Uneven steer tire wear

[Rawze]

There are proper ways to check king pin and hub bearing allowance. There is a minimum and a maximum.. and the proper ways of checking these tolerances and what they are can be found in the service manual for that type/brand of axle.

Jacking one up and simply "feeling it" is not an acceptable method. Most people who own their trucks (and most mechanics for the most part too these days) would not be able to tell by "feel" until the axle was already literally falling apart... or they would "feel" a bit of play and call it bad.. when it was still well within tolerances.

My hendrickson front end is a fine example of this.. EVERY MECHANIC THAT USES THE "FEEL METHODS" WOULD TELL ME THAT THE AXLE KING PINS ARE BAD. because those hendrickson front axle pins have a whole lot of up/down play in them on purpose, even when they are brand spanking new, due to its design, and it has never caused any excessive tire wear.

If someone jacks up an axle and checks it with a pry-bar .. They had better use a damnned dial indicator to check the tolerances before calling it good or bad if it is not something that is obviously completely destroyed and falling apart.