dually tire wear

[shorthorn]

I have noticed my 2014 dually is wearing the outsides of the front tires pretty bad, especially the drivers side.

With just 34k miles on it, would the dealer fix alignment under warranty or should I just take it to my local alignment shop?

Anyone else notice this kind of tire wear on their dually?

 

[6speed]

If your front tires are wearing on the edges, its more than likely just from turning. Maybe you are turning more to the right causing the left side tire to wear. I have a fleet of about 125 3/4 & 1 ton trucks that do a lot of turning on a military installation, believe me they wear the fronts out way faster than the rear. I do a lot of rotations. I'm not saying your front end is out, but if you do a considerable amount of in town driving, this is more than likely the issue. But if you feel better about an alignment I doubt the dealer will warranty something like that

 

[Hoefler]

When turning sharp or driving in curvy conditions, you will wear the outside edges on the front tires. I have experienced this on all 4 of my Rams over the past 12 years. Tire rotation will help considerably. I rotate every 7,500 miles.

 

[Brocky]

My 2014 showed a lot of wear on the outside of the right steer.. The dealer aligned it under warantee at 23k miles, Changed the castor some? But I will have a good alignment done when I put new tires on it!!

 

[Newsa]

Duallies can be prone to funny tire wear all around. When turning sharp, the rear tires flex sideways and can even slide a bit sideways.

Duallies try to track straight because of the 4 rear tires. So it requires a bit more turning force on the front tires to pivot those back tires.

If you do alot of turning on pavement, it is normal to have uneven wear on a dually.

 

[Cummins12V98]

The fact is the factory places about 1/4" toe in that way the truck will track straight. Go to a good alignment shop and tell them you want the toe set to 1/32". Also rotate the fronts side to side every 10K will help. Leave the rears. I found this all out the hard way with my 11 dually. These tires have about 40K on them. Always run 80psi fronts!!!!!

 

[photowrite]

The fact is the factory places about 1/4" toe in that way the truck will track straight. Go to a good alignment shop and tell them you want the toe set to 1/32". Also rotate the fronts side to side every 10K will help. Leave the rears. I found this all out the hard way with my 11 dually. These tires have about 40K on them. Always run 80psi fronts!!!!!

Toe is a good suggestion, as is regular rotation that has been mentioned a few times above.

You didn't share your rotation routine? If not ever rotated in 34,000 miles I'm not surprised you are showing some wear.

 

[shorthorn]

Great suggestions all....

I just got this truck a couple of weeks ago, so I can't speak to what the tire rotation schedule was... I doubt they were rotated.

Also, I don't think frequent cornering is an issue... The truck had 33,000 miles on it when I bought it, and 555 hours... so average speed was basically 60MPH... This truck was on the highway pulling campers all the time not tooling around town.

Cummins12V... Great point on the toe! If the air pressure doesn't seem to start showing some improvement soon, I may just take it to the alignment shop and try that.. that's a great idea.

I did notice air pressure in the fronts when i bought the truck were like 55 lbs... I have since taken them up to 80, so that could be a big part of the wear for sure!

 

[Deleted member 995608]

80psi in the front full time might wear out the center section of your tires.

Like others have mentioned, DRW trucks wear the tires a little different than SRW trucks so you'll just have to find what works the best for your road conditions and driving styles. My old DRW truck never got a rear tire rotation; I let them wear like an old pair of shoes. For the fronts, I had the tire removed from the rim and swapped to the opposite steer wheel without slipping the tire around. I went through two sets of steer tires per one set of rears. I was able to get 45-55K miles from a full set.

 

[Mingoglia]

Great advice. He gave me this same advice when I got my '15 (the 80psi front). I "knew better" though, not realizing how much heavier my 4th gen was than my 2nd and ran 65-70 and I had premature wear. So now I'm at 80. So just listen to him. LOL

Also, as he and others said, turning is much harder on the fronts due to all the traction of the duals fighting each other and extra width. What gives you the stability hauling with a dually, is not your friend when you try to do anything other than drive straight. I have about 25k miles on my truck now, I'll likely go another 10k miles on the fronts, and I'll replace them and leave the rears. I'm sure I can go at least another 25k on the rears. As was said, I only rotate my fronts side to side and leave the duals alone. I used to do a 6 tire rotation on my 2nd gen, but I had all steel wheels (and hubcaps), so it was easier. No way I'd go through the hassle of dismounting the rear tires from the rims to rotate.

The fact is the factory places about 1/4" toe in that way the truck will track straight. Go to a good alignment shop and tell them you want the toe set to 1/32". Also rotate the fronts side to side every 10K will help. Leave the rears. I found this all out the hard way with my 11 dually. These tires have about 40K on them. Always run 80psi fronts!!!!!

View attachment 95068

 

[Cummins12V98]

"80psi in the front full time might wear out the center section of your tires."

As they say this ain't my first rodeo! Just look at the weight that is on these new truck tires. My front axle with RV attached is 5,440#. If you look at the weight chart it recommends for something around 70psi but add 10 psi to that and you will get better tire wear to compensate for turning.

Honestly even with 80 psi in the front on my new 15 it's not enough air. I wish they had a direct replacement that had more carrying capacity. I guarantee the edges will be worn out before the centers for sure!

 

[shorthorn]

"80psi in the front full time might wear out the center section of your tires."

As they say this ain't my first rodeo! Just look at the weight that is on these new truck tires. My front axle with RV attached is 5,440#. If you look at the weight chart it recommends for something around 70psi but add 10 psi to that and you will get better tire wear to compensate for turning.

Honestly even with 80 psi in the front on my new 15 it's not enough air. I wish they had a direct replacement that had more carrying capacity. I guarantee the edges will be worn out before the centers for sure!

Very true Cummins... I just weighed my front axle yesterday, empty was like 5,200 lbs! Interesting enough, on my old 3/4 ton diesel I ran the front tires at about 70 - 80 PSI as well... That is a heavy hunk of iron between the frame rails!

 

[6speed]

Another thing to remember is once a tire starts a wear pattern, it won't correct itself, by changing tire pressure, alignment specs, or even the load.

 

[Newsa]

Running 75 psi in the front, Mine wear even

 

[Mingoglia]

Yup, they're heavy. Here is my pig right after it was stretched, with just my 260lb butt in the seat:

 

[Bob4x4]

The trucks are not set to 1/4 inch toe in.It is .2 degrees very big difference

 

[moparnut72]

Mine started showing the same pattern of wear. I don't rotate the rears, my second dually. I rotated the fronts at about 20K by taking the tires off the rims and putting the outsides on the inside and placed them on the opposite side of the truck. The tire shop thought I was nuts but they want to sell more tires.

I just read somewhere that Michelin sells a commercial type rib tire. Has anyone tried these and how did they wear? They are pretty expensive though.
kk

 

[Cummins12V98]

The trucks are not set to 1/4 inch toe in.It is .2 degrees very big difference

I am repeating what my alignment guy of 40 years told me. Bottom line is the front ends have more toe than needed just to keep the trucks going down the road straight.

 

[Cummins12V98]

The guy at Americas tires wanted to argue with me yesterday when I told him I wanted the front rims to remain where they are because of the sensors. I told him to move each front tire side to side so the inside of each tire will be on the outside on each side. In other works I wanted toe tires to be rotating the same way just swapped side to side. That way the scalloped wages will average out.

He told me he was going to charge me $24 to do this. I said why as I am not asking for a full rotation. After explaining my warranty covers me to have every tire broken down from the rim and re balanced he said OK no charge.

 

[Bob4x4]

I am repeating what my alignment guy of 40 years told me. Bottom line is the front ends have more toe than needed just to keep the trucks going down the road straight.

Bottom line is your guy is wrong and you are spreading his mistake.