2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Strange Tire Wear

[Matt42]

Well, the RF tire on my 1996 4x4 is about shot. Again. It wears on the outside, as if the camber was bad. Dealer says that the camber is in spec (for what that's worth). Originally, I was told that the strange wear was due to a bad track bar. The track bar *was* bad, and I replaced it with a made-up adjustable bar from Lindstad about 20K miles ago, which I have religiously adjusted. I've put a new tire on since then.



Any thoughts?

 

[fox]

The factory specs are too loose.

Get it aligned by a good private shop.

It is the factory settings that are eating your tires.

Ideal settings are something like , 1/2 degree positive camber each side and 3 degrees positive caster.

 

[scotmartin]

What did the dealer say about your toe adjustment? How is the thrust angle?



Scot

 

[CyberRanger]

As a former alignment guy who specialized in 4x4s, just bein' w/in spec doesn't mean diddly. Fox is quite correct, although, personally I'd set the camber at ¼º + instead of ½º + & maybe bump the caster up to 3½º to make it track straight w/ so little camber. The closer to 0º camber you are, the better the tires will wear.



I used the Luke's Link for my track bar & am very pleased w/ the improved steering.



Have you consistently rotated the tires? What other position has that tire been in? Have the other tires worn on the shoulder when they were on the RF?

 

[Matt42]

I don't rotate the tires because the right front always gets eaten on the outside. I can get a zillion miles out of the rears, and nearly as much out of the left front. The rears wear evenly. The left front has a slight additional wear on the outside, such as I've always had with live axle 4x4s.



The tire that's wearing badly on the right front has been there since I moved it from the rear axle when I bought two tires.



I'm planning to find a shop that specializes in 4x4s. Anybody know one in the Phoenix area? West side preferred. Anybody know if Jack's Alignment can do the job?

 

[OTRPU]

Sorry, can't help you with a shop in your area. But I learned along time ago, factory allignment specs don't work. When I take it in if it's showing a pattern I tell the tech, "set it so it don't do that anymore. " First thing they gotta do is make sure nothings worn out or loose enough to keep from holding the spec they set. Even 2 wheelers have problems, and tires are sooper important to me. I eat them everyday. Fighting a lead tire problem right now in fact. Pulls to one side, swap tire to other side, pulls the other direction. Sometimes I just get bad rubber.

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Cheers,

Steve J

 

[WyattEarp]

Im not exactly having the same problem as you are but for some reason, all my tires but one (left front are wearing down pretty evenly, now i know this sounds weird but the left front has about 1/3 more rubber than the rest and all the tires have been rotated, and seems that my back tires are wearing a little more in the middle than they should be, air preasure is within specs for a empty truck but thought i would see if anyone else is having this weird situation and yes the left front tire is on the road