I've had the truck for about 4 months now, and when I got it the tires had about 90% even wear. About 15000km/9300m later, I have pretty bad wear on the outside tread of the front right side tire. Drivers side front tire seems normal.

I also have a slight pull to the right, which I think might be a stuck right side calliper. I had an allignment done soon after buying the truck (needed to replace idler and pitman arm) and he said is was perfect, but there was still a pull. I even took it back to him the next day to make the pull better, and he did a little bit, but he said that any more adjustment and I'll get bad tire wear. He said to ballance the tires (which he said can cause a pull), but I haven't yet since I don't have any vibration or anything else to suggest unballance.

I now also have this weird squirly feeling when turning, like something slips, or there is a slight boost in the power steering, at about 45degrees turn of the steering wheel. Kinda like a momentary oversteer, or hitting a piece of ice. Very brief, but noticable. Feels normal after the slip.

I would think that maybe because there is a pull to the right, and I have to keep the wheel turned a little to the left, maybe thats why there is outside tire wear on the passenger side, but why is there no uneven wear on the drivers side tire? I would assume the opposite would be true, and I would see the inside tread of the front right tire wear.

In one of the pictures you'll even see that the wear isn't even consistant around the whole tire. Some patches are worn more than others. You can see in the red that there is still a little lip, but then the next patch in blue its worn right down. Some patches have more a lip left than others.

Ideas?

i would have to say your alignment is out of specs causing the wear.a brake pull will not wear a tire like that.also i hav enever heard anyone tell someone that a out of balance concern can cause a pull:eek:.either you have a tire pull witch happens alot or alignment is out i would say both.from what the person told you at the alignment shop i would take it somewhere reputable not there.granted there could be more but i would go with alignment and if it still pulls cross the front tires and redrive it.

could be a slipped belt in tire

Two main alignment factors determine which way is "forward", the first is toe and the second being castor.

Toe is just a relationship between the front tires. The tires will always try to center themselfs to each other with toe.

Castor on the other hand is individually set for each tire. Castor is just like "castors" on a grocery buggy. Castor will always make the tire to try to center itself to the direction of travel. Some times alignment techs will add cross caster, which is nothing but more caster on one side of the vehicle. This makes the vehicle pull to one side, this is done on purpose to compensate for road crown.

The problem: If you toe center does not align with your caster center the truck will pull. When you turn the wheel to compensate you will wear the tire out on the oposite side. Turn left, the right tire wears, ect.

wouldnt both tires wear if your turning the steering wheel to componsate for the pull your making both tires go against being straight.just my .o2cents though.
also i would think he would feel a vibration if he had a slipped belt but it could cause a pull.

wouldnt both tires wear if your turning the steering wheel to componsate for the pull your making both tires go against being straight.
Thants what I would think, which is why I dont understand why its only on one wheel

also i would think he would feel a vibration if he had a slipped belt but it could cause a pull.

What is a belt?

I think you need to keep rotating your tires. Heavy trucks need to be rotated at less mile than normal cars. If your only wearing one tire maybe you have a bad tie rod end, centerlink, pitman or idler arm, or ball joints, is your abs light on?, your hub bearing could be shaky too. Ive had two older K trucks like yours (both '97's) and got pretty used to doing ball joints and steering components!

its the belts in the tire tread they seperate and cause pulls/vibrations and eventualy blow out.i would take it to another alignment shop and have them check it.i personaly owned a 97 k1500 and never had to replace one single susp part at 140000 miles when i traded it in believe me im very anal about my vehicles if something was loose i would replace it.never had a tire wear issue either.but i rotated mt tires every 3000-5000 miles no more than that or the tires will wear funny no matter what you do.

I've had that same problem on a couple of my trucks, where the right tire would wear like that. The idler assembly was the culprit. My current issue is causing odd wear on both tires, so far it looks like pitman arm and a tierod end.

I've had that same problem on a couple of my trucks, where the right tire would wear like that. The idler assembly was the culprit. My current issue is causing odd wear on both tires, so far it looks like pitman arm and a tierod end.

So how do I know? How do I tell when a front end part in warn out?

It worries me as I had both the pitman and idler replaced before the wear showed?

I've had the truck for about 4 months now, and when I got it the tires had about 90% even wear. About 15000km/9300m later, I have pretty bad wear on the outside tread of the front right side tire. Drivers side front tire seems normal.

I also have a slight pull to the right, which I think might be a stuck right side calliper. I had an allignment done soon after buying the truck (needed to replace idler and pitman arm) and he said is was perfect, but there was still a pull. I even took it back to him the next day to make the pull better, and he did a little bit, but he said that any more adjustment and I'll get bad tire wear. He said to ballance the tires (which he said can cause a pull), but I haven't yet since I don't have any vibration or anything else to suggest unballance.

I now also have this weird squirly feeling when turning, like something slips, or there is a slight boost in the power steering, at about 45degrees turn of the steering wheel. Kinda like a momentary oversteer, or hitting a piece of ice. Very brief, but noticable. Feels normal after the slip.

I would think that maybe because there is a pull to the right, and I have to keep the wheel turned a little to the left, maybe thats why there is outside tire wear on the passenger side, but why is there no uneven wear on the drivers side tire? I would assume the opposite would be true, and I would see the inside tread of the front right tire wear.

In one of the pictures you'll even see that the wear isn't even consistant around the whole tire. Some patches are worn more than others. You can see in the red that there is still a little lip, but then the next patch in blue its worn right down. Some patches have more a lip left than others.

Ideas?
Bite the bullet, have the alignment checked and/or adjusted, AND please post the specs here. It is clear to me that the only way to differentiate between a worn part and poor alignment settings is to actually SEE the specs, before and after.