Alignments, Odd Tire wear, etc.

[Matt]

Gentlemen, I've got an issue with my 2008 T660. I bought this truck with brand new michelin steers and Bridgestone drives, for the first 9 months of running the truck the tires wore perfectly. No irregular wear whatsoever. I replaced the shocks when I bought the truck. But in May 2017 I started noticed a loud popping coming from the front end as I turned, eager to nip it in the bud, i had the rear lower spring pins, bushings, and shackles changed. The mechanic showed me the bad bushings before he removed them and I was proud of myself for getting ahead of a problem for once.

Fast forward to mid June and all of a sudden I started noticing irregular edge wear on my steers, outside passenger and inside drivers. It was cupping but only in random spots on those edges. I had the tires flipped on the rims and immediately took the truck for an alignment at our local shop. He noted the alignment was a bit off but didn't think replacing spring pins was the issue. He also said that the alignment was "set for new tires" and that a left pull was normal due to the condition of the tires.

I parked the truck August 1 to March 15 this year.

Now that I've been at it for nearly 2 months again I'm watching my steers slowly die a cupping death (as I knew they would). They're starting to subtly shake now in the steering wheel and it has me thinking about new steers BUT I am not confident the alignment shop has this right. Set for new tires? What the hell does that mean? I also notice a creaking coming out of the front end when turning. I'm thinking this needs to go to a proper alignment shop before I dare sentencing another $1500 in tires to an untimely demise.

Does anyone have any insight? Or where to find a GOOD alignment shop in SK or the upper Midwest US? I heard MD Alignment was good in Des Moines, thier systems are in many shops across north America but I fear the machine is only as good as the mechanic running it.

[Rawze]

What kind of trucking operation? -- How much city vs highway? How many miles on tires? weight on front end most of the time?


EVERY TRUCK WITH PERFECT/DECENT FRONT END ALIGNMENT WILL TYPICALLY WEAR OUT THE OUTER PASSENGER SIDE TIRE AND THE INNER DRIVERS SIDE TIRE EDGES!!!!! ---

How fast it happens depends on how many right turns you make during the tires life. I.E.> YOU WILL ALWAYS MAKE REALLY TIGHT SCRUBBING RIGHT TURNS, BUT HARDLY EVER MAKE SCRUBBING HARD LEFT TURNS when driving around on city streets etc. and that will always cause that type of tire wear.

When you pull out into an intersection to make a turn.. you always pull as far out as you can, then cut the wheel as hard as you can to avoid hitting the right curb with the trailer... when you make a left turn, you always do so gently, as the other lane is allowing for a lot more room of the trailer as it turns. -- HENCE... Scrubbing right turns.. and gentle left turns .. -== equals -== worn out edges on the one side of both steer tires (inner drivers and outer passengers).


If your tires made it more than 100k miles, or you are making a lot of turns in city environments, -- YOU ARE WASTING YOUR TIME AND CHASING GHOSTS TRYING TO FIX IT!.


First, determine if they wore out prematurely, or if you wore them out. Tires don't last forever no matter what you do.

[Brock]

A1 alignment in Saskatoon is the absolute best I have ever used!

Once your tires start wearing, they will keep wearing no matter what so you are doomed.

One thing is the bad ruts in some of these SK and AB roads, your drivers tire may be always riding the middle hump and the passenger outside riding the right side hump which will wear those spots quicker, if on roads like that.... you need to rotate often.

[Matt]

Operation prior to Aug 1 2017 was super b bulk, lots of gravel roads, short length of haul, not a ton of city work, hauls were from farmers yards to grain terminals weight around 11, 800lbs all the time on the steers. Gross 140k. After march 15 of this year it's been 80k reefer work. All highway. Usually 11500lbs on the steers. 110,000miles since I got the truck and to my understanding the tires were put on just before I bought it. They looked brand new when i drove it away.

The fact they started getting weird AFTER the spring pin and bushing change is what's got me wondering about it.

[Matt]

Brock, A1 is the shop I used. Maybe I'm just being over cautious? I have used them before with good results. Maybe reading all the shop horror stories on rawze.com has got me paranoid Haha.

[iceman]

When was the last time the bearings where re-torqued? I've heard bad shocks can cause cupping. As was mentioned turning a lot on pavement will start the cupping process on some tires and its downhill from there. I've seen this personally on a new trailer. Also I was at a laser alignment shop today and they found that the trailer was way out of alignment. Funny part is it had been aligned at a different shop a couple weeks prior with a "tape measure". There went my confidence in that shop. Just some thoughts.

[Waterloo]

Like Brock said, the tires are probably done for. Michigan steers, I’m from Michigan, not that it matters, but I know the tires. Pin bushings and torque rods, if they are good, I would have the steers high speed balanced, and check the bearings in the steer hubs. Those tires are heavy, no clue if you are set up for them, were they an afterthought of the previous owner? Just put them on an axle not designed for such heavy rubber? Normally a 20,000 lb axle is called for. I could be wrong, but that is my understanding.

[Matt]

As soon as they started wearing funny I knew they were done for, I'm basically trying to squeeze whatever life I can get out of them before I need new ones. They're not heavy spec tires or anything, just 11R24.5. I may run it by an alignment shop and have everything double checked, including wheel bearings before I mount new steers, what's the consensus on balancing? I've been using balancing beads with good luck up until now.

[Waterloo]

High speed balance, only success I have had. Been the bead route, centermaticd, etc... Balance on the machine and be done with it. Just my opinion and how I do it, as steer tires are not cheap.