Airing down

glwright

Member
Hey all. I have a 2019 Super Duty that I'm trying to find a pressure to air down the tires to for being out on dirt roads and trails. The 60 psi from the factory about rattled my teeth out of my head the other day. Any recommendations? I know it's heavier than my old truck and didn't know if that made any difference as to the pressures.
 

Buddha.

Finally in expo white.
What size tires/wheels?
I run 50 front 40 rear unloaded on my 2500, on the road. I would think you could go down to 30 no problem off-road.
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
for trails I usually knock it down to about 40-50% of road travel, if on sand even lower.. as low as it'll go and hold its bead.
 

1stDeuce

Explorer
I will agree with the others that for an empty truck, you can go about half the highway pressure for general offroading. Note that "highway pressure" is NOT what is posted on the door sticker, it's what's reasonable for highway travel for the load condition of the truck. I commonly run 55psi in the front and 45psi in the back of my truck when empty, and with the truck camper on the back (and usually at or slightly over GVWR) more like 60/70psi. When empty, I will have no problem dropping to ~30psi front and ~25psi in the rear for long distances on rocky or washboard roads. I've been down to ~15psi in the sand empty with no issues. With the camper, I drop the front to 30-35, and the rear to 35-40. Lower than that with the camper is for "emergency" situations.

FWIW, using ANY 12v comperssor to air up to 80psi is going to take a long time!! Fortunately, you almost never need 80psi in your tires, regardless of what the idiot light says... Even with my truck camper on the back, I run about 70psi max in my 255/80R17's, but if I air down, I only bother to air back up to about 50psi on electric. That gets me enough pressure to get up the road and use a better compressor to top off the tires. 10 or even 20 miles with 50psi in the tires even when you'd rather have 60 or 70 isn't going to kill them. Just keep it a little slower if it's really hot out.

Finally, your fears about pulling a tire off the bead are probably unfounded. When you air down, you should always drive a bit more carefully, but modern tires and wheels have pretty good resistance to debeading. I've been airing down for a LONG time, and I have NEVER pushed a tire off the rim. I've had my Jeep down a 4.5psi for a day at the dunes and had no issues, even with some more spirited than usual driving. I had a previous 3/4 ton truck down to ~10psi at the dunes to see how it did and was a little worried, but for nothing. In general, the lower you go, the slower you go and you'll be fine.
 

4x4tripping

Adventurer
Finally, your fears about pulling a tire off the bead are probably unfounded. When you air down, you should always drive a bit more carefully, but modern tires and wheels have pretty good resistance to debeading. I've been airing down for a LONG time, and I have NEVER pushed a tire off the rim. I've had my Jeep down a 4.5psi for a day at the dunes and had no issues, even with some more spirited than usual driving. I had a previous 3/4 ton truck down to ~10psi at the dunes to see how it did and was a little worried, but for nothing. In general, the lower you go, the slower you go and you'll be fine.

BFG is one of the bigger brands... Lets look what they mean, to explain slow...


Avoid driving back to town to reinflate your tyres. If you don't have an air compressor, we recommend that you drive very slowly and not long distances to ensure that your tyres don't overheat. At 1.4 Bar (20 PSI) you don't want to be going any faster than 25kmh.

Don`t drive too speedy with less air...

Guess I`m over too in many offroad conditions... But on tarmac i`m refilling with my 12v compressor, or drive slow...

4x4tripping
 
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LandCruiserPhil

Expedition Leader
Hey all. I have a 2019 Super Duty that I'm trying to find a pressure to air down the tires to for being out on dirt roads and trails. The 60 psi from the factory about rattled my teeth out of my head the other day. Any recommendations? I know it's heavier than my old truck and didn't know if that made any difference as to the pressures.

My method of airing down to a safe starting point.
•Place a 1" square piece of steel under the center of your tire.
•Air down until both sides of the tire touch the ground.

This system provides a great safe starting point for airing down. I have used this system on vehicles from 4000 - 12000 lbs with great results.

As for compressor
If it plugs in its a POS
Avoid duty cycles
Amp draw is a direct relationship with performance. In most cases higher amperage higher performance.

Pictured below the rear of a 10700lbs truck

1B72AF74-845D-4025-BA90-BCD63F3EEC7D.jpeg
 
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JPR4LFE

Adventurer
My method of airing down to a safe starting point.
•Place a 1" square piece of steel under the center of your tire.
•Air down until both sides of the tire touch the ground.

This system provides a great safe starting point for airing down. I have used this system on vehicles from 4000 - 12000 lbs with great results.

As for compressor
If it plugs in its a POS
Avoid duty cycles
Amp draw is a direct relationship with performance. In most cases higher amperage higher performance.

Pictured below the rear of a 10700lbs truck

I have never seen this method, but I like it a lot, I will be trying this on my next outing with my Power Wagon.
 

JPR4LFE

Adventurer
What is your PW set up?
Last 2 Power Wagon I did

I am a manual transmission nut, so I found a 2006 for that reason as they were only offered in the first couple years of production. I've had it since 2017. I have been airing the PW down to 17psi offroad with good results (25psi if I have the camper in tow offroad), but most of my background is with jeeps which I would typically run about 12 psi on a TJ or XJ. I will also air my popup camper down to 20psi on unimproved roads.

52.jpg
 

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LandCruiserPhil

Expedition Leader
I am a manual transmission nut, so I found a 2006 for that reason as they were only offered in the first couple years of production. I've had it since 2017. I have been airing the PW down to 17psi offroad with good results (25psi if I have the camper in tow offroad), but most of my background is with jeeps which I would typically run about 12 psi on a TJ or XJ. I will also air my popup camper down to 20psi on unimproved roads.

View attachment 568162
Nice find on the 6speed!

Looks like by your screen name we both have move to the side some. The white early 09 above is mine but I will always have my 80 series.
 

JPR4LFE

Adventurer
Nice find on the 6speed!

Looks like by your screen name we both have move to the side some. The white early 09 above is mine but I will always have my 80 series.

Took me 4 months of a nation wide search to find a 6 speed but it was worth the wait! I know what you are saying about the shift in vehicle choices. I still have my Jeep Cherokee, every time I hop back in it after a hiatus I remember why I enjoy driving it so much. You spend so long building a rig just how you like it and know what every strength and weakness is, it is pretty hard to just drop it and move on. Plus, the PW is really just a 3/4 ton Jeep
 

LandCruiserPhil

Expedition Leader
Our PW/FWC is for my wife...heat, toilet, and the ability to stand up and dress. I wanted the 6speed also but the auto is geared low enough for the truck 43:1 although it is only a little more than 1/2 the crawl ratio of yours. It definitely not a Land Cruiser but for a truck it was the best choice available for where we travel.
 

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