Can I use "lower" tires on my 2500HD D/A?

[tomseeley]

I'm still getting used to my first new used truck. Lots of newbie questions yet.

 

I bought it in Minneapolis from a dealer who couldn't/wouldn't tell me much about how it had been used, but I knew going in, from the independent inspection I paid a diesel specialist to do that, that it had been used off-road a good bit. Nothing wrong with that; just something I observed in deciding to buy it.

 

It has Goodrich All Terrain LT265/75R16 tires.

 

I used to remember how to read that lingo, but I'm not sure any longer.

 

What I'm really about to ask is this:

 

Can I use 16" tires that are narrower than the 265, still fit on my 16" wheels, and have a lower overall diameter, so the entire truck sits an inch or so closer to the ground?

 

Or would I have to buy four new wheels, as well as new, narrower tires to fit on them?

 

Finally, since I use an equalizer hitch, which is set for a particular set of dimensions and angles between truck and trailer now, if I do lower the truck, would I have adjust the hitch also?

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our first new used truck and trailer!

2002 GMC Sierra 2500HD Duramax/Allison

2002 Nash 25S

Equal-i-zer and Prodigy

[O'Neall]

The 2500HDs come from the factory with 245/75/16s, which are a bit more than an inch storter overall so going back to the factory size would accomplish your goal. I'm sure you can go even lower profile if you wanted, but I'll let the experts here chime in on that as I'm not sure what limitations there might be in this regard.

 

Hope this helps.

[Mighty HD]

with the bigger tires--your truck probally has more miles than the speedo says--unless it's been calibrated.

[dannyukonxl]

the actual diameter of those tires are 31 inches when the truck is sitting on them (32 off the truck), so i would go to the stock 245's, you wont really notice anything, id just keep the 265s the 1st number is tread width in millimeteres, the 2nd number is the aspect ration (percentage of tire width = profile) then the last number is the rim size, and the lt before the 265 is light truck 80 psi tires, as far as the equalizer hitch, it doesnt need adjustment as most you can just slide up and down and adjust it pretty freely with the chain links

[autopat]

Actually the "265" is measured from bead to bead in millimeters, and if it has taller than stock tires, your speedo will read a little slow, if your showing 70mph, you're probably doing 72, but my speedo actually reads 2mph fast right now with stock tires.