19.5" F-450 in snow

JD3020 · Nov 28, 2016

I'm looking for some experience on how 19.5's handle in snow or slush. Both towing and running around unloaded. We have a 26ft snowmobile trailer we take to northern Michigan, along with moving skid steers around during snow removal if needed. So its pretty common to be running in 6"+ of snow. Especially up in Michigan where you can hit some roads with damn near 12" of untouched snow during a big storm. We've always had 4wd SRW's or SUV's which get around fine, but never ran a DRW.

Reason i ask is we're talking about putting a V-box salt spreader on my F-450 if we get a large commercial lot, and i'm also looking at selling my Jeep and maybe the OBS to get another F-450 that would be my year round truck. My current 450 is a crew cab 2wd/open diff with Firestone steers and aggressive Hercules drive tires. If it were to go out it'd have quite a bit of weight in the bed which i know would help some. And the truck i'm looking at is a crew cab 4wd, with a fiberglass Fontaine bed. Continental steer tires on the front, and drive tires on the rear. It would more than likely get a toolbox and 120gal tank in the bed, but still fairly light on the rear. I'm sure the 2wd with a salt spreader would get around here alright, but just concerned about towing with these tires.

AllGo'N'Show · Nov 29, 2016

Continental's are garbage in the snow but the Michelin XDS2 with lots of siping work wonders. I just did ~3in of fresh snow on the highway this last week with no issues, 53ft trailer ~24k lbs in tow. Wouldn't even attempt that on the Continentals, they are good for dry summer only or turning into smoke while the XDS2 are on order to your tire shop.

sootie · Nov 29, 2016

they suck. unbelievably. There is a good Michelin tire out there that makes it a little less worse.

AllGo'N'Show · Nov 29, 2016

Last year with XDS2 and little trailer, first picture is top of mountain waiting for jackknifed semi to be cleaned up, second picture is 8 hours later at bottom of mountain getting coffee to continue the trip. Not that horrible, much better than the sledbros with M/T's out flipping their trucks over.

JD3020 · Nov 30, 2016

Are you running them on the steers and drives? The guy with the 450 i'm looking at said years ago he tried running aggressive drive tires on the front and it ate them up in no time, and obviously can't rotate with aluminum wheels. I've also been told the same thing from some contractors we work with that have 450/550's and run aggressive tires up front because they are in mud a lot. Not that i plan to put many miles on the truck, probably be pushing it to hit 15k a year.

Stroke_this · Nov 30, 2016

I pretty sure this is what I have all the way around on my plow truck.

Downey · Dec 1, 2016

JD3020 said:
Are you running them on the steers and drives? The guy with the 450 i'm looking at said years ago he tried running aggressive drive tires on the front and it ate them up in no time, and obviously can't rotate with aluminum wheels. I've also been told the same thing from some contractors we work with that have 450/550's and run aggressive tires up front because they are in mud a lot. Not that i plan to put many miles on the truck, probably be pushing it to hit 15k a year.

Why can't you rotate alums? Just move them front to back and swap your inside tires from side to side.

79jasper · Dec 1, 2016

Well with the earlier trucks (Like 90's Alcoa) the inner rear was a plain Jane steelie. And also only the outer side of the wheel was finished.
I've heard something about the front having a thicker mounting flange. But nothing to back it up.

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JD3020 · Dec 2, 2016

On my 01 with 19.5" alcoa's the inner dual is steel, and the front and rear wheels are only polished on one side and stamped front or rear. Can't be rotated. I assume they are all that way.

Ciras · Dec 2, 2016

All DRWs suck in snow.

Some will remove the outer dual and turn the inner around to match the track of the front wheel. Granted, you lose weight capacity, but a salt spreader or snow mobile trailer won't be any where near a 450's rated limit.

The key is ground pressure. A wide tire or light/no load will not push the tire through the snow down the road surface.

Worstenemy453 · Dec 6, 2016

JD3020 said:
On my 01 with 19.5" alcoa's the inner dual is steel, and the front and rear wheels are only polished on one side and stamped front or rear. Can't be rotated. I assume they are all that way.

You swap the steel from left to right and then move the alum's as you see fit. All 4 alum's should interchange still assuming tires are the same and non directional.

AllGo'N'Show · Dec 15, 2016

JD3020 said:
Are you running them on the steers and drives? The guy with the 450 i'm looking at said years ago he tried running aggressive drive tires on the front and it ate them up in no time, and obviously can't rotate with aluminum wheels. I've also been told the same thing from some contractors we work with that have 450/550's and run aggressive tires up front because they are in mud a lot. Not that i plan to put many miles on the truck, probably be pushing it to hit 15k a year.

Sorry for slow response if you were waiting for me. Yes XDS2 drives on the front as well. I still killed drive tires before front tires with the mileage and work I put that truck through, rears would be 20% and fronts around 50-60%. The shoulders of the tires did wear a little (feathering as we call it), alignment at 120k seemed to lessen that wear but it was still there. I ran them higher pressure for heavy weight and the truck was always in really tight city spots then highway speeds so it got all sorts of abuse on the front steer axle while loaded up.