Multi-tiered quesiton: tire wear and spaces

[cdarwin22]

I hope I'm putting this in the right area and not being to redundant with any questions. I am a DIYer but am also not a gear head or much of a truck mod person. That said, I have been interested in getting a leveling kit for the otherwise stock 21 Ram 1500 Laramie.

In checking out the tires recently, prior to getting a leveling kit (I still haven't gotten one) I noticed a ton of wear on my rear passenger tire. I admittedly haven't rotated the tires on my truck (68k miles on it with new cheap-o tires on it when I bought it with 36k on it). Now, I understand this is my primary drive wheel, but the wear seems excessive as compared to the drivers rear. I wanted to address this, if needed prior to getting 1½" spacers to install. Tge that's standard wear after that many miles, I know I can proceed to purchasing new tires.

In any event, when I do purchase new tires, is there a larger size tire I can use on these rims? The vacant space in the rear wheel well looks almost as silly as the rake on the front end to me..

 

[cdarwin22]

 

[cdarwin22]

 

[Wild one]

Why not drop the rear 2 inches instead of lifting the front,lot less headaches in the long run then lifting the front

 

[rzr6-4]

With the differential not being locked, you're almost always going to be putting down more power to one side than the other, and when you're going in a straight line that's usually going to be the same side. My guess is that for your particular year it just happens to be such that if you would've floor it the right tire would spin first, and even if you're not spinning that slightly higher torque load on that side is why it has worn a little bit faster. If you rotate the next set like you are supposed to that will be spread across the other tires and not be an issue.

As far as tire size you can fit, you could probably go up to 35 inch tires pretty easily, just have to get your speedometer adjusted to be correct. There are 1 million threads here already on that issue.

 

[cdarwin22]

Why not drop the rear 2 inches instead of lifting the front,lot less headaches in the long run then lifting the front

Thank you, I didn't realize that was an option. Or, at least an option as simple as lifting the front.

 

[cdarwin22]

With the differential not being locked, you're almost always going to be putting down more power to one side than the other, and when you're going in a straight line that's usually going to be the same side. My guess is that for your particular year it just happens to be such that if you would've floor it the right tire would spin first, and even if you're not spinning that slightly higher torque load on that side is why it has worn a little bit faster. If you rotate the next set like you are supposed to that will be spread across the other tires and not be an issue.

As far as tire size you can fit, you could probably go up to 35 inch tires pretty easily, just have to get your speedometer adjusted to be correct. There are 1 million threads here already on that issue.

Thank you for the info. I suspected it had a lot to do with not rotating. I knew that one ture would take a bulk of the wear, but wasn't sure if that was excessive. I obviously don't inspect tires like I should so noticing the baldness of it today kind of freaked me out.

 

[olyelr]

That does look like pretty odd tire wear to me, especially for a rear tire.

The rears should wear pretty evenly, flat throughout the entire tread if pressure is correct. Low pressure gets the outer sides worn, high pressure gets the centers worn.

But yours is worn more on one side than the other, like the camber is off (not uncommon up front). But camber isnt adjustable in the rear.

Odd.

And…how the hell do you JUST notice your tire is completely bald?! Lmao

 

[Zoe Saldana]

I'd spend my money on basic maintaince before the lift.

 

[GeauxinUp]

That does look like pretty odd tire wear to me, especially for a rear tire.

The rears should wear pretty evenly, flat throughout the entire tread if pressure is correct. Low pressure gets the outer sides worn, high pressure gets the centers worn.

But yours is worn more on one side than the other, like the camber is off (not uncommon up front). But camber isnt adjustable in the rear.

Odd.

And…how the hell do you JUST notice your tire is completely bald?! Lmao

Agreed. Definitely odd tire wear even if you didn’t rotate them. Notice how the excessive wear doesn’t even reach all the way to the inside shoulder?

OP, your gas tank and you (driver) add weight to the driver’s side, so that’s why your passenger side spins primarily with an open differential. I’d keep any eye on that tire wear though when you do get new tires

 

[Wild one]

Agreed. Definitely odd tire wear even if you didn’t rotate them. Notice how the excessive wear doesn’t even reach all the way to the inside shoulder?

OP, your gas tank and you (driver) add weight to the driver’s side, so that’s why your passenger side spins primarily with an open differential. I’d keep any eye on that tire wear though when you do get new tires

The engine and transmission are offset to the passenger side a couple inches to offset the driver,and that's a myth about the tank,it's inside the frame rails and is damn near in the center of the truck.If that myth held any water,the trucks height would change between an empty tank and a full tank,and it doesn't change rear bumper height whether it's full or empty. Look at your footwells,the drivers side footwell is quite a bit wider then the passenger side footwell,because the engine and transmission sit closer to the passenger side fender, and if you're really curious dig out your tape measure and measure where the engine sits in the engine compartment.

 

[ibike]

The engine and transmission are offset to the passenger side a couple inches to offset the driver,and that's a myth about the tank,it's inside the frame rails and is damn near in the center of the truck.If that myth held any water,the trucks height would change between an empty tank and a full tank,and it doesn't change rear bumper height whether it's full or empty. Look at your footwells,the drivers side footwell is quite a bit wider then the passenger side footwell,because the engine and transmission sit closer to the passenger side fender, and if you're really curious dig out your tape measure and measure where the engine sits in the engine compartment.

Now that’s just interesting as can be. I’m gonna go measure mine and see this. Wow. Never would have guessed.

 

[cdarwin22]

That does look like pretty odd tire wear to me, especially for a rear tire.

The rears should wear pretty evenly, flat throughout the entire tread if pressure is correct. Low pressure gets the outer sides worn, high pressure gets the centers worn.

But yours is worn more on one side than the other, like the camber is off (not uncommon up front). But camber isnt adjustable in the rear.

Odd.

And…how the hell do you JUST notice your tire is completely bald?! Lmao

Yeah, the inside only seemed odd to me as well. Weird.

And I admittedly don't generally worry much about tires, but especially in the case of this vehicle. I planned on getting newer (better looking tires) when I bought it. But when I bought it at over 30k miles, there were brand new tires on it. I figured I'd just ride them for 2 years then buy some new ones. I never expected that much wear on one inner wheel.

 

[Wild one]

Thank you for the info. I suspected it had a lot to do with not rotating. I knew that one ture would take a bulk of the wear, but wasn't sure if that was excessive. I obviously don't inspect tires like I should so noticing the baldness of it today kind of freaked me out.

Has the truck ever been in an accident or seriously overloaded or seen some air time,as that kind of wear almost looks like you could have a bent axle housing.

 

[Docwagon1776]

View attachment 585263

That's indicative of an issue beyond not rotating. I'd guess you have a tweaked rear axle that's making the tire lean inboard, but something is definitely wrong beyond normal tire wear and lack of rotation. Improper inflation wouldn't cause that wear pattern.

 

[cdarwin22]

Has the truck ever been in an accident or seriously overloaded or seen some air time,as that kind of wear almost looks like you could have a bent axle housing.

To my knowledge, no. Though it is hard telling what occurred during its first 33k miles.

I did find it surprising that it had brand new tires when I purchased it, but assumed the prior owner may have done burn outs on the stock tires.

 

[cdarwin22]

That's indicative of an issue beyond not rotating. I'd guess you have a tweaked rear axle that's making the tire lean inboard, but something is definitely wrong beyond normal tire wear and lack of rotation. Improper inflation wouldn't cause that wear pattern.

Thanks for that. I'm told an alignment would identify if it were toe/axle/camber issue.

 

[Dean2]

Now that’s just interesting as can be. I’m gonna go measure mine and see this. Wow. Never would have guessed.

You don't need to measure. Wild is spot on. You can easily see it in the footwells.

Notice how the diff is not in the centre. You can also see the engine offset.

Edit to Post -Fixed the wrong stuff about the longer axle

 

[Docwagon1776]

Thanks for that. I'm told an alignment would identify if it were toe/axle/camber issue.

It's definitely a camber issue, toe doesn't look like that. However there's nothing to adjust on the rear axle to alter toe or camber. The only thing you can adjust on the rear is thrust angle, and if your thrust angle was off you'd have more symptoms than uneven wear on one tire.

A bent axle is going to throw camber off, and that's unfortunately the most likely answer if that tire wore like that entirely on that truck on one rear corner.

 

[Wild one]

To my knowledge, no. Though it is hard telling what occurred during its first 33k miles.

I did find it surprising that it had brand new tires when I purchased it, but assumed the prior owner may have done burn outs on the stock tires.

The ZF diffs have been known to bend,and even have an axle tube a bit out of whack right from when they're assembled. It's not a very common issue,but there are reports of them being out of alignment from when the truck is brand new.
Crawl underneath the truck an eyeball up the diff,and see it it looks like the passenger side axle tube looks out of alignment,a good alignment shop should also be able to tell you if you might have a bent axle tube.