RockRover

Okay, I know this topic has been beat to death, but hears a new one for you all.

I first had the dreaded DW at approx. 35k miles. My first band-aid was to replace the shocks with Bilstiens and I put a dual steering stabilizer on it (knowing I was going to larger tires in the future). Thruen (sp?) was still developing his 3rd gen track-bar and was not available yet. Anyway, this masked the DW symptoms for a while...then it returned. Maybe the cheap Superlift stabilizers lost their charge, I dunno'.

To make a long story short, I was just about to drop the coin on a new Thruen track-bar when my wife gave the go-ahead for some new tires. Naturally I took that to mean new WHEELS and tires hee hee! So I searched and searched and decided on the Procomp 35 AT's on the Mickey T Street Locks (9 x 17's with 4.5" backspace...Some sites say it’s a 4.75" backspace). Mind you in the back of my mind I was now VERY concerned about the DW with the larger tires after reading horror stories on this board.

Last Saturday the day came. I got the call from the trucking company, and picked up my mounted and balance tire/wheel combo (bought from FourWheelParts). I raced to the shop, almost initiating DW a couple of times, and within 1/2 hour was drooling over my transformed truck. Now the reckoning was at hand: Would I not be able to drive my new beauty past 65 mph?

Well let me tell you the DW is now gone!!! Why? Shouldn't the new 35's with a 2" leveling kit exacerbate the problem? No. Here's my theory. Factory offset is largely in the negative (-40mm or something like that). The Micky T's are neutral, that is, 9" rim with 4.5" backspace. I feel that with a larger tire, and even with the 265 stockers, the negative factory offset will enhance any premature wear/slop in the steering components (track-bar, tie-rod ends, upper/lower ball joints, etc).

Understand I know that the above mentioned components are still "bad" or worn, but with the neutral offset I feel I can go many more miles without having to white knuckle my steering wheel across every bridge with left-to-right expansion joint, all while wondering how much more $’s I’m going to have to spend on replacing inferior stock parts.

I will try and post pic’s to my gallery today, but IMO the tire/wheel combo looks perfect. Nice and aggressive without looking too over the top. O’yea, no rub issues whatsoever...and the Procomps measure about ½" taller than the BFG AT 315.

Just my observations...Your results may vary!

--Doug

saddle72

More power to ya if it works,but i got a feelin' you'll be back here bitchin' about that dw.Did ya check the ball joints when ya put the wheels on?That's what my problem turned out to be.They were within spec according to Dodge,but that ain't good enough.Good luck to ya if this solves it because i know dw sucks.

RockRover

As far as the ball-joints are concerned…yes I did check them and they are fine. Tie-rod ends appear okay…Trac-bar bushings are probably a little loose (broken in?). IMO, none of the components are so significantly out of “spec” that I should loose control of the vehicle. Let me explain:

To me it makes perfect sense in that the stock negative offset would reduce the lever arm at the hub (so to speak) and thus enhancing light steering/”road-feel”. This is a good thing...up to a point. It appears that AAM and DC kept the wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface width at typical “full-width” for a 1 ton axle (69” wide). In keeping the overall width of the vehicle down to a more manageable 21st century width, the solution may have been to provide increasingly negative offset rims. In order to keep customers happy with light steering input, DC engineers toss in positive camber, coupled with increased caster AND negative offset. If anything within the cadre of steering related component goes outside “spec” by a tiny bit you end up with the dreaded DW…it’s a fine line between old technology and modern day road feel.

I fully admit that the above is only theory, but makes sense to me in that in over a week and a half of driving on my new wheel/tire combo, the steering has been solid. Road areas that used to make me white knuckle the steering wheel, back off the throttle, and check mirrors for a clear “out”, I now pass over with a grin. I try to initiate DW every chance I get and she simply won’t do it…all this with a measly 3” of increased track width. Steering isn’t as light as it used to be but so what? No matter what I think, or how I drive, a live axle truck will never be a sports car.

I would still like to test the negative offset theory. I’d like to know how may out there have had DW issues with a neutral offset aftermarket rim. Anyone? Notice none of the fringe members of this board running 37” MTR’s on 10” rims with 5”+ lifts are complaining about DW? I haven’t noticed anyone complaining about DW with 35” (315’s) and aftermarket neutral offset rims either. So far the overwhelming number of members complaining about DW is those either with stock tires on stock rims or 315’s and stock rims. See a pattern here?