Tire wear issues

[Bandit-8]

I just bought a 1998 Dodge Ram club cab 8.0L automatic trans and 4 wheel drive.

Hers my problem. First off I have no history on this truck as it was a re-po by a bank.

Both front tires are worn completely out on the outside edges.

They are both worn evenly and I mean almost exactly the same.

They are both Mesa 285/75 R 16. If My research is correct the factory put 245/75 R 16 on it when it was new. So the ones on it now that`s worn on the outside are much larger tires in the width.

The wear indicates way too much positive camber in both front wheels. I had two people look at it and both said worn out ball joints.

This is hard for me to believe. I have worked on cars and trucks for years and have never seen a vehicle that wore out ball joints evenly on both sides that in turn wore out the outside edges of the tires almost perfectly and exactly the same from side to side.

Granted I retired about 12 years ago and have not kept up on the newer vehicles so anything is possible.

But are there a chance that by the 285 width tires being so much larger that the physical over size could be the problem?

Also ever vehicle I found with worn ball joints especially the uppers the tires on that side were worn on the inside edges instead of the outter edges.

Are there any front end specialist on here that can shed any light on my problem/

I really don`t mind rebuilding the front end if that`s what`s necessary but I sure hate to do it if it is not necessary.

One more thing. After seing this problem I started the truck and had some one turn the steering wheel back and forth left to right looking for play in the tie rods or steering shaft. The front end linkags are tight. There is no slop what so ever. The instant you turn the steering wheel the tires move in the direction turned.

I am just having a real hard time believing both side wore out ball joints exactly the same and in turn wore out the outter edges of the tires exactly the same on both sides.

People I do need help on tis one and any light you can shed on it will be appreciated.

Thank You

B-8

 

[smiley]

I think they also came with 265's my guess is the truck has not been aligned in a long time and you might as well do tie rods and ball joints as both are probably bad anyway.


$miley

 

[oilfieldtrash83]

I'm betting the toe needs to be set. The size of the tire is not the problem.

 

[quietpeen]

I also think its not the Tire size that's the problem

 

[Bigtman07]

I woul have to agree that is is most likely the ball joints. With the solid front axle you have a kingpin at the top and a ball joint below. If the kingpin or balljoint are worn it will cause the camber to be off. Or it could be the tie rod ends. Those will cause the toe to be off. It could be either of those. But with the age of the truck it isn't a bad idea to rebuild the entire front end but If I would have to start somewhere I would take it to an alignment shop. There they will be able to see right away if the alignment is bad or not. If it is just out of alignment easy quick fix if not they will usually tell you what is wrong

 

[oilfieldtrash83]

I honestly dont know why you didnt just take it straight to a shop to have the alignment checked/done. You woulda had your answer by lunch.

 

[Cthulhu]

I honestly dont know why you didnt just take it straight to a shop to have the alignment checked/done. You woulda had your answer by lunch.

It is better to ask, then to look and never find. If you don't want to answer, then don't answer.

 

[oilfieldtrash83]

It is better to ask, then to look and never find. If you don't want to answer, then don't answer.

The answer was there all along, its out of alignment. You could eyef*ck it all day long and not be able to tell if its out of alignment, that is the reason they make alignment equipment. Short of something bent or obviously loose you will never know. About 15 minutes on a rack and you will have the answer, and a precise one at that.

 

[Cthulhu]

And there's something fundamentally wrong with inquiring on a forum about what it may be?? ... welcome to the forum newbie... you'll learn how to be a help to someone... well, you might..

 

[oilfieldtrash83]

And there's something fundamentally wrong with inquiring on a forum about what it may be?? ... welcome to the forum newbie... you'll learn how to be a help to someone... well, you might..

Nothing wrong with it but what are you going to have him look for? He already said everything is tight. So what does that leave? Thats right, alignment. And unless they have come up with an app for your smartphone to do front end alignments in your driveway its probably gonna have to go to an alignment rack.

I'm far from new. I have probably spent more hours on the end of a wrench than most people will in their lifetime working on everything from 4wheelers to multimillion dollar drilling rigs and earth moving equipment. Also, i'm not just some dude who decided one day he would look cool in a pickup. I'm from a ranch, I have been in and around and under pickups my whole life. Sometimes it pays to take advice when its given, especially when the person talking does it for a living.

 

[smiley]

Take it easy this is a fun forum and there are no bad questions. We are all at different mechanical and intellectual levels. The point is to bounce ideas off each not fight. This forum is successful because people are good to each other if you can't do that please leave. We all want a fun helpful experience in here.


$miley

 

[oilfieldtrash83]

Take it easy this is a fun forum and there are no bad questions. We are all at different mechanical and intellectual levels. The point is to bounce ideas off each not fight. This forum is successful because people are good to each other if you can't do that please leave. We all want a fun helpful experience in here.

You are correct sir, my apologies.

 

[Bandit-8]

I think they also came with 265's my guess is the truck has not been aligned in a long time and you might as well do tie rods and ball joints as both are probably bad anyway.


$miley

Actually I don`t have any history on this one. It was a bank repo. It also was very cheap but it came with several problems other than the alignment.

I did drive over to where I have it stored and dug around through all the junk/ trash and I did find the window sticker and owners manual.

Both items had the tires for this truck listed as 245/75 r 16 E BSW All Season.

So it clearly has tires much larger than it came with when it was bought new.

The window sticker also showed the wheels as being chrome 16 inch by 6.5 inch.

 

[Bandit-8]

I honestly dont know why you didnt just take it straight to a shop to have the alignment checked/done. You woulda had your answer by lunch.

The reason I did not just run it to an alignment shop is the transmission is also out on this truck. I bought it as a bank repo and it came with several other issues. One is it`s still sitting in an impound lot while the paper work is being processed.

Now, even if it had of been running i don`t know if I would have just run it out to an alignment shop with out doing a little research first.

I am not saying your wrong by any means in guessing it`s an alignment problem. But over the past 50 some odd years I have seen a lot of out of align wheels on both 2wd and 4x4 trucks But I have never seen one that has been out of align with the outter edges worn off so perfectly from side to side and indicating heavy postitve camber on a Dana 60 solid axle.

Are you a wheel alignment technician? And was your suggestion due to actual in shop experience or was it just a wag?

In any case you may be correct as it could be an alignment issue, but it sure as heck is not one I have ever run across.

But thank you any how

B-8

I

 

[oilfieldtrash83]

The scenarios are endless. Since you cant drive it yet its even harder to tell. If something doesnt make sense think outside the box.
1. Did the truck do the wearing on these tires or were the already worn and simply slapped on the truck?
2. Only one side of the axle is messed up and when it wore one tire they swapped sides as not to completely destroy the one tire prematurely.
3. The tires were both originally turned around and the worn side was actually at one time the outside of the tire and they turned the tires around to even out the wear.

 

[Gray2010Ram]

I would also like to add in the mesa tires are a house brand tire from NTB. In my opinion I would go with a much better quality tire. I work at a NTB and i gotta say they look cheaply made. so when you replace them i say find a good quality tire from a good tire manufacture.

 

[Budakane]

Cant we all just get along? lol, lets keep it cool gentlemen

 

[Bandit-8]

Up date on the tires. I was digging through the piles of crap yesterday looking for the owners book which I did in fact locate along with the original window sticker. I also found papers with the owners phone numbers.

I just got of the phone with him where as we had a qutie good discussion about the truck considering he lost it through a repo.

According to him the bank blind sidded him in that when he was behind on payments due to a health issue some one at the bank told him not to worry that they would give him a little more time before coming after it so he could get caught up. Well that little more time according to him was about 3 days. He came home one day and it was gone.

Any how he had to park the truck because the transmission had stopped working properly. Said he had to rev the engine to 25 hundred rpm before it would move. Then he said he called a friend in the transmission rebuilding business and the friend told him that a valve in the valve body must have stuck. Any way due to having no funds for the repaires he had to let it sit.

Then we talked about the tires. Supposedly the Mesa tires only had 30k on them. he said they were the worst truck tires he had ever owned. I ask if he had rotated them and he admitted that he had not and went on to say he knew it probably had a lot to do with how the front tires were completely worn out while the rear tires still had a little usable tread left on them.

On a personal note I doubt seriously that there`s much of anything wrong with the front end. Now that I know the tires were never rotated properly and them being several sizes to large on factory 6.5 inch wheels which are probably too narrow for that large of a tire. Iam inclined to replace the set with a good set of the proper size and have the alignment checked. One more thing on this particular tire issue. This fellow told me where he lived and it`s on one of the most crooked roads in Missouri. The lions share of the miles were in fact put on those tires on that road. The roas is a poorly maintained black top and the curves are so bad you pass the rear of your vehicle negotiating some of them. Seriously it is a bad road I have been on it several times. So that being said I can now understand why the out side edges are so worn. The man also drives a big rig for a living and he ran the crap out of that truck.

The good news from the owner.

When the truck had about 120k miles on it he blew the engine. Said the rebuilt unit that`s in it now only has about 40k miles on it. Went on to tell me what all the machine shop done to it and said his machine shop bill alone was just over four thousand dollars.

I guess I lucked out with a some what rebuilt engine. One has to also realize though that this fellow probably put 40 k real hard miles on it like he did the factory new one.

Now I need to find out if the valve body can keep the transmission from going into the forward gears. If so that`s something I can do myself.

One more thing, I should have title in hand tomorrow and I can get moving on it.

If when I get this truck done it does infact turn out to be one I feel will give me good service then I am going to put my other truck up for sale. 1995 Dodge 2wd w/Cummins and manual transmission. Right at 200k miles.