I see a lot of 2500's running around on BFG rubber that is not Load Range E rated like what came from the factory. What kind of weight are you folks towing with Load Range D tires? I would like to swap my 245/75R16's out for a set of BFG T/A KO 275/70R16's but they are only D rated. I do not want to sacrifice my or anyone's saftey for looks. Just curious what kind of real world loads the D's will handle. Once, maybe twice a year I will be towing a 43' boat 300 miles one way that on trailer will be pushing every bit of my 12K tow rating. Other than that the max tow weight will be in the 9K range. Thanks!

Look at the tire manufacter's website and get the actual weight rating per tire. You will find the load range alphabet is a joke. Some D's rated higher than E's.


Look at real numbers.





The tow rating for the truck plays only a small part in tire selection. Most of that weight will be supported on its own axles. Look at what will be hanging on the truck.Edited by: sb62

Hahaha, A guy at work bought an old police car. The tire shop he took it to wouldn't sell him anything less than what was on it. They were 160MHP rated tires. They asked him if he did any high speed driving. He said he liked BBQ in the next town but he didn't think it was that good to go 160MPH.


I won't mention the name of the company but it is supposed to be their policy. Guess they got sued and well.... common sense never seems to win.


The tires need to have the rated weight on each one under ideal conditions and pressure. Cold or heat might change that a bit.


I haven't see a big difference in price in most cases. The ride reported seems to be the big difference along with the load.Edited by: jefro

I have BFG's on mine, my tire rating on the sidewall is higher then what the truck comes with....

The load range only tells you how much air pressure the tire is rated for. Load range E is 80 PSI while load range D is 65 PSI. You have to look at the tires actual weight carrying capacity to know how much of a load it is rated to carry.

I have always ran BFG AT/KO's on my trucks. I pull my 5er with a kingpin weight of 3200lbs and gross trailer weight of 15.2K lbs. Inflate them to 65psi while loaded and go with it. They are far better tires than the POS Tombstones, oops, Firestones, that came on my truck. I have never had or heard of problems with the BFG AT/KO's caused by towing. Go by load rating and you'll be fine. Also the BFG's have a three ply sidewall, where as most others only have a 2 ply.

Range isn't just how much air they take. E's are 10 ply, D's 8 ply...

I had replaced stock rubber with 265 load range E firestones. Tires swayed even at max pressure. Since then I have changed to 265 BFG'S, load range "D". They have the exact same weight rating and an extra ply in the sidewall. Much happier with the BFG's. I tow a 9000# equipment trailer (tag along). I also tow an 8000# camper(tag along) with 2- 600# atv's on a rack in the bed.

The alphabetical load range designations, ie. Load Range "D" or "E" are industry wide values, and are not set by the tire manufacturers. Each tire size, such as LT245/75R16 has an acceptable load for that Load Range letter under a specific air pressure. A Load Range "D" therefore carries a different acceptable load if it is an LT245/75R16 than a Load Range "D" for an LT265/75R16 size.


The "LT" stands for "Light Truck", whereas tire sizes that begin with a "P" are designated as "P-Metric" sizes. The "P-metric" sizes are Load Range "B" and are much lighter- and carry much lower loads than the same size built to the heavier "LT" designated Load Ranges of C, D, or E. The tire sizes, loads and inflation values can be found on many manufacturers sites, or from the "Tire & Rim Association".


The terms 6 or 8 or 10 ply as associated with LT tire sizes actually is just generic verbage denoting the load carrying capacity that tires years ago with that number of plies could carry. With the switch from Bias ply tires to Radial ply construction the old 6 ply tires became designated as Load Range C, 8 ply became Load Range D, and 10 ply became Load Range E. New generation Radial LT tires are more accurately denoted by their letter designations of C, D, or E, as most only have 2 or 3 ply sidewalls, but will carry the equivalent loads of the old 6, 8 or 10 ply tires.


Examples: An LT245/75R16 Load Range "C" @ 50 psi carries 2205 lbs.


An LT245/75R16 Load Range "D" @ 80 psi carries 3042 lbs.


An LT265/75R16 Load Range "C" @ 50 psi carries 2470 lbs.


An LT265/75R16 Load Range "D" @ 80 psi carries 3415 lbs.