Tire rub, and leaf springs

[sparks57]

I knew my tires were rubbing when I got my new 285/75s... but I immediately assumed they were rubbing on the fenders. I was just looking up front to see what I can do about leveling the truck and I noticed that only my front left tire is rubbing and that it is rubbing on some control arm. It has actually taken out some chunks of rubber from the inside of my tire. :{



What can I do?



Also, can I run another leaf spring up front without changing the U-bolts? My font leaf springs are actually sagging. I would think they should be bent upwards a little. Would adding another leaf spring help this at all? And could I fit one?

 

[dusthomps]

I just added another leaf to the front of my truck this weekend. The u-bolts are long enough, but just like jbolt said, you will only get about half the nut on the studs in the diff. I put locktite on the studs to avoid any troubles. Make sure you start soaking them down about a week in advance. Mine came loose relatively easy after soaking for 5 days. Adding a leaf will help your front end as well. My bump stops were sitting on the leafs so you can imagine how bad my leafs were bowing down. After putting in the extra leaf, the springs now sit level, not bowed up, just level. Keep in mind you may need to adjust your steering wheel after adding a leaf. Mine ended up being about a 1/3 turn off when I finished. The Borgeson made adjusting that really easy. Anyway, hope this helps... .

 

[sparks57]

Thanks. No one told me anything about the tire rub though... will that be solved when I put the lift springs in? What can I do?

 

[JFitzgerald]

CB, I haven't heard anyone else mention tire rub on the springs. My 33's rub slightly sometimes when I turn and hit a bump at the same time. On mine, the contact is between the outside edge of the tire tread and the rear of the fender opening. Maybe you could adjust the steering stop bolts on the Dana 60's knuckles to limit the turning?? Could it be the offset of your wheels puts the tires farther inward? Just some thoughts... ... Hope they help.

 

[DPKetchum]

No experiance with a Dodge and bigger tires but on Nissans it always was a bent or misadjusted steering stop bolt or something else bent.

 

[Dscholz]

CB_Parker,

I am running 285/75R16 BFG AT's on my 90. I had the same problem with my tires rubbing on the control arm when I had the wheels turned all the way to the right. If I backed off about a quarter turn it didn't rub. I didn't notice any chunks removed from the side of the tire tread though. I just solved my problem by buying some new rims with a different offset and no more rubbing. Maybe one of these days I will take some pictures of my truck and post them in the reader rig section.

Hope this helped,

Dan

 

[Hutchew]

A simple fix.............

If you want, is to screw the 'stop' out on the driver side axle so that the tire just won't turn that far. Your turning radius will be dimished a little, but it does quit rubbing.