Can anyone offer advice on this alignment?

[Wayne M.]

Duratracs are C rated. I had no issue with the same tires before at all.

 

[mwilson]

You put “P” metrics on it???

 

[Ozymandias]

Oh gosh...

 

[cerberusiam]

Duratracs are C rated. I had no issue with the same tires before at all.

What you had before and what you have now can be 2 radically different things. Tires change over time and if you do not get the correct ratings no telling what issues can crop up. Forget the ply ratings, that is 60 year old notation that means nothing anymore, you need to look at the weight ratings of the tire. AT A MINIMUM you need 3195 lbs per tire and that is barely adequate without running max inflation on the front of these trucks and at least 70 psi max rating. A tire

If you tow you need a tire rated at 3400-3600 lbs per tire at 80 psi and you will have to upgrade to 18 or 20 inch wheels to get that unless Toyo is still making a 17" tire with higher ratings. A C rated tire is barely adequate for DD and unless you over inflate they wallow like a pig in the mud. Sidewalls are simply not enough to handle 1200 lbs of engine sitting directly over the front axle. Same reason why the BFG's are totally useless, the sidewalls are too light and even if they work for a while they will break down and go to DW for no apparent reason.

You cna run what oyu have and skate by at max inflation and getting the alignment corrected but you are walking a thin edge on tires handling ANY rough use.

 

[Ozymandias]

Loadindex, it is all about Loadindex, abbreviation LI. Thats all that counts and not C or D or E or even Ply, that's all nonsense from the old days.

 

[Musicianized]

I was wrong they are E rated. Sorry.

 

[Musicianized]

121/1180 ?

 

[cerberusiam]

Load index of 121 is 3197 lbs per tire at max inflation. That is the limit on 17" tires per DOT rules. It is adequate but not necessarily great as that usually means sidewalls are not as heavy as they could be.

 

[Ozymandias]

121 is fine, now go out and drive them for at least 100 Miles and report back the outcome.

 

[Wayne M.]

Still no answer on weather the box sector was straightened out

 

[Musicianized]

Still no answer on weather the box sector was straightened out

The box sector? The steerng wheel isnt straight yet.

Theure working on it tomorrow

 

[Wayne M.]

Okay. Let them straighten the wheel, get another printout so we can see, and do like Ozy said. Go on a highway trip and warm up that rubber.

 

[AEdelheit]

Toe in should be set to almost straight head or you will have tire wear and other issues, 1/32 to 1/16 toe is ALL it needs. IIRC, that somewhere around .06 - .08 degrees. Take it back, make them center the steering wheel correctly and then check their numbers again. since they can't center the wheel correctly there is no telling what else they cannot read. I have gone thru multiple shops and multiple people at alignment places to get a CORRECT alignment, if you don't monitor them you do not know what they did right or wrong.

I would agree with the toe being to much if he had the 08.5+ steering but with the earlier "Y" style it seems a little more toe is needed to make sure it doesnt go to out through out the suspension travel IMO.

 

[Musicianized]

So they took off the duratracs and put on michelin defender road tires and the damn thing steers perfect.

Problem is I don't want road tires. I do a lot of hunting and ice fishing, driving through deep snow and these defenders look like they suck in mud/snow.

I guess Im either putting the K02 or Duratracs back on and hopefully they wear in and steer right. It still seems off the duratracs steered fine last time I bought them.

 

[Wayne M.]

KO2’s are fine by me, but the hum gets to me after a while, so I’m hoping next year to get summer wheels and hiway rib tires.
Did they correct the steering wheel location?

 

[Musicianized]

KO2’s are fine by me, but the hum gets to me after a while, so I’m hoping next year to get summer wheels and hiway rib tires.
Did they correct the steering wheel location?

Yeah that is perfect now

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

I have 265/70-17 DuraTrac's on my 03 and have had no problem with driveability. Very firm road feel and responsiveness.

 

[Musicianized]

I still think something is wrong in the steering. They said there was a sticky tie rod and to bring it in and they would fix it. So I took it in and a day later they called and said they wanted to try road tires on it and didnt want to fix the tie rod.

Of course the road tires steer fine..

I just talked to another shop and they said it's not the tires causing it.

 

[cerberusiam]

I just talked to another shop and they said it's not the tires causing it.

They all say that or blame each other. Even with the evidence in front of them they deny any issue.

If the steering is tight and you have no binding AND it steers correct now, it IS the tire choice. BFG's are junk, period. They MIGHT work on a bone stock grocery getter but useless otherwise. Too many bad experiences with then to say otherwise. If you want an MT tire that gives you long life, Cooper STT Pro are the best I have found. Nitto and Toyo MT's are also top of the line. Anything else seems to be to soft and fraught with problems. Just like hard parts on these trucks, cheap out too much on tires and you run risks.

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

If the steering is tight and you have no binding AND it steers correct now, it IS the tire choice. BFG's are junk, period. They MIGHT work on a bone stock grocery getter but useless otherwise.

OP said DuraTrac's which are Goodyear not BFG.