It would be too dangerous to have C rated tires in the front and E rated in the back even when not trailering. That will cause your front end to over steer, I tried that myself with mine. I had SRA 275 70R 17's (C) and bought SRA LT 275R 17's for the back...BIG MISTAKE! I wanted to wait because the fronts were still good and of course the $$$. It's like having polyesters on the front and steel belted on the back...that's a no no too! Two days later I ordered the other two and had them put on...a lessen learned very quickly! I sometimes pull several different trailers and 3 different horse trailers for a realestate broker/rancher. Two featherlites and a big 1986 4 horse aluminum that seems like it out weighs both featherlites together. We use 3/4 ton deisels for the goosenecks, a Ram and a Chevy. I can only safely pull the 4 horse emtpy but the others are okay to pull loaded. Heavy trailers was my main reason for getting E rated tires and I'm glad I did. They are much firmer and handle cornering the trailers with ease and no left to right sidewall sway. EDIT: Grab your truck with the C tires on at the rear side of the bed and shake it side to side and the tires will cause it to sway bad. And then do the same with the E tires on it and your truck will feel like you were trying to shake a brick...big difference! Can you imagine it with mushy C tires on the front and firm E's on the back?

 

front ends cannot over steer... only whole vehicles can.

The softer front tires will probably lean and cause understeer.

 

Probably is an understatement, but you are right in a sense, however I do know what it means. Oversteer is when the vehice turns more than what is commanded by the driver and understeer is vise versa. Oversteer is also caused by the back end going out from underneath you. But not in this case, it is caused by the soft sidewalls on the front and firm 3 ply (or whatever it is) on the rear sidewalls. Try it like I did and if a trailer were behind you, it would push your rearend around into an oversteer. It almost does it without a trailer behind you...I know because I experienced it on my Ram in NORMAL drivng conditions and simply by switching lanes...it was bad! Call it what you like, in my case, if a heavy enough trailer were attached, it could flip my truck and kill someone. I'm just trying to make a point and share my experience about what milestone is asking. Who carez what it is called, it's an accident waiting to happen,

 

Repeat after me ----- ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS match your tires......

Different load range, or different construction tires, behave differently, and can drastically affect how a vehicle handles..... Load range included.

 

ok thanks for the advice, too bad the tires are so expensive, and rare, I was only able to find 1 brand in this area in load range E 20 inch tires

I would hate to have to change out all my rims and go to 17 inch

 

sorry to rebump, but I'm still a little confused

if I did want to go with the gooseneck trailer I described in the first post, how can I calculate exactly to see if I am legal with the weights?

 

empty weight+horses+tack etc= X
X times .2= approximate tongue weight(atw)
(GVWR+150)-atw=reserve weight for you and your cargo in the truck.

You will proabaly find this number to be very small or negative... 1500s can tow but they are not great at hauling, at least by the book.