Front tire wear?

[Brian19692]

I have a 02 3500 4x4. The front tires are feathering bad after 12000 miles. Dealer said they all do that and warrenty won't cover alignment. It's a toe problem that I think they should fix. Anyone else had a prob with this? Should I try a different dealer of just pay the $60 for an alignment?

[LA DMAX]

Brian, I have a 2500HD and my front tires feather along the outer edge. I was also told that all do that and that the tires need to be rotated every 5000 miles or so. The dealer did do an alignment when I first complained about this, but that was at about 7000 miles and dealer said they would warranty the allignment. I wish GM would do something about fixin that problem. Umm, I guess I must be dreaming again to make a statement like that. Overall, real happy with the truck, it's just these little things that add up and make me feel like I should get more truck for almost $40,000. Just my .02

Later

LA DMAX

[Kennedy]

Definitely need to rotate them! Also bear in mind that a tire with a solid outer shoulder (like the Steeltex AT will hold up better in this respect.

[Brian19692]

How is everyone rotating the duellies? Side to side?

[Biodiesel6.6]

I had the same problem with mine. Had the alignment done before 7k miles, covered under warrenty. Over 7K not. I also rotated the tires at that time. Just looked at the front tires this week and see a simmilar ware pattern, not as bad as before. Almost 12k on the truck. I won't take it back to the Stealers for alignment service. Looks like they didn't correct the problem, said they put there best to do the alignment. Look for a place that will stand behind there work for 6-12k miles. If there is a place?
That's what I need to do! :rolleyes:

[mackin]

Brian19692

I keep them on the same side.....I bring the rear inside up front...Move the rear outside in...And the front to rear outside....I don't bother with the spare.....

MAC

[thechevyhdman]

You dually owners have to remember that duallys are alot more susceptible to outer tire wear based on different "geomoetry" on front tires and also duallys are alot more prone to funny tire wear all around. If you do alot of driving highway etc youll notice eventually that your drivers side back tires wear funny, why because the crown in the roads. I cant get more than 20,000 out of any dually tire. but the forces on our roll off trucks are alot greater than say Mackins dually(of course our duallys wont spin em through 2nd gear)But the problem may also lie in the fact that these G133 Goodyears are a pretty knobby thread with no outside wear strip.Gotta remember how bad your front tires scrub the pavement when turing.

[JEBar]

have just over 25,000 on my 3500 ... factory tires appear to be about half worn ... rotate every 5,000 (change oil at same time) and use the 7 tire pattern in the manual ... 2 of the 7 tires have shown signs of featering .... also run door rating -5 lbs air in all tires .... Hope this helps, seems to be working pretty well for me ..... Jim

[Kirkes]

I also had the same problem with tire wear,the same problem with the dealer,and so on.

A tire guy had told me that the tire wear is caused by the amount of up & down movement we get on the front of these trucks.He told me to crank up on the torsion bars so I did.No more tire were. Rides better .It was an all arouned good move.

[Gbenzx01]

Sounds just like the 95 Dodge 3500 we had that kept eating of the front tires.
Kept saying they wern't rotated enough so first lesson was front end eat six tires in 19k miiles. Sooo if 2&2 made six I would keep back tires on the back & rotating outside to opposite inside at 25k miles & bingo 50 to 60k miles.
Some tire people speak with $ tongue=keep on rotating & we sell you sumore!
Thanx, Gben

[fredw]

i as well am exsperiencing the same on my front tires, 12000 km, on them and the insides of the tread are very uneven

[SoCalDieselNewbie]

My front tires did the same darn thing... 20,000 miles, tires rotated at 10,000 miles, and the tires needed to be replaced.

1 of the tires was not balanced and both were worn on the inside edge.

The tire guy said that he has seen it on 3 other duallys... He said to crank up the torsion bars and make sure to run Max Air pressure.

So far so good.

[srubrn]

I have the 2500HD 4x4 and I have not rotated them yet and won't. My problem is the back tires are wearing out. Pattern is flat. I did run 80PSI like the door says and I think that is the problem. Now I run 55 unless I am hauling my camper. No I am not spinning. Can't make a six speed spin hardly. Only on wet pavement all the way thru 5th gear. I keep the good tires on the front. Also, alignment is covered under warrenty til 12K.

[Brian19692]

Thanks for the info guys. I have a nother stupid Question. I've never messed with a torsion bar suspension before. How do you crank up the bars? How much will this raise the front? I don't want to raise it much. I pull pretty heavy and don't want the front up in the air. Thanks.

[Kirkes]

The backside of the torsion bars there is a bolt.You will need a impact wrench turn them clockwise. This could raise the truck as much as 1 to 2 inches. I pull a 12K 5er it made my truck set level wile hooked up to it.
Good Luck

[Brian19692]

should the suspension be unloaded or sitting on the ground?

[Paintdude]

I have found replacing the shocks has helped mine..

If you raise the torsion bars(front end)you will need to realign the front end..It will bring the top of the wheels in and make more toe in..

[dcpdave]

just for clarification,
g.m warranty for front end alignments is; no alignment before 500 miles, reason: it takes a few miles for the suspension to "settle". from 500 miles to 7500 miles: covered by warranty. 7500 miles to 10,000 miles:covered ONLY with district service manager approval, which is like pulling teeth. after 10,000 miles: no warranty, reason: tires should be rotated every 6-7000 miles, if unusual tire wear is noticed at that time, possible that it came from factory out of alignment.
moral to the story: PLEASE have tires rotated by 7,000 miles, and if unusual wear is noticed, get it in to dealer for alignment.
hope this helps,

[jbplock]

Regarding front tire wear, try searching the 6.5 and members forums. There was a discussion on this topic over a year ago and I seem to remember someone suggesting a change to the alignment specs that would correct the problem. The front outer tread on my 98 dually would also wear out first.

[letsgo]

Grease the torsion bar adjusting bolts, and you only need a 20 inch 1/2 socket breaker bar, one tape to measure fender height, to level the truck raise the low side and lower the high side, put a mark on the bolt head and turn 1/4 turn at a time. Requires very little effort to turn the bolts with the wheels on the ground.

good luck

[ 11-03-2002: Message edited by: letsgo ]</p>

[Captain Mal]

Brian,

Just had an alignment for the second time. 100,000+ miles and little change noted or made.

Steeltex AT's wear "perfect" and get rotated to the back when the back tires wear out. The new ones go on the front.

I have found that using lighter weight- distribution bars for the trailers I tow yields longer rear-tire life. It must be that less weight on the truck causes the tires to spin a little.

Always keep 80 psi in all the tires. Currently getting about 50K out of each pair as they move, front to back.

'01 2500 GMC D/A ext 4x4 smile.gif

[zsqure]

I too have strange tire wear, at 26K the rears are almost down to the wear bars, the fronts have at least 50% tread left, are running straight and true ( alignment at 8k ). I'm running the factory all season firerags. Could my excessive rear tire wear be due to the locking rear end?