Tire sizes

IH trucks are VERY heavy for some reason??? My old 9400i with full tanks (300 gal) and a C15 weighed in at 20,150 lbs. Bobtail the front axle was at 11,900 !!!!

My dad drives for Wal-Mart and he said his Pro-Star with an ISX has a front axle weight of 11,600 bobtail !!!!

My current Western Star Lowmax with the C15 and full tanks (230 gal) weighs only 19,700 with me in the seat and I am able so scale close to 46k in the tank !!!

 

I've got 11R24.5 tires on my truck and wouldn't want anything smaller. I like having sufficient ground clearance...both for clearing obstacles in the road & at job sites, but it also makes maintenance easier when I can easily roll under the truck from one end to the other on a creeper with the grease gun.

I've also got 4.17 gearing in the rears.

If I had LP24.5 or 11R22.5 tires, 3.94 gearing would be close to the same...or 3.86 with LP22.5 tires. Wouldn't be exact...but would be in the ballpark.

 

Yup, the Pro Stars are heavy. I'm around 11,700 on the steers, bobtail. Usually run around 12,400 loaded. Never (touch wood) had a problem at the scales, but with the APU, they give me an extra 400lbs anyway. Tractor bobtail, with full fuel is 22,300lbs.

 

You could have my t800 it goes 13800 on the steer bobtail loaded whatever. I run 24.5 talks on the steer to get the weightrating without going to widebase tires which suck! Lp 24.5's on the Rear just for a little more gear reduction for starting these heavy ### loads I pull.

 

Always run 24.5 tall rubber all the way around. If I went to a smaller tire on the trailer I'd never get the bumper over a dock lock.