2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Dually Tire Wear

[lkuykendall]

All four of the rear tires on my 2001 dually are showing wear. The wear is the inside edges. (Inside in this case being where the 2 tires on one side come together) The wear is only about 1/2" wide but is starting to feel like its cupping. The wear is the same on both sides of the truck. I rotate all tires every 5000 miles and have a total of 33,000 on the original tires. I originally ran 55 psi in my rear tires but raised it to about 62 after the last rotation because of the wear.



Other than the 1/2" strip of wear, the tires look perfect and have a lot of miles left in them. Any idea what would cause this?



I am attempting to attach an image that shows the tire wear in red.



Thanks



Len

 

[JTBMC]

I dont know what causes this but my inside duals wear on both outside edges, as though they were under inflated unless thier pumped up to 70 plus psi. But at 70 -80 the truck will bounce off the road if you hit a bump unloaded.

I run 235x85x16's with 70#'s of air in the front that wear perfect and 58 to 62 in the rear to keep the rear on the ground when loaded & unloadded and the tires flat. Under 58#'s the inside tires will wear out way before the outsides even though I rotate every 5000 miles.

TJ

 

[y-knot]

Your problem with wear seems odd, mine wear even across. I to run 55 psi in the rears. I have BFG M/T's and I expected to have wear issues but never did. Hope you get it figured out, good luck

 

[dresslered]

The wear pattern seems really odd. Since you mentioned that you routinely rotate, I was wondering if the wear had actually occured when they were mounted on the front, and you just did not notice it until they made it to the rear.

 

[JTBMC]

That could be the case, as I had them rotated at the tire shop once and the kid had different air pressures in every tire but the inside duals only had 35 #'s in them and 50 in the fronts. Anyway I am going in for new tires right after the first of the year.

TJ

 

[Extreme1]

Are they still the stock size? If you put larger tires on the sidewalls can make contact, especially when loaded or going over bumps, and cause all kinds of issues.



If they are stock, the rear pressure can be real low to give good unloaded ride quality. Check your owners manul, 40 psi in the rears makes for a noticable ride improvement compared to 55 or 60, I'd stay 60 or better in the front. This low pressure doesn't cause wear on the edges of the rear tires because there's hardly any load when the truck is empty.

 

[lkuykendall]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. Like most everyone else, I don't see a logical way this wear pattern could occur while the tires are on the rear. I did have the front end aligned about 20,000 miles back because of very slight wear on the outside edges of my front tires (which is the same location that this wear is showing on each tire). Knowing that once a tire starts to wear it is very hard to stop, I am going to assume the tires are or were wearing on the front and I just didn't realize how much.

With all of the knowledge and experience at TDR, I had to ask about it. Thanks again!



Len

 

[ntillm01]

I think you are on to something, with the wear occuring on the front, then getting rotated to the back. Since you rotate regularly and often, all six tire are getting the same wear pattern from the front. Cupping on an outside edge seems to be a normal charateristic of truck front ends, especially 4X4. On the rear, "flat" wear isn't happening because the tires aren't seeing a load. So the cupping from the front doesn't get smoothed out before the next rotation.



My . 02

 

[JTBMC]

After reviewing your post 01, I think this is the case. I am getting new tires soon and want to ron 255's rather than 235's and will be installing my new DT Trac bar and a 2inch lift.

TJ

 

[ntillm01]

I don't have a lot of experience or miles with a dually yet. I'm just working with what I've seen so far. I bought this truck used (42K miles), and I believe the tires had never been rotated, except once shortly before I got the truck. I picked it up as follows:



Front: 60% tread left

Rear Inside: 20% left

Rear Outside: 60% left



Made sense that the wear was occuring in the front, and shows up funny in the rears. I bought a fresh set of six, had it aligned (fractions of a degree make a big difference in these trucks!) and have been rotating every other oil change so far.

 

[jimk]

Originally posted by lkuykendall

All four of the rear tires on my 2001 dually are showing wear. The wear is the inside edges. (Inside in this case being where the 2 tires on one side come together) The wear is only about 1/2" wide but is starting to feel like its cupping. The wear is the same on both sides of the truck. I rotate all tires every 5000 miles and have a total of 33,000 on the original tires. I originally ran 55 psi in my rear tires but raised it to about 62 after the last rotation because of the wear.



Other than the 1/2" strip of wear, the tires look perfect and have a lot of miles left in them. Any idea what would cause this?



I am attempting to attach an image that shows the tire wear in red.



Thanks



Len

I have been told to run 5 or 8 lb more on the out side dual. Reason is the road is convex. So the larger diameter of the tire may help even out the load. only a suggestion Jimk

 

[benhall]

This might help with the tire wear issues. When you rotate your tires, switch your rotations to side to side instead of anything going front to back and vise-versa. The reason I say this is to keep the four tires in the back wearing the same, and so you can run a more aggresive tire in the back. Now when you do this in the back, you have two different ways of doing this, but just make sure that the tire isn't rotating the same was as it was before the rotation to prevent cupping and feathering of the tread. Up front, you then could go to a tire that is a more of a handling tire. Also by going side to side, you don't have to wait as long to see if your alignment is out on the front. Personally, I would rather just replace two tires that have worn unevenly, than to replace four or six from doing the front to back rotations.



I hope this makes sense, and if not, let me know and I can explain further.



Ben

 

[JoshPeters]

I would agree with this idea, except, when you have a 4x4 truck you want aggressive tires all the way around. Then you need to rotate them front to rear as well.



Josh

Originally posted by benhall

This might help with the tire wear issues. When you rotate your tires, switch your rotations to side to side instead of anything going front to back and vise-versa. The reason I say this is to keep the four tires in the back wearing the same, and so you can run a more aggresive tire in the back. Now when you do this in the back, you have two different ways of doing this, but just make sure that the tire isn't rotating the same was as it was before the rotation to prevent cupping and feathering of the tread. Up front, you then could go to a tire that is a more of a handling tire. Also by going side to side, you don't have to wait as long to see if your alignment is out on the front. Personally, I would rather just replace two tires that have worn unevenly, than to replace four or six from doing the front to back rotations.



I hope this makes sense, and if not, let me know and I can explain further.



Ben

 

[Mr. C]

Always rotate front to rear with a diagonal pattern if you want your tires to stay the same diameter, your transfer case will thank you with longer service life. If you run different style tires on the front than on the rear with a 4 wheel drive you're just asking for trouble.

I used to peddle tires for a living and you will get the most mileage from a set this way.



Mike

 

[GAmes]

OR, don't spend the time and money to rotate.

I quit rotating my tires after I wore out the first set and had to buy six tires at one time. Unless you have your own lift or an amazing amount of energy a rotation costs $20 or more. If you do it every 5000 miles and the tires last for 60,000 you have spent $220 on labor which is more than the price of a new tire, and you really don't gain that much more mileage out of the set.



I'll concede that 4WDs may be different due to the fact that all tires need to be nearly the same diameter, but then again most people don't run the fronts on dry pavement where the differentials can't turn at diffferent speeds.

 

[Mr. C]

You Texans are getting a raw deal.

Here in Oregon when you buy a set of tires they come with a service package... free flat repairs,free re-balance,free rotations,and free road hazard replacement. The only catch is you gotta take it to the company you buy 'em from to get the free service. It don't cost me anything after the initial purchase.



Mike

 

[TowPro]

Or you can go to Walmart and pay for there life time balance. After that any walmart will do a balance and rotate for free (keep your receipt)



But they said "we don't do duellys".

Originally posted by Mr. C

You Texans are getting a raw deal.

Here in Oregon when you buy a set of tires they come with a service package... free flat repairs,free re-balance,free rotations,and free road hazard replacement. The only catch is you gotta take it to the company you buy 'em from to get the free service. It don't cost me anything after the initial purchase.



Mike