Opinions on best tires for towing and some off roading (pulling a 19' airstream)

Anyone an expert on tires and able to give me some guidance here? I still have the stock kevlar lined tires that the truck came with, but I'm in the market for some new rubber. Originally I was going to lift/suspension/add some mud tires - but life plans have changed (with covid) and now I'll be pulling a 19' airstream around the country, and when it's parked, I'll hit the back forrest roads to do some exploring. So, I'm looking for a solid tire that can handle highway travel with a heavy load, and will perform well enough when I get back in the trails. Thoughts?

 

Welcome to TW! I'm in a similar situation - I've had the stock tires so far, but I will have to replace them sooner or later.

 

The factory P rated tires, or any P rated tire, you like will handle more weight than your truck is rated to haul. If you're going to spend much time off road or even on rough unpaved roads an E rated tire is a lot tougher and less likely to be damaged. Exactly which tire is largely a personal matter. Some are more aggressive for off road use, but ride suffers.

 

Towing with our 4800lb 19ft trailer got a lot more comfortable after going to LT E load tires.
With P series tires both our 2nd gen and our 3rd gens felt squirmy while towing, plus max 40psi didn't give me enough pressure to keep the tires from being squashed (both Revo2 and OEM A20). Went to K02 (max 80psi) and Toyo RT (max 80psi) and can boost pressure when towing to keep them in shape.
Trade offs I've found are -1mpg mileage, and a truck-ish ride, but not an issue for me. YMMV.

 

Thanks Mike - this is exactly what I'm looking for. I'm guessing best practice will be to get a portable compressor to load up while towing and down when the trailer is off. I've been looking at the KO2's but a guy a les schwab here in Seattle swore by the Open Range E rated tire... any opinion on that tire versus the other two you listed? I think Im going to have to change the wheel size to 17 from 16 to make these tires work, and put some new wheels on the truck too (which I'm ok with).
Any thoughts around whether or not I should also modify the suspension for a better towing experience or is TRD Off road stock suspension fine?
Thanks again!

 

I’ve got 275/70R17 Grabbers. They do fine with my camper and driving off road, but they are heavy ass tires. Lost several MPGs over the crappy stock tires. But once you get the trailer hooked up, forget mpg all together.

Not the subject of the thread, but that squirminess someone mentioned can also be helped with a WDH/sway control.

 

Don't need to change wheels, K02 E are available in 265/70-R16 as well.
Most add airbags for trailer towing, there are tons of other options.
Come to the Towing subforum, there are a ton of us over there..