before I spend the money ??

N

newcumminsguy

New member
okay new to owning a dodge here is my plan i have a 40ft 9 horse trailer and i will be hauling it from FL to KY weekly everyone has told me to get a old 12 valve cummins... so i did the truck i will be pullin with is this.......
1997 dodge 3500 2WH 12 valve .
now that being said truck has a 3'' body lift but motor and trans all stock from top to bottom..
NEED TO KNOW IF THERE IS ANY BAD REASON i should not run a nice set of22.5 semi wheels on this truck i would really like to, but i want to make sure they will do okay on the highway and in and out of farms please anyone let me know of any reason not to run these on this truck
are they safe?
will they hurt my auto trans?
will they mess up me rear end ?
can the wheel adapters hold the trailer ok?
 
A friend of mine did those on about the same truck, in my opinion it drove like shift. It felt and steered heavy. Go with 19.5
 
So, you plan to do this trip weekly and your first thought is to put 22.5" wheels on a truck? Man, I'd see about a good converter and trans work first. Make the trans reliable. Save the good front end parts from getting worn out fast. I'd want to make sure the ride was comfortable if I was in it that much. Like said, 19.5 and some good rubber would give you good life in tires. Last I checked, there were a few companies making direct fit options with no adapters.

Just my .02
 
I didn't know

new trans in truck as of last week .i am doing front end all over now in shop i was just thinking it would help sit the truck a bit higher but i didn't know about the ride being not the same when i called the companys who make the wheel adapters they say the ride is the same if not better. now i did know about front end work may need to be done yearly lol, but was needing to know would the truck hold the loads it will pull with those wheel adapters and tires? and would really liek to know how much does those wheel change the ride??
 
trying to find a set now online to see what they go for maybe that is the way to go ,.
however i guess i have the same ??'s on the 19.5 wheels hauling big loads
 
I wouldn't touch a truck with a 3" body lift...

Just run regular 16 or 17" wheels... big wheels and tires will just tear up the truck and eat up fuel mileage
 
I'd have got a 06-07 Cummins or duramax, heck maybe even a 6.4. You can't beat a 12v motor but the tin cans they're wrapped in leave a lot to be desired.
 
I can't complain about the 2nd gen 12v trucks... they're no cheaper/crappier than a 3rd gen Cummins. a lot cheaper/easier to fix, fewer electrical issues, and have a better engine.
 
I wouldn't put 22.5's on for that much driving let alone towing. I have two close friends that did them on their trucks. one was a 06 and one was an 07, the guy with the 07 did a lot of highway driving and ran them for a matter of a month before selling them. My other friend, we did the lift and 22.5s about a year ago and its mainly just a around town fun truck, the truck drove like a dream before we installed them and now he's on his 3rd set of ball joints (not the cheap ones) we've had to replace every frontend steering bar, hub's ect.... They look great but the problems that come with them are never ending.
 
Take the body lift off go with 235/85/16 or 235/8017s and it'll tow just fine.

Focus on other things that will make it tow better.

Stabilizer bars
Add a leafs
Air bags
Exhaust Brake and valve springs
Chevy 1 ton rear drum mod
 
Last edited:
LReiff said:
You can't beat a 12v motor but the tin cans they're wrapped in leave a lot to be desired.
Click to expand...

I've had less trouble keeping the "tin can" going than my engine. Every 12 to 15k I have to do engine maint (other than scheduled), about every 30 to 35 k on the rest of the truck. Ford and GM lovers usually spout the crap about the "inferior Dodge wrapper". Apparantly they aren't the only misinformed ones out there.
 
wow that is a lot of great input i guess i need to do some thinking now, one on the things i was thinking is 100k on those tires,,and i was ok with front end work yearly ,, the truck seems to sit alot better up that high but i have not drove it down the road yet

they say it does not hurt the gears or trans if you run those tires i'm not sure what to think about that.
 
newcumminsguy said:
wow that is a lot of great input i guess i need to do some thinking now, one on the things i was thinking is 100k on those tires,,and i was ok with front end work yearly ,, the truck seems to sit alot better up that high but i have not drove it down the road yet

they say it does not hurt the gears or trans if you run those tires i'm not sure what to think about that.
Click to expand...

"They" would be full of mush.
 
GAmes said:
I've had less trouble keeping the "tin can" going than my engine. Every 12 to 15k I have to do engine maint (other than scheduled), about every 30 to 35 k on the rest of the truck. Ford and GM lovers usually spout the crap about the "inferior Dodge wrapper". Apparantly they aren't the only misinformed ones out there.
Click to expand...

1. Dash

2. Dodge wiring

Nuff said...
 
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