2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission tire rotation

[illflem]

I just rotate front to back on my 4wd for the simple reason I can jack one whole side up from the middle of the truck.

On my dually I don't rotate at all, I've found little benefit in my situation, just a lot of extra work.

 

[TPilaske]

What's the gig about putting a couple drops of oil between the duals? I'm getting ready to rotate for the first time and was wondering what i'm supposed to do w/ that? Drop some delo in there? 3-in-1 oil? HELP! Thanks!

 

[Pit Bull]

I've never heard of the drops of oil thing? I just have them rotated.



illflem, why don't you rotate on your 3500?

 

[WyoJim]

Why do you guys rotate at all? Is there any reason other than the manual and the tire Mfg say to.

 

[illflem]

PitBull, since my 3500 is constantly towing the rears seem to wear about the same as the front. A lot of the extra wear folks get on the rears is from hop created by too light of a rear end.

 

[TPilaske]

The majority of my miles are from towing, truck usually just sits in the garage waiting for the weekend to do it's thing. Maybe I won't rotate 'em... the oil thing from the user manual and service manual says: "the dual rear wheel lug nuts should be tightened according to the following procedure: place two drops of oil to the interface of the nut/washer before installing on the wheel stud" then tighten and blah blah blah... what if I put 3? It would be nice too even know what kind of oil?! Does anyone even do this?

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Redram, I flat spotted one front tire. It was a panic stop with my TT behind me. Locked "something" up from 70 down to 40 and then traffic went right back up to 70. Only the right front was flat spotted and I mean FLAT spotted!! There was at least 1/4 inch of tread on the two fronts and the one that was flat spotted had no tread left on the flat spot. Tire dealer replaced that tire for free under warranty, he said no way that one panic stop should have worn it down like that - I wasn't going to disagree. I replaced the pair because I wanted to be able to rotate them to the back, tires still had plenty of life left in the (30,000 or so).



Wyojim - why do I rotate? Because my rear tires wear at a MUCH faster rate than the fronts. I prefer to keep them as close as possible in size for winter time 4wd running on snow covered roads. The rear's wear faster because of driving style #ad
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Just kidding - I put my worn out tires on my spare rims for the days at the track! But my rears do wear a LOT faster than the fronts on the street.

 

[WyoJim]

Steve... My rears wear faster than the fronts also. This requires me to only buy 2 tires at a time instead of 4. $300 instead of $600.

 

[Pit Bull]

My fronts wear faster, rears don't wear much at all? Run empty most of the time, 65psi front and 45psi rears.

 

[zimman20]

Ditto for me, Pit Bull.



I always assumed my fronts wear faster because of the weight of the 24v engine and the aggressive way I drive, i. e. taking curves/corners/turns. The outsides of the fronts (L&R) wear the fastest.



God, I hate Badyears. Always did, but the bubbling on the sidewalls of the tires that came with my truck is a new one on me in my experience with Badyears.





zman

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

You missed the 2nd part of what I said WyoJim. Your profile doesn't say whether you have 2wd or 4wd - if you have a 2wd this wouldn't apply to you. I like to keep my tires as close as possible in size front to back as well. In the winter if my front tires are at 1/4 tread and I have brand new tires on the rear if I'm driving on snow then my front tires are skidding all the time. That takes away a lot of the steering control in the front end. That's the reason I rotate them so that I don't have to deal with that. Now that I have two new tires on the rear and half worn out ones on the front I won't be rotating them for a long time because I want to get the rears worn down to the same diameter as the fronts before winter.

 

[WyoJim]

Steve... You have a valid point with a minuscule problem. In this part of Wyoming we don't get enough snow to run much in 4 wheel drive, although my truck is a 4X4.



But I ran a 4X4 for 30 years in a part of PA that required 4 wheel drive every day in the winter. As long as the tires were the same size front and rear I couldn't tell if one was spinning more than another because of tread wear.



I just put new tires on the back and the front have 25000 on them. They are Michelin's and I have one front one being warrantied for belt problems. Now I will have three new ones and one with 25000 miles or 3/32 less tread. A problem, I don't think so.



Oh, and I like the spell checker!!

 

[WyoJim]

Just as I thought... . Not many logical arguments for rotating tires.

 

[Pit Bull]

Originally posted by WyoJim

Just as I thought... . Not many logical arguments for rotating tires.

I'm with you, what I try to do is if I get any strange wear, I figure out why see if I can correct what is causing it and then move some tires around to equalize the wear. I have a 6x6 and I buy 2 new tires at a time. Seems to workout OK, alway seem to end up with 4 real good tires and 2 that will need to be changed in a while. The other advantage is that my wife does not mine me buying 2 tires but she would be upset at the cost of 6. I run the Michelin LTX M/S that are good tires and work for my part of the country. I would love to have a set of the 19. 5 inch wheels and tires, but that is way $$$ out of the question.

 

[Big_Daddy_T]

Steve I always have replaced in 4s. I was under the impression that 1/4 in difference in size would end up destroying your t case. If not I feel foolish. Ive heard alot of horror stories about missized tires and costly repairs. Ive been told that the gears up front are a schmig taller than the rears to keep the front end out front while fourbyin .



My ex wife took out 3 sets of tires in 6 months. Melted tires, destroyed sidewalls,and irrepairable holes. She could ruin anything if given the time . mostly she just ruined my day.



I have to rotate mine due to a bad wear problem up front that ive been fighting for years. I am finally just going to replace all the moving components up front. Excluding the axles. Moog tie rod end up here are 300 bucks is this normal.



P. S. I have also heard that belt seperation line. I think I will change my oil and rotate my tires today.

 

[Joe G.]

I talked to my front end guy about this stuff. He said that it really doesn't make much difference how you do it. If you want even wear rotate them any way you want. When I service my truck I have it sitting on jack stands. I just go around the truck clock wise with the tires. That seems to work ok, all the tires are showing the same wear. It's a 4X4 so I want them all to wear out at the same time.

 

[beartrace]

I rotate my tires front to back same side every 7 - 8 K. I also have a lifetime alignment contract with Firestone and have them aligned at the same time interval. I just had the alignment done and I have 50% tire wear left at 48K on original Michelin's. This seems to work well for me. I also haul a pretty heavy slide-in about 25% of the time.