I have been reading this forum for...well since I bought my truck about two years ago and have learned a great deal. I apologize for not contributing, but there are too many of you that know much more than I so I tend to keep my yap shut.

I have an issue and would appreciate your input. I have searched this and other forums on this site and have not been able to locate the answer that I need.

My front tires wear on the outside edge. I had the truck aligned when I put the new tires on it about 5K miles ago and thought that would solve the problem. No such luck. I took it to a different shop to have them look at it as they work on "bigger" trucks along with the "smaller" truck and they told me it was because I was running a "mud" tire. I know this isn't true because the tires that I took off the truck were regular stock Goodyears. I understand that an offroad tire will not last as long but I would think that I should still get consistent wear. The rears look almost new, but the fronts are wearing pretty aggresively on the outside edge. What components need to be replaced to solve this problem?

Josh

 

It's because your alignment shop is using generic specs that allow a ton of variability, most all use these specs.
http://dodgeram.org/ram.html used to have a link to website by a Chrysler expert with the correct specs but it doesn't work any more. I might have the specs somewhere, I'll get back later.

A sloppy track bar can also cause wear on the outsides but is normally only on one tire.

 

My innitial thought is worn out front shocks, or in correct alighment (or both). What condition are your shocks in?

 

My .02. If the tires are wearing on the outside edge it would mean that either your tie rod is towed in (or bent), or your camber is way off (\ /). Did you have your ball joints replaced recently? I'm pretty sure there is a "cam" bolt on top of the upper ball joint that can be spun to adjust camber. If someone didn't mark them and put them back in the same spot when removing the ball joint this could cause your problem, although any good alignment shop could tell you that. The only other thing I could think of is a bent front axle, but you would have to hit something extremely hard to bend the front axle housing. Just a thought.

MIke

 

Found the specs. These are dfferent than what the computer at most alignment shops says to do.

Setting Left Wheel Right Wheel
Caster 3.2° 3.5°
Camber -0.10° -0.10°
Cross Caster -0.3°
Cross Camber 0.0°
Toe Standard specs, (maybe a little out if you tow a lot, they will pull in as the front end lifts up).

 

Thanks for the input guys. I have been looking at shocks just because that was my initial thought as well. As far as I know this truck has alll original components on the front end so none of the balljoints have been replaced. If something down there is damaged I don't know when it happened. I don't get off road much and if I do its mostly mud, no rough stuff. The guy I bought the truck from treated it like his baby. I have every service record from when the truck was ever touched down to replacement of the visor clip.

I am going to install new shocks, have it aligned to the specs Infidel listed and make sure all of the balljoints are tight. Then I will rotate the tires and see how they wear. I'll keep you posted on how things turn out.

By the way, the specs listed show a camber setting. My Haynes manual tells me that camber is not adjustable on the 4wd model and if the camber is off components need to be replaced. So, is the camber number a reference to know if components need replacing?

Thanks again for your input, it is appreciated.

 

This is for a 4wd too?

I can't see how the toe changes when the front end lifts.. don't we have a solid tie-rod, or is it that goofy Jeep style thing where the tir-rod doesn't actually go to the right knuckle, instead, connecting at the drag link?

 

Toe changes because as the front end lifts or compresses, the inverted "Y" tie rod set up causes the toe to change. Compressing the suspension effectively lengthens the tie rod, causing toe out, and droop or extension shortens the tie rod and causes toe in. This occurs constantly while driving down the road as the suspension cycles.

Bill is dead on as far as the alignment specs, I've been using these specs for 5 years now and it's the only thing that ever got rid of the DW (for a while, anyhow). The only thing that got rid of the tire wear problems (and death wobble, for that matter) was to completely ditch the OEM tie rod system and go to cross over steering. I've also heard alot of folks have gone to the 1 ton or inverted "T" style steering and seen an improvement. As long as the tie rod is continuous from knuckle to knuckle ( and camber and track bar are good) you should see an improvement in tire wear. I have 20K+ on my fronts and they haven't been rotated, ever. They are now just barely starting to feather but at any rate they are wearing twice as well as the rears, and this is with Swamper SSRs.

I have completely re-configured my front end and I still use the alignment specs Bill listed above.

 

Install all the 98-99 HD steering parts if you have a 00-02 use all the 98-99 stuff and then for the tierod end at the pitman arm use the 00-02 end if you have a 94-99 use the suggested tie-rod end for at the pitman arm. Careful all the moog books had the wrong coupler listed for the tie-rod the 1-ton 99 hd setup should show up as being the right one

Works great

 

I have that list of part numbers if you want it, it is a zipped file, so I am not sure how to show it here!!

 

I copied this somewhere, try this. I can guarantee nothing though.



I upgraded my steering from the inverted "Y" style to the heavy duty "T" style. The inverted "Y" setup is no good in my opinion because any change in front end height will cause the toe setting to change and not only that it's not near as strong as a solid bar between the two wheels. I installed all Moog parts from Carquest for the 1998 year. These same parts will also fit many other years. Notice the size difference in the main rod between the wheels and the huge adjusting sleeve. Below are part numbers for all the parts needed to do this job. I had no contact issues at all even with the 2001 8" factory alloy wheels (original wheels were 6.5" steel on this truck) and the '96 front axle, which was changed out because the original '98 axle must have been damaged in the accident this truck was in before I got it. So there you have it, a 1998 truck, 1996 front axle, 2001 alloy wheels and 1998 "T" style tie rods and it all works out fine.

• Long drag link: DS1456
• Short drag link: DS1459
• Left tie rod end: ES3496
• Pitman tie rod end: ES3497
• Small adjusting sleeve: ES2012S
• Large adjusting sleeve: ES3498S

 

Has anyone tried these numbers? I'm doing my front end and am considering going to this style over the "Y".

Jimmy

 

im assumiong from your sig you have a 97 regardless 94-02. im not sure about the numbers he posted they look right but basically you go in tell them you have a 99 HD 1ton and need all tierods/eds and drag links. if you have a 00-02 the ONLY end you have to change is the pitman arm end. and it will thread into the adjuster sleeve for the 98 draglink.

 

I did the same thing before I went to cross over steering......lasted about 20K before the steering got sloppy again.

I spent the extra $100 for Don Thuren's set up and my steering's been nice and tight ever since, going on about 50K+ miles.

 

Are these settings good for a 96 2wd?????
I have some slack in my steering but my tire wear doesn't seem to suffer. The only time I really notice it is when I'm towing my buddies 15K camper. I get a little sway if I don't keep my mind on the task at hand.