Wheel alignment or something else going on?

[Big Rig]

I checked the air in my tires today & I noticed that the front tires have a lot of wear from the inside side of the tires to the first groove of the tread ( about 1 1/2 inches or so). Both front tires seem to be wearing in the same way & that inside part also seems to have a slight bit of cupping going on. The rest of the tread on both tires looks very good. I have a camper on the truck all the time & it's total weight is about 4000 lbs. The tires were running about 68 psi. Someone suggested it was an alignment problem & that I should have it aligned with the camper on the truck. I have 26,000 miles on the tires.

So: 1. Is it alignment problem or something else?

2. If alignment problem should I align with the camper on or off the truck?



Thanks,

Big Rig

 

[JHardwick]

Being a 2WD, and having 4,000# on it all the time, I'd have it aligned with the camper on.

 

[CSkal]

I checked the air in my tires today & I noticed that the front tires have a lot of wear from the inside side of the tires to the first groove of the tread ( about 1 1/2 inches or so). Both front tires seem to be wearing in the same way & that inside part also seems to have a slight bit of cupping going on.

Sounds like camber wear to me. I agree, try to have the alignment done with the camper/trailer on.

 

[jelag]

If the camper is on the truck more than 60-75% of the time you should have it aligned with the camper on the truck... with that said... . inside tire wear CAN be caused by a toe problem... . incorrect toe setting... . and that is an alignment problem but not from the weight and toe shouldn't change with weight.....



Too much + camber can also cause this type of wear... . but it takes a lot of camber to do this... . I'm guessing its tow... .



Also... . I own 3 3500 dually's all 4x4 and we see really odd front tire wear on all of them unless we rotate the tires every 20 to 25K miles..... we cross the fronts to the inside dually, inside dually to the outisde and the outside to the front.....



Hope this helps... .



Jim

 

[JHardwick]

... . incorrect toe setting... . and that is an alignment problem but not from the weight and toe shouldn't change with weight.....

It can on a 2WD can't it?

 

[jelag]

If toe changed with the weight on the truck... . than as you went done the road... . the tires would scrub more... . the reason for tow is to allow for the compression of the joints and the thrust of the vehicle going down the road... if the drag link and control links are in front of the axle you toe the vehicle one way and when the drag link is behind the axle you toe it the other way. . so as the vehicle goes down the road. . the compression on the linkage..... to keep it going straight brings the wheels to a straight path and 0 toe... .



so all that toe does is correct for the normal play in the linkage and the joints as it sits stationary in the bay..... if toe changed with weight... . even a 1/16 to a 1/8" you'd scrub off the tires going down the road... .



Hope this makes sense... ... . anyway it's all math.....



Jim

 

[JHardwick]

your either wrong, or explaining yourself incorrectly ... ... ..... this is a 2WD with independant we are talking about ... ... ... ... toe WILL change with weight!