3/4 Ton AT Truck Tire?

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Diesel Mechanic and owner of 2 2500 Diesels for 12 plus years. Ill try to make this quick lol:

1. Get a type F load range tire, they have a bit stiffer sidewall which supports the heavy truck and towing heavy much better. They also seem much better for puncture resistance.

2. Rim size along with tire pressure(more on this later) makes a huge difference with puncture resistance. Smaller rims like a 17"or 18" on a 35" tire have a lot more sidewall that can flex around sharp rocks etc. 20" rims with 35's seem much more prone to punctures and ride way worse in my opinion. If I had 20s Id want a 37 inch tire minimum. That size and taller come with their own set of problems though with clearance and spacing. The best balance of ride, puncture resistance and towing stability in my opinion, and what I run is a 35 on an 18" inch rim.

I went from 20" rims to 18" for reason #2 and the truck rides much better now, 2014 Ram 2500 6.7 with Thuren front springs, Bilstien 5100s, and rear airbags.

3. Probably 95% of guys are running way too high of pressure on their tires. The best way to figure out your proper pressures is by doing a Chalk test. Don Thuren the owner of one of the most premier suspension companies for Ram HD's does a great job explaining tire pressures and the chalk test in the linked video. Currently I am running the new design 35x12.50r18 Toyo Open Country RT trail in a load range F. For unloaded around town and dirt/FS roads, I run 50psi in the front and 31psi in the rear. When Im hooked up to my 5th wheel with a 2300lbs pin weight I am only bumping the rears up to 65 psi. These are 80psi max tires mind you. However, after performing the chalk test with all of my normal loads, and consulting Toyos load chart (some companies provide this information and some dont), these are absolutely the right pressures. When you figure out the right pressures for your setup you get better ride, proper handling, way better traction, better tire wear, and more puncture resistance. The only draw back is you will lose some fuel mileage at lower pressures. I think its a wash though because you bet better tire life and tire are insanly priced now. You can run the chalk test with all of your typical loads in the beginning to get a sense of what is right for your different load setups. Its time consuming but absolutely worth it.

4. Rotate, rotate, rotate. Most ats and more aggressive tires on these heavy trucks start to wear funny no matter what and the best thing you can do to limit the wear is rotate every 5 to 6k miles.

As far as brands go, I think in most diesel/hd enthusiasts agree that the two best are Toyo and Nitto. I personally never liked the right hand pull I always got with Nitto and they seemed to wear a little worse. Toyo in my opinion is the premium hd truck tire brand. I dont think I know anyone personally thats had them and didnt like them. Beyond those two brands in order of best to worst Id say:

Yokohama Geolanders- great treadlife in my experience
Goodyear Duratracs- I had a set of these that did really well but wore really funny towards the end of life.
BFG's- good tire, terrible wear
Coopers- ok tire seem to puncture easily
Falken Wildpeak- Not really a fan, puncture easy and Ive seen separations. Good in the snow though.

Well that wasnt quick at all.

The chalk test really works. I went with the Nitto Terra Grappler G3 and I run 35 on the back and 55 in the front unloaded. I carry a small air compressor so I can air up when pulling.

I rotate every oil change which is 5,000-6,500 miles.

I had the General ATX3 on my last 1/2 ton, but they were 10 ply. Very quiet and I could go about anywhere with them.

I have the Wildpeak AT4W on my 1/2 ton work truck and they are a lot quieter than the Wrangler Territory MT that came on the truck. The Wranglers were crazy noisy by 20,000 miles.