Ok, so after doing enough research to make my eyes burn I'm having a hard time determining what choices I have for forged wheels (not cast or machined 6061 billet).

A little explanation is probably in order...

Truck is a 2012 3500HD 4x4 diesel Chevy, but single rear wheel. Before I get blasted with the DRW / SRW debate, I went SRW because pots and pans (GF) is only 28 years old and drives like every woman in her twenties. Rear fenders on a dually wouldn't last 12 months even as little as she'd drive my truck.
Its also my daily driver and I already have enough chit to pay for without having a tow vehicle just sitting around. The places I go on a regular basis make a dually a pain in the azz. Been there, done that, prefer not to.

The boat is a 29 Fountain twin screw, I think around 9000lbs with trailer etc. Tongue weight is not that big of a deal so the boat is a non issue.

But, I am going to end up with a smaller gooseneck trailer soon, size dependent on safe wheel / tire load and being sensible about not maxing out capabilities.

5th wheel hitch weight capability on the 3500HD SRW is well in excess of any safe wheel / tire load available (16k+), so it seems within reason my limits are the wheels and tires.

Falken has a 325/65/18 Wildpeak A/T tire that has a 127 load rating (3860 lbs) at 65 psi cold. That puts me at 7720lbs max minus the safety margin. Its a 34.4 inch tall tire so has 8.2 inch tall sidewalls.

Falken also has a 325/60/18 Wildpeak A/T tire with a 124 load rating (3525 lbs) at 65 psi cold. That puts me at 7050 lbs max minus the safety margin. Its a 33.2 inch tall tire so has 7.6 inch tall sidewalls.

And lastly, Falken also has a 305/55/20 Wildpeak A/T tire with a 121 load rating (3195 lbs) at 65 psi cold. That puts me at 6390 lbs max minus the safety margin. Its a 33.1 inch tall tire so has 6.55 inch tall sidewalls.

So to you guys with real world experience - it seems obvious that the shorter sidewall helps stability and won't roll as much in the sidewall. At the loss of payload capacity.
Can I get your opinions on how much worse a 8.2 inch tall sidewall is compared to a 7.6 or (gulp) 6.55 tall sidewall?

And for wheels, I'm having a hard time determining whose wheels are forged, and finding load ratings. Have any of you been through this already and could help me with some wheel supplier names? I've spent hours online... and don't have a lot to show for it.

I know some of you will perhaps right away say I should have bought a dually. For reasons stated above, I couldn't make it make sense. So I'm just trying to find the best compromise for my specific situation and not leave something on the table with the SRW options.

Any prior experience would be greatly appreciated gentlemen!

PM me and I will tell you everything I know. I haul commercially using a SRW cummins, and love it! Yes most on here do not agree but over 1 million safe miles speaks or itself! Your on the right track and will never look back at a DRW again.

Here is just some of the info I have in this thread.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/t...installed.html

Forgot to mention... I bought the long bed 3500 to have the extra wheelbase for towing.

And the reason I'm looking at Falken is they are a company partner = free tires. But I'd buy tires of another brand if the difference in load rating was significant.
However, for an All Terrain tire (which is what I want) it seems the recently released Falken Wildpeak A/T is one of the highest load rated tires in its class.

offshoreexcursion, I'll hit you back with a PM.

I'm presuming this is a somewhat regular process and decision for all the guys adding aftermarket wheels and tires to their SRW trucks? Or do most people just bolt fancy wheels and tires on and not think about it?

Rookie...I use to haul some heavy loads with a srw. had problems with breaking studs when i was running after market wheels, cause the center hole of the wheel was bigger then the center flange on the axle so all the weight was been put on the studs. So when looking at rims make sure the center dia is correct

I don't think anybody is going to tell you that you need to go DRW for a 29 Fever.

You definitely shouldn't spend money upgrading to a Gooseneck for that kind of weight either.

P.S. - I bet with T 840's in there that thing HAULS ASS!!

Rookie, I hope you're aware that 2011+ GM 8-lug trucks now have a 8 on 180mm bolt pattern due to larger wheel bearings which makes finding wheels even more difficult.

k.knuth - Yes a common problem to be sure, I see it on race cars all the time too. As long as the center bore is too big I can machine some centering rings on the CNC. Appreciate the reminder.

Seafordguy - The 29 Fever isn't the thing I'm thinking of. Its for the gooseneck enclosed trailer I plan on buying. The better wheel and tire load rating I can come up with the bigger (within reason) gooseneck trailer I can tow. The truck has plenty of capability, its the aftermarket wheels / tires that so far are the limiting factor with payload weight on the rear axle.

Plum - So I am starting to find out

I figure if this is a group discussion, as this gets figured out hopefully it might help some others. I've sure taken my share of knowledge from OSO, so hopefully I can try to return the favor.

I have learned though that gooseneck ball weight should only be 20 to 25% of total trailer weight. Thats the one factor I didn't know until this afternoon. So doing some quick math...

If I had a three axle gooseneck trailer with 5200lb axles, thats 15,600lbs total. Figuring the trailer by itself could weigh 7000lbs (to be determined) that leaves me with around 5500lb payload capacity in the trailer still leaving a 20% margin for safety.
Math: 15,600 x 20% off = 12,480.
12,480 - 7000 trailer weight = 5480 trailer payload.
12,480 x 25% max gooseneck ball weight = 3,120 on the rear axle.
The 325/60/18 Falken Wildpeak tires have a 3525lb max load rating - more than most. So again, leaving a 20% safety margin thats 2820lbs per tire, or 5640 lbs.

5640 lbs is still around 37% more than the estimated gooseneck ball weight on a 15,600 lb trailer. But this doesn't include the weight of the truck by itself on the rear axle yet.

It appears it would be quite easy to buy too big of a trailer that weighs too much empty, and not be able to put anything in it without getting in trouble with weight on aftermarket wheels & tires.

Next step is looking at the rear axle weight of the truck and adding that into the mix.

It looks somewhat obvious the aftermarket wheels will be coming off and the stock wheels with E Rated tires will be going on for any gooseneck duty. So be it, and somewhat expected.

Shoulda got a Ford.

For any of you that care to know the final outcome...

3500HD SRW 4x4 with Duramax max rear payload is 4143lbs. Rear GAWR is 7050lbs. Without going to the scales I'm figuring that means rear axle weight empty is 7050 - 4143 = 2907lbs. Sounds about right.

So per wheel, 2907 \ 2 = 1454lbs.

The BMF S.O.T.A wheels that Plum has and the KMC Addict wheels have a load rating of 3200lbs per wheel. So 3200 - 1454 = 1746lbs max payload per wheel. That allows 1746 x 2 = 3492lbs max payload on those wheels.

The 325/60/18 Falken Wildpeak A/T tires are rated higher than the wheels at 3525lbs each, so no problem there.

For bumper pull boat towing at 15% ball hitch weight, that wheel / tire combo allows up to 23,000lbs towing capacity on the aftermarket wheels. Math: 23,000 x 0.15 = 3450lbs. That's way more than I'd want to pull behind a SRW and be comfortable, and also above the 26,000lb all up weight for a Class C license when you add in the truck .

For gooseneck towing at 25% ball hitch weight, that wheel / tire combo allows up to 13,968lbs of trailer gross weight capacity on the aftermarket wheels. Math: 13,968 x 0.25 = 3492lbs. Add the truck weight of 7457lbs + passengers and gear + 13,968lbs trailer weight and it's still only a couple thousand pounds off the 26,000lb Class C license limit.

All these are based on the manufacturer recommended maximums of course.

But what all this really means is, as long as I chose the higher rated wheels and tires, that I am a moron and really had nothing to worry about

I'm sure some of you are nodding your head in agreement. Lol...

Ha, the Chevy beats both the Ford and Dodge in Diesel Power Magazine and Car & Driver Magazine testing. The Chevy is faster both loaded and unloaded and brakes in shorter distances, too. Plus, it cost less than the other two.