Alcoa Magnum's (6.5" wide) and BFG T/A KO. They stick out about an inch and also make quite the mess on the fender. Not much mud out here in SoCal though. I did the setup to help in the sand dunes (stock tires are worthless) which I should be trying out next weekend. Pics are in my garage if you are interested.

bcserl---what is actual gap between your tires now with the spacer?
Lookin to do same thing when I get new treads especially for when I pull into dunes as well.

Thanks for the post / thats exactly the setup I want to run when I need rubber/ Glad to hear from someone thats had good results with that setup

That's the main reason I did this post, just to show how it will look and work if someone was thinking of doing this. I've gotten a lot of info off this sight and hoped this would help somebody make their decision.

mine hang out about 4" with a 9' flatbed

I just put new tires and wheels on this past Saturday. I have run Fred's spacers one year and they still look like new. I have the same tire size, but in a Mastercraft courser ct-c with American Racing D-8 wheels.

You can't go wrong with Fred.

how much did the spacers cost?

$310.00 to your door

bcserl---what is actual gap between your tires now with the spacer?
Lookin to do same thing when I get new treads especially for when I pull into dunes as well.
2". So with no spacers the tires would be touching. This is with the Alcoa Magnums which are 6.5" so not sure what the stock wheels space would be.

Also coated inside of spacer with Never Sieze so they don't become one with the hub.

I wish I would have done that.

BTW where did you get the fender flares?

The flares are part of the full length fiberglass running boards. A local truck accessories store. Painted and installed for $750

The flares are part of the full length fiberglass running boards. A local truck accessories store. Painted and installed for $750
Dozerhand, What brand are the running boards?:help:

I need to order tires in the next week or so for my 05 dually do u think this is the way to go?

I have about 8,000 miles on my 265 tires and freds 2 in. spacers on my 2005 dually and love them........:D :D

got my tires in the garage and the spacers should be here tomorrow cant wait!!!!

got my tires in the garage and the spacers should be here tomorrow cant wait!!!!

When you get the spacers , would you mind taking a picture of them before you put them on and posting it , thanks.

Looks great...that will be the way I will be going on the next set.

well they are on with cooper discover atr's and i absolutely love them best damn thing i have done yet!!!!!

Did anyone have to "key" the front end to get the tires in without rubbing ?

nope just mounted the fronts and did the spacers in the rear. No rubbing no trouble no problems. A great addition to the truck!

How much did it throw your speedo off ???

can anyone post side pictures of the 265's?

I'm assuming the very first post in this thread with the "thumbnails" are the 265's..:p:

They are - but they don't show at all how they fill the fenders. They show whether they stick out, but not the side view.

I want the 265's!!!! and I can tell my wife that even with spacers it's alot cheaper than new wheels, Is there actually more space than needed with those 2" spacers? Would appreciate info on the safest way to run 265's. If "Fred's" 2" are the way to go thats what I will do, but a space like I have now(less the an an inch would be my preferance)

Stock 215 rims will be too small right?

the 6.5" stock rim will just take 265
you could mount 285 but thats pushing it especially when
aired down for sand driving .. 265 is fine, 255/85 is within recommended
width for that rim
have fun
gmd

Looks great. I got a 07.5 on order and want to do something with the wheels right out of the gate.

Have any of you guys with 265's noticed any significant change in power when loaded due to the larger diameter of the tires? The reason I ask is that when I went to 245-19.5's, I noticed that especially when loaded, the truck just did not have the power to get going that it had with the smaller diameter tires. I don't know what the effevtive axle ratio would become with the bigger tires but I sure could notice the lack of power!

Has anyone had any issues with the spacers holding up to the stress of towing . Looking at doing the 265 swap soon but dont want to worry about strength . Dont know if 235's may be a wiser choice but am definately tired of the 2wd look and a 4wd truck . Grateful for any input .

I have 235s and I still run Freds spacers. Doubt you will have any problems towing. I tow a fiver with no problems.

so the spacers are needed no matter what i guess. does anyone think this combo would work. 235/85 or 255/85 on alcoas 2006 dually i will need 2 inch spacers could i do 1 inch spacer i have a utility bed. thanks for the help. reluctant to pull trigger on order and make a project out of it. thanks

This is a great thread, so I will contribute something here.
Truck is a 2005 Chevy k3500 dually. Black of course.
I also have Freds 2" spacer, very high quality.
Put em in along with an RCD 6" lift when the truck had 110 miles on it.
Wheels are stock inner 6.5" and Alcoa Hot Shot 6.5 outter and Fronts.
Tires are BFG AT's, 315/75R/16. Very quiet on the road, handle great on the road, in the snow and in the sand. Mostly use the truck to go camping and allways camp with our 24' TPD trailer in tow.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s128/KnotSo/IMG_0098.jpg
Side view showing how far tires stick outhttp://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s128/KnotSo/IMG_0306.jpg
Tires with 2" spacer after 2 years:http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s128/KnotSo/IMG_0158.jpg

See ya!

As for power loss, I didn't notice much, maybe a little. Fuel milage is the same acording to the thing in my dash, I don't check it on paper, when the tank is low I fill it. The speedometer is now corect going by the little trailers the cops set up with the radar on them saying your speed. It was off by 3 mph with the 215's. The truck does have a smoother ride. In the tire show room the 265's looked a lot bigger than the 215's, but on the truck IMO, they fit the size of the truck. They are the size that comes on the 3500 with single rear wheels.

Thanks Dozerhand, thought that no one w/ 265's ever paid any attention to fuel consumption! After my reduced mpg, reduced power feeling and increased braking pressure feeling with the 19.5's, I'm a bit gun shy to change tire size on my dually. Seven tire mistakes would be costly.

This is a great thread, so I will contribute something here.
Truck is a 2005 Chevy k3500 dually. Black of course.
I also have Freds 2" spacer, very high quality.
Put em in along with an RCD 6" lift when the truck had 110 miles on it.
Wheels are stock inner 6.5" and Alcoa Hot Shot 6.5 outter and Fronts.
Tires are BFG AT's, 315/75R/16. Very quiet on the road, handle great on the road, in the snow and in the sand. Mostly use the truck to go camping and allways camp with our 24' TPD trailer in tow.



Truck looks real nice. But what is that white stuff on your truck and the ground??? I sure would not want any of that on my truck.

I just had 235's installed on my 02, i wanted bigger but the tire shop said they can not work on any truck with spacers because they snap off. I haave a full size 1ton van i can put these new tires on if i can get enough info on the spacers to show they wont snap while towing. The 235 BFG'S look alot better than the stock rubber for sure.

grafton,

do you have stock wheels? what brand tire did you get/ 235 no spacer is the reargap like stock with 215? i really dont tow much but do have utility bed they varies in weight always. thanks alot. i want to get 235 with alcoas. i really did not feel like getting into spacers.

how much taller is a 265/75/16, than the stock 215 tires? and would 285/75/16 tires fit w/spacers and w/out cranking the torsions? or would they wear down the middle funny cause of the narrow wheels?
02 cc/3500 drw d/a
thanks

235/85/16 on Eagle alloys. No spacers.

I've recently updated my garage with several new pics. I tried to include all the views that have been requested in this thread. I thought I'd share with you that the 1-1/2" spacers are a good option for 265s.

I have had the 265 Revos on for about 7k miles. I love them so far. There is a little increase in road noise when compared to the factory Americtrac. Truck rides much better with the 265s. I've towed 10k lbs (28' enclosed tag) w/ 2500 lbs tongue weight with no rub. I run 70f/62r psi lightly loaded and the tires are wearing great.

Truck is at factory ride height. The front tires are about 1/4" from the front valence (GMC), but have never touched and the truck has been over some rough terrain. I wouldn't worry about lifting the front for 265s.

Many thanks to Fred. He was great to work with when I was unsure of what I wanted. I ended up trying three sets of spacers. After trying the 2" spacer, I decided to go with the 1-1/2" to tuck the tires in a little more. (Yes, I did notice that there is about a 3/8" offset to the rear end. One side does stick out about 3/8" further than the other.) There is 1" between the tires at the pressures above with about 500 lbs in the bed.

I had to trim the studs for the 1-1/2" spacers, but it was no big deal. A sawzaw with a new blade works great. I only lost one thread on the stud. I just cut the knurled end off.

I decided to go with the steel spacers. I was a little leery of torque’n the aluminum to factory spec. They felt a little soft at 100 ft-lb. The steel spacers weigh about twice what the aluminum spacers weighed. It's been a while, but I think the 1-1/2" aluminum weighed around 12lbs for the pair, and the 1-1/2" steel weighed around 23lbs for the pair. Fred told me most like the aluminum for the weight savings. If your real concerned about the strength you can always go with the steel for an extra margin of safety. If I had it to do over again, I would really consider sticking with the aluminum to save the weight.

I did notice a little decrease in power and mileage. It's hard to get a good feel for the mileage. I installed the 5" exhaust, truck topper, and bed slide at the same time. My driving habits changed a little with the new exhaust. I was averaging around 14 (around town) before, and now it looks more like 13 (around town). Some of that could be the heavier foot. Mileage is hand calculated running LSD.

I just put on Michelin LTX M/S on my dually with Fred's 2" spacers. Sweet! until I went to put my Lance back on. I freaked out for a minute because it didn't appear that the wheels would fit inside the jacks with the extra four inches of width.:eek: As it turned out I have about 1/2 inch to spare on each side. Once I got it lined up it was fine. I did have to take the weight off the jacks and spread them out a little before I ran them back up. I think it is going to make it easier to center the camper in the bed in the future. I was worried for a few minutes:D

Anyone running 285/75 r16? I have 4 of these tires in my garage from my previous SRW HD and would like to switch to this size and only buy two more. It sounds like I would need spacers...anything I'm not thinking about? If you have these on your dually could you post some pics? Thanks.

bbdc, what kind of tires did you put on what kind of clearance between tires.

thank you

blksmok

take a look at haulinbowtie his site shows his truck with 265/75 i dont know 285 might be to big. i didnt think 265 would fit rim. you will need spacers . i think no matter what.

haulinbowtie, what is the biggest tire you can put on 6 inch rims .


thanks

Yeah, I forgot about the rims being so narrow. I don't think it would work with 285/75's. I think I'm going to go with some 19.5" rims and 245/70 tires.

mbs - Technically, a 255 is the widest you should run with a 6.5" rim per the tire mfgrs. 2001-current are 6.5". The rims before 2001 were 6". I'm not sure, but I think a 235 or 245 is the widest recommended on a 6" rim.

I was a little concerned about the 265. I wanted to go 255/85, but the options for an A/T are very limited and from everything I read I would need a leveling kit for the GMC to keep from having to trim the valence. I played with the tire pressures until I got good wear pattern.

There are a couple of guys on here with a with 285s (one black CC and one charcoal grey CC - IIFC). It looks good, but that is more than I wanted to push it on the width with a 6.5" rim.

haulinbowtie,

thankyou for replying so many things to take into consideration. i have 1984 dually it has 235 i guess i could do 255 i think the rims then (stock)were 6 inch. my 06 dually came with 215 as you know that truck has a utilitybed and works everyday. i guess i could do 235. i want to get alcoas for my 06 i want to make the right decision the first time to do rim and tire together. so what do you think. 235 with alcoas will i need a spacer?. i had revos on my 01 single rear i thought they were a good tire. i think i can get those in 235. how many miles on your truck. nice lookin truck.

I searched the forums already, I have a 2002 cc/da/drw w/265/75/16 all the way around w/2" spacers, stock wheels, what kind of air pressure should I be running (unloaded) they are e-rated so I will probably run 80 when towing, right now I have 70 all the way arouund, have a feeling the rear tires will wear out th middle if I leave them that way, front may be okay.