I took my 2003 RAM 3500 DRW to the dealer for pulling to the left.

They said the front tires are cupping and need a rotation. They said the diesels are so heavy that the tires often cup.

They will rotate for $34.95 and do the alignment under warranty.

Is it really normal for the tires to cup with the diesel engine? I've heard a lot of people who say not to even rotate the tires on a dually because the rear tires last so much longer than the front tires.

Brian Elfert

 

Rotate for $34.99? They want 35 bucks to put the truck on a lift, take the wheels off and put them back on? Something that takes Nascar guys 15 seconds to do... and never takes me more than 10 minutes to do myself... what a rip. Make them do it for free since they'll have they'll already have the truck in the bay to do the alignment. For $34.99 you could buy enough jack stands to hold your truck. Use the 'ole air impact, and you'll be done in no time... to each their own I suppose.

 

It cost me $15 or $16 to have the tires rotated on my car two weeks ago. I don't think $35 for a dually is that bad.

I would have to buy a floor jack, four jack stands, and an impact wrench to do the job. It would probably take half an hour to get the truck up on the jack stands and another half an hour to do the work and lower the truck back down. I'll pay for the $35 to have someone else do it the easy way with a lift.

My real concern is why the tires are cupping in the first place.

Brian Elfert

 

Yeah I guess if you don't have the tools already $35 isn't that bad... make sure when you get new tires you get the free lifetime balance/rotation from wherever you get 'em tho. As for the cupping, that happened really bad with my '99 on 265 BFG AT's, and rotating them frequently seemed to be the only solution. I think it's just a matter of so much weight on the front end, and this being exaggerated even more if you have to brake hard frequently. (or drive it like it's a sports car ) I even purchased a lifetime alignments and had that done on a regular basis, but most of the time they said it was already in spec.

 

Brian,
I don't believe it is normal. Mine are the originals and with over 38k miles show no cupping at all. Cupping is caused by under-inflation and/or mis-alignment, not the other way around.
As far as wear is concerned, on mine, the rears are wearing down faster than the fronts. The local tire guy I was talking to about new tires said all the new diesels wear the rears more because of the added torque. When you accelerate 7,000 lbs just keeping up with traffic you put a lot of wear on the rears. Don't know if its true, but it sounded good

The Boss Hog
(285's, 315's, 35"s . . . . . . . . . what to do, what to do )

 

I took my 2500 to Tire Kingdom, and had the tires rotated for $0.00. They quite often run a 'Free tire rotation, just for dropping in' special. In fact, it is now a regular thing and not just a special. Of course they are going to reccomend new tires, that's what they do, just say not at this time, thanx. I would check some of the big tire chains in your area, and see if they do anything like this.

 

Belfert,

They gave you a free alignment, under warranty? I had never heard of this? Do you have an extended warranty, or is this the normal 3/36000?

 

I think shocks will also cause the cupping, not enough rebound damping or something to that effect. May want to look into that.

 

Normal 3/36000. I have about 5500 miles. This is the second free alignment. First was at 1200 miles at a different dealer. Was not aligned right from factory.

Brian Elfert

 

I've driven two different dually's for over 200,000 miles, and I've never had a front tire cup. I do, however, replace the front tires more often that the rears. I have aluminum wheels, and the inner duals are steel, so when I rotate all six, they all have to be remounted. I usually rotate the front two, if I rotate a all. I have to replace the fronts about twice as often as the rears.

 

I can't wait to see you rack a Dodge 3500 DRW, remove 4 center caps, 4 trim rings, 32 lug nuts, rotate the tires, set the tire pressure properly, then install 32 lug nuts (properly torqued, of course, as we all love our RAM's), install 4 trim rings and 4 center caps in 10 minutes.

 

I read this thread and pictured the NASCAR pit crew doing a DRW Dodge 3500 in a 15 sec. pit, under green, while the DC execs are in the skybox at Darlington! Oh, that would be a GREAT commercial for Dodge/Cummins!!!


(I guess I don't know -- Does Darlington have boxes??)

 

Based on the replies, it appears my tires must have been fairly far out of alignment to be cupping.

It also appears that many folks with DRWs don't rotate front to rear because the rear tires last so much longer.

Brian Elfert

 

OK, when I first read the post, I didn't catch the DRW part, but still... I have rotated tires on a DRW chebby 1 ton and while it was a pain, it still didn't take that long. 1. I don't need to check the pressure, because I do that regularly. 2. I don't torque the lugs with a wrench, as I've figured out my impact wrench runs out of steam right in the range recommended for our lugs. 3. I'm REALLLY fast! Maybe it'll take 20 minutes when I'm old enough to have gray hair! At any rate it's not worth 35 bucks to me for a rotation, unless you're talking about an earth mover with 6' tires that way a ton each.

 

......I believe cupping is usually the result of a out of balance situation. Misalignment will typically cause inside or outside edge tire wear. Improper inflation, center or outside treadwear depending on over or under air pressure.
brohloff