Anyone tow with their Gen 3 yet?

[K9 EXPERT]

Semis have smaller sidewalls and larger wheels (19.5"). Also stiffer (giggity) sidewalls.

I never noticed that, but I will look the next time I see one. Thanks!

 

[gkrane]

I have towed a small trailer (Intech Explore) hundreds of miles through the deep sand surf fishing and it does fine.

 

[EricM]

When you said substantially stronger, do you mean the gear is thicker and physically stronger, it can turn more forcefully, or both.? Why are smaller tires better than larger tires? I don’t understand your example using a semi, as you said, they have huge tires, so I would think big tires are best? This benign subject has become very interesting to me!

Yes, the pinion gear is physically stronger, more steel. The pinion gear gets smaller and smaller each gear ratio you go up. It's one of the reason portal axles exist, you can run a more physically robust set of gears in the diff and still have a ton of gear reduction.

The air in the tire thing- ask your self, why do duallies exist? It has to do with dissapating the heat generated by the load placed on the tire. You can't just keep upping the air pressue in a small tire and call it good- it will overheat and blow out. You need to go to a bigger tire, or multiple tires. On small trucks, they add 2 more tires and you have a dually. On semis, they do it all - dually wheels, larger diameter tires and multiple axles. That also why the truckers like the super single tires- they have more air volume than the 2 duallies tires combined, so they run cooler.

 

[K9 EXPERT]

Yes, the pinion gear is physically stronger, more steel. The pinion gear gets smaller and smaller each gear ratio you go up. It's one of the reason portal axles exist, you can run a more physically robust set of gears in the diff and still have a ton of gear reduction.

The air in the tire thing- ask your self, why do duallies exist? It has to do with dissapating the heat generated by the load placed on the tire. You can't just keep upping the air pressue in a small tire and call it good- it will overheat and blow out. You need to go to a bigger tire, or multiple tires. On small trucks, they add 2 more tires and you have a dually. On semis, they do it all - dually wheels, larger diameter tires and multiple axles. That also why the truckers like the super single tires- they have more air volume than the 2 duallies tires combined, so they run cooler.

I never thought of a tire over heating due to a load, but it makes perfect sense. I know from collision investigation classes, depending on tire type, coefficent of friction of the patch actually in contact with the pavement plays a huge roll in stopping ability and similar to wet conditions, hot pavement can require a longer stopping distance. Logic dictates that the heavier the load, the more coefficient of friction and the hotter the rubber. I never previously thought of it!! I also looked closely at my tires on both the Raptor and new Lariat. Although the Raptors tires look big and bad, the tires on the Lariat have more than double max load capacity at 27000 lbs compared to 12000 for the Raptor. Obviously either truck can not carry that type of load, but whey are they so different?

How do you know this stuff?

 

[TomG]

I feel like when I check this thread in 2025, it will be 750 pages long and it will only be settled when we all agree to tow nothing more than a single bag of marshmallows in the bed with a 97lb jockey in the driver’s seat.

 

[K9 EXPERT]

I feel like when I check this thread in 2025, it will be 750 pages long and it will only be settled when we all agree to tow nothing more than a single bag of marshmallows in the bed with a 97lb jockey in the driver’s seat.

If you look at the numbers, it is the most popular thread on this forum and I assume it is because most people want to avoid a messy situation. However I have a super easy solution for you, don’t read it!