2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Outside Front Tire Wear ???

[CrewCabDiesel]

Well after being at the alignment shop three times I am still wearing my front tires on the outside treads on both sides. :{ Both front tires are feathering on the outside only (run your hand over the tire in opposite direction of rotation and you can feel all the tread edges). This has been going on for about a year and I have rebuilt the front end with new ball joints, tire rods ends, track bar, shocks etc. and still have the problem. I did notice in a TSB for the front end and Dodge has some different settings now.

"The specification for toe-in has been revised to 0. 2° +- 0. 1° total"

So now I have another new set of Bridgestone Dueler Revo ATs and I want to get another 70,000 miles out of this set. So does anyone have any ideas what’s up with this odd tread wear?



Truck Specs, 197,000 miles, Tire pressure empty, front 70psi rear 40psi, lowered 2 inches from stock, DSS installed, shocks Rancho 9000.

Thanks

Kyle

 

[Dave M]

I had a similiar problem and finally, after ruining 2 new tires, I believe it's fixed. My right front tire was wearing badly on the outside edge. The alignment specs are so wide on this truck that it was always in spec. The tire shop was no help in fixing my problem but they took my money for a new tire.



I finally found an alignment shop that knew what they were doing and they adjusted the camber at the right knuckle more negative (I believe) and it cured my problem. They had to replace a sleeve in the knuckle which changes the caster and camber. Cost me $130.



Here is my thread with pics of the tire wear:



http://69.61.23.10/forums/showthread.php?t=144154&page=1&pp=10



I haven't updated that thread yet with these results since I just got it fixed.



Hope this helps. Good luck.



Dave

 

[rluft]

So what are the magic alignment specs?

 

[Dave M]

So what are the magic alignment specs?

Good question. I should have included that in my post... duh. If you mean "overall specs" then the caster specs (which are the most discussed on this site to correct death wobble) they are about +3. 5 to +4. 5 degree positive caster. There is an alignment spec thread that a guy named brent came up with you can find if you search on "alignment" that has more details.



For my problem the camber was changed a few tenths of a degree from +0. 2 to -0. 5 on the right side. That's from memory so I'll have to update you when I get home and look at the actual alignment sheet. The shop said it was barely in spec prior to the change but they adjusted it to compensate for the tire wear I had. You need to find a shop that can align to fix your problem because it can be in spec and still cause problems per the alignment shop.



I'll update tonight.



Edit: I changed the specs above to show the correct camber figures which also appear below in post 5. Dave

 

[Dave M]

Okay guys. Here are the specs before and after of the alignment that cured my right tire wear on the outside edge:

Before:

Camber: Left= +0. 0 deg Right=+0. 2 deg

Caster: Left= +3. 5 Right=+4. 2

Toe: Left=+1/16" Right=+2/16"



After:

Camber: Left=+0. 0 deg Right= -0. 5 deg

Caster: Left= +3. 5 Right=+4. 1

Toe: Left=+0/16" Right=+0/16"



The alignment shop said by doing the adjustment at the knuckle it affects both camber and caster so it took 2 hours to do. That was 3 months ago and the tires show no signs of the outside edge wear I had before.



Prior to this a new BFG Ko 24575R16-E was ruined in less than that time. I ruined almost 3 tires out of the 6 new ones I put on last July (about 30K miles ago).



Dave