Rear Tires Wearing More Than Front

[Parshal]

I rotated my original Michelin tires today and noticed that the rear tires are wearing more than the front although wearing evenly. I don't tow much and keep about 150 lbs. of stuff in the bed. I figured with all the weight on the front tires they would be wearing faster. There's still a lot of tread left after 30k miles.

 

[KCJackson]

Depends on how much air you're running. Too much or too little air for the normal load will cause excess wear. Use the load inflation table in your owner's manual folder as a guide, but you likely need to weigh the truck at each axle to see what your usual weight is.

 

[Deezul1]

I have found that with a LSD that sometimes the clutch pack doesnt release enough and I can hear the back tires squel slightly on corners. I am sure on mine that additional friction modifier additive will solve that but laziness has prevented me doing it so far. Tire pressures sure play a big part and the rears need to be softer than the front due to lack of weight. Less air pressure will allow a bigger foot print and more traction so less slippage.

 

[bmoeller]

I see you have a EZ. Do you need to lay off the go pedal a little?

 

[Pit Bull]

I understand this is normal. Mine does it with no load in the rear. I run 65 front and 45 rear. Rears wear about twice as fast as the fronts. I understand it can be caused by the lack of weight and the stiff springs that cause the rears to wear faster. I agree that it does not make sense, but that is what I am also seeing. Could be these cheap Goodyear OEM tires helping with the lack of long term wear.

 

[KCJackson]

Originally posted by Pit Bull

I understand this is normal. Mine does it with no load in the rear. I run 65 front and 45 rear. Rears wear about twice as fast as the fronts.

I run 60 front and 37 rear with Michelin LTX M/S Commercial tires in the stock LT215/85R16E size. They have about 25K on them, and seem to be wearing pretty evenly. Can easily get another 20-25K out of them.



Your 02 needs even less air in the 235s if you're running "empty" most of the time. You could easily get away with 55-57 and 32-35. Same holds for the 03s and 04s with the LT235/80R17E sneakers.

 

[Pit Bull]

Originally posted by KCJackson

I run 60 front and 37 rear with Michelin LTX M/S Commercial tires in the stock LT215/85R16E size. They have about 25K on them, and seem to be wearing pretty evenly. Can easily get another 20-25K out of them.



Your 02 needs even less air in the 235s if you're running "empty" most of the time. You could easily get away with 55-57 and 32-35. Same holds for the 03s and 04s with the LT235/80R17E sneakers.

Thanks, I'll remember that for when I get some good tires to replace these OEM Goodyears This way when the Goodyears wearout before 30K miles I can tell the little women that they were just bad tires.

 

[SRadke]

I wonder if having good disk brakes in the rear with no weight has something to do with it?

-Scott

 

[DPKetchum]

No! Its a air psi/go pedal thing.

 

[KCJackson]

Originally posted by Pit Bull

Thanks, I'll remember that for when I get some good tires to replace these OEM Goodyears This way when the Goodyears wearout before 30K miles I can tell the little women that they were just bad tires.

My 96 was OEM equipped with GY Wrangler AT tires, and they were pathetic. I had decent service with Bridgestone M773 commercial all-terrain (a heavier duty Steeltex AT, if you will) - they lasted 3 full years. These Michelons are seeing more mileage than the Bridgestones (I now live 35 miles from work instead of 5), but are holding up beautifully, and did very well in the snow this past winter.



I plan on ordering an early 2005 3500 QC DRW, and hopefully by then, the tire and aluminum wheel choices will have caught up. Would love another set of Michelins wrapped around 6 Alcoas.

 

[DIESELMAN]

I have the BFG 315-70R17's on mine. On my trip to Alaska, after some 4500 miles towing, 10,000 on the tires, my rears had worn more than twice as much as the fronts, and the rear wear was perfectly flat across the tire tread. (Yeah I know, rotate more often). I was shocked by the wear, I was loaded heavy, and covered a lot of rough seal coated roads, but DAAANG!



I rotated in Alaska, and the return wear did not even them out.



I am now showing excess toe-out wear on the front and a little change in caster on the left side (about 1 degree, and 3000 miles of off road/dirt road). An alignment and RS9000's are in the works for next week, factory shocks are junk.



BTW, I thought the pedal was a two position thing, UP and DOWN



DM

 

[Pit Bull]

Do you guys think it's the shocks? I put Bilsteins on the front but left the OEM's on the rear (reason is I figured that since I don't tow or haul why would these heavyduty shocks need to be replaced?) But now I notice the rears wearing 2 times as fast as the fronts. I had Bilsteins on frt. and rear on my 2000 and they wore the same all the way around.

 

[DPKetchum]

NO. Worn shocks would cause uneven/scolloped wear. Tire bounce. But if wearing even air psi,heavy loads,lack of rotation etc.

 

[DIESELMAN]

Originally posted by Pit Bull

Do you guys think it's the shocks?... .

No.

 

[Pit Bull]

Well I have 14,600 miles on them with no rotation. I guess I will rotate them at 16,000 which should be half way through their useful life

 

[EB]

I have 64,000 miles on mine, drag a long gooseneck and carry heavy loads. I run 80 lbs front and back, rotate every 20,000 miles. Should make 80,000 miles, trying to decide if changing to 19. 5's would be the way to go. Goodyear is the only one making the size that the dually uses and they are hard to find.

 

[Parshal]

I've been running 60 psi all around. These are OEM Michelins, too.



I wish I was spinning the tires with the EZ but I'm a bit easier on the truck than that. The front axle weighs 4760 and the rear is 3140 lbs. with my normal gear.

 

[DIESELMAN]

Mine is SRW, and I'm sure that the lower PSI required of the 315's is mostly to blame for higher wear. WIth the 285 BFG AT's I had on my last truck, I ran them 40,000 and they were still good for 10K-20K more and then some.



These look like they are good for about 40-50K total, and they aren't worn but half now, its just that I had twice the wear on the rear that I had on the front.

 

[dPierce]

This is it!

I have noticed with the windows down, radio off, etc. that the rear tires scrub under normal acceleration through first and some of second gear. It is amamzing how much they scrub if you really listen close. I run empty most of the time with 65 psi in front and 45 psi in the rear.



When you really romp on the fuel and the boost builds you'll hear them scrub through all of first and second gear... . it's really cool, but takes a toll on tread wear. The torque comes on so early, it's just cool!



Besides, I can't wait to put bigger tires on... still trying to decide between 305 and 315 BFGs.





Pierce

 

[dieselpilot1969]

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