Tow vehicle tire pressure.

[John and Debbie]

Hi all.  In a week we start driving from Oregon to Tennessee.   With the price of gas being so expensive,  I was thinking of increasing the tire pressure in our 2017 Ford Expedition from 35 pounds in all the tires.  I saw a video from  mechanic who said to increase it from the door label which in our case is 35psi.  What do you all recommend for towing an LE2 with the Andersen WDH.  I am thinking of 38 front and maybe 42 in the back.  I would like to base it on some science.  See you all at the rally next month.

John and Debbie

[routlaw]

You'll probably get a lot of different opinions on this but here is my current take having used F150's for all the years I have towed an Oliver. I used to jack up the back tires about 5 psi more, then did the front tires also at the same psi. Over time it became obvious the center tread was wearing faster than the outside so I just went back to the what the door label stated. Unless you are really maxing out your load this is what I would recommend too. However this can change depending upon the tires you have installed. For instance if you were to install a set of LT Tires rather than the passenger tires that came on the vehicle PSI goes up substantially and ride quality plummets substantially too as well as fuel economy. I can attest to this having done it on my previous F150, big regret on that one. Stock half ton trucks/SUV's simply do not have the frame nor suspension to properly accommodate a set of LT tires IMHO.

Aside from gas mileage you also need to take into account whether or not the full tread is planted equally on the payment not only for handling but also breaking. An over inflated tire might NOT be properly planted on the road. You could also use the chalk method of to determine the correct PSI, but would be willing to be dollars to donuts the result would be just about identical to the door label. 

Hope this helps