JDP

Last week I noticed my passenger front tire on my W350 Dually was wearing really bad compared to the rest of the tires. I had the alignment done when I had the new tires installed in March of this year. I have also noticed a clunking noise when I make a sharp turn. My first thought was the upper kingpin bushings, so I replaced both of them a few days ago. While I was at it I rotated the tires as well. I also checked the air pressure in the tires.

When I took it out for a test run I noticed a terrible shaking in the front end. It seems to be worse around 40mph.

Any thoughts.
Thanks.

93John

Which side of the tire is wearing the worse, inside or outside? Check the ball joints and that the wheel bearings are tight.

JDP

The outside is worse. Also, every other individual tread has less depth. I'm not sure about the ball joints....I thought the kingpins took place of the ball joints being the reason there Ball joint D60's and Kingpin D60's. I serviced the wheel bearings back in March when I purchased the truck.

93John

Try watching the wheel while jacking the front of the truck up and see if the wheel drops after it gets off the ground. Or if anything is loose while the front is off the ground. When my tirerod end was bad it caused the inner of the tire to wear.

JDP

Thanks. I'll do that. Checking the tie rod ends seems to be a good idea as well.

93 12v

Are the axle shafts/joints in good shape (not sure on terminology)? As far as shaking goes, does it get worse as you increase speed from 40? Could be a tire out of balance. Does it still clunk?

dillenger1

ball joints

JDP

I haven't heard the clunking since I replaced the kingpin bushings. After replacing the bushings is a alignment needed? I'm going to say the only alignment procedure on my rig would be setting the toe. The shaking is at it's peak between 40-45mph afterwards it turns into a bad vibration in the steering wheel.

93John

check your driveshaft ujoints, if they are bad enough it could cause the steering wheel to vibrate.

Evil Ram

What he^^said + check your tie rod end's for play I had the same problem with mine a year ago and fixed it with new ones, been holding up fine

dzl_damon

On the dually, correct? You centering your front wheels with a tapered lug nut before winding the other 6 flat ones on? These dually's front wheels are neither hub, nor lug centric. YOu must center them with 2 tapered lug nuts first. Got rid of my shake.

Your clunk is probably something else though...

dzl_damon

Oh ya, what he said ^^^ This comes from not centering your wheels.

Started wearing my brand new tires like this, scratched my head a LONG time. Place that did my wheels didn't even know about it...

JDP

dzl damon. Could you explain more of this? This sounds like my problem since it just started as soon as I rotated my tires. Also, the clunking did go away after I replaced the kingpin bushings.

wannadiesel

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...s-t248980.html

The sticky is your best resource.

JDP

Gotcha. Awesome..just read it. So, where should I first look for those type of lug nuts? A hardware store probably wouldn't have a tapered nut like that would they?