[PoolRebel]

Ok it is my turn. Sorry this might get long too. The inside of the left (driver side) front tire is beginning to wear again. I can see it and I don't even have 1000 miles on this set of tires yet. This has been an ongoing problem for me. The day I bought the truck it started to pull left so I had the alignment checked. It was off a little and fixed or so I thought. Within a week I noticed the tire wearing and it started to pull left again but thought I was imagining the wear. I soon found that wasn't the case and had to replace that tire. Went and had the truck aligned again. 2 months later same thing pulling left and tire wearing. I went through this 5 times with the same results. Last FEB. I instaled a plow and had it aligned again by a differant dealer and put another new tire on. This time when it came off the rack it pulled right as soon as I left the lot. Now after 3 new tires and 7 or 8 alignments in the past 2 years nobody seems to be able to fix this problem. The last alignment was in november when I turned up the tortion bars and put new tires on. Now it drives strait but I can see the wear on the tire. NTW did this alignment and provided me with a speck sheet. If it will help with any ideas I'll post that too.

Thanks for any help you can provide,
Jay

 

[GMCSID]

Please post the spec sheet. It sounds like it wasn't aligned properly.

 

[hoot]

Jay... last time I had mine aligned the tech was using the wrong specs. He was using specs from a 2500 non HD.

You really have to be careful who does it. Also there's plastic inserts that have to be removed. If yours are still in you can be fairly sure they didn't move anything.

I had mine done at Nelsons in Twin Oaks. If you want yours done their let me know.

 

[dmaxalliTech]

If wanna see that sheet too. But it sure seems odd that it has been done that many times and still outta wack

 

[PoolRebel]

The first one is from last month at NTB after I turned up the torsion bars.

This one is from The Dealer in Feb Of 02. FYI I got the truck in Nov of 01.

Edited by: PoolRebel

 

[GMCSID]

The last month "before" reading idicates a pull to the right and outside tire wear. The "after' settings look good.


The Feb Of 02 "before" idicates major inside tire wear on the l/f tire. Maybe a pull to the right, the camber and caster angles are wotking against each other. The "after" readings might cause a pull to the left because of the higher camber on the left, possibly a little outside tire wear.


I don't like to put 0 camber. It should be .3 to .5 deg. The 0 camber is probably casusing your tire wear at this point.Edited by: GMCSID

 

[PoolRebel]

Thanks GMCSID for the info but I'm a little confused. You said you don't like to put 0 caster it should be .3 to .5. The caster is 3.2 now. Is it safe to assume you meant camber and not caster?

quote= I don't like to put 0 caster. It should be .3 to .5 deg. The 0 camber is probably casusing your tire wear at this point.

 

[PoolRebel]

Hoot thanks for the offer on Nelsons. I'll let you know on that for sure. Right now I have 6 month 6000 mile warrenty on the alignment from NTB so I'm going to take the info I get here to them and see if that helps the problem before I need to buy another new tire. If they can't fix it I'll be visiting Nelsons for sure.

 

[Notsdale]

As noted in my signature block, just because an alignment is in/out of spec does not mean the truck is in alignment. The vehicle will tell you what it likes/dislikes. It's up to the mechanic to read the tires and make the corrective adjustments.


Like GMCSID, I don't care of a 0 degree caster split. What he is refering to is the cross caster between the left/right tires. A vehicle will pull to the most positive camber, most negative caster. By design, a vehicle should drift, not pull, to the right. This is for safety so that if you fall asleep, in theory, the vehicle will run off the road to the right instead of into on-coming traffic.


GM trucks tend to need between .2 - .5 degree (sometimes higher) caster split, lowest number on the left front. Spec actually calls for a .75 split for the '03 HD. Without the split the vehicle will tend to pull to the right.


Most of our DMax's work good with a camber setting of 0 to +.2 degrees. There are those that are always the exception and need to be dealt with on an individual basis.


Another very important area that most people don't think about is don't align a vehicle empty then run it loaded all the time. Likewise, don't bring it in for an alignment fully loaded unless this is the way you drive it all the time. The load changes the camber angles. Anytime camber changes, toe changes: Both angles are tire wear angles. Caster normally isn't a wear angle but more of a driveability angle, controlling wheather the vehicle pull right/left.


DaleEdited by: Notsdale

 

[GMCSID]

Thanks GMCSID for the info but I'm a little confused. You said you don't like to put 0 caster it should be .3 to .5. The caster is 3.2 now. Is it safe to assume you meant camber and not caster?

quote= I don't like to put 0 caster. It should be .3 to .5 deg. The 0 camber is probably casusing your tire wear at this point.

Yes, I meant camber, sorry for the confusion. The caster should be above 3 deg but will vary depending on an empty or loaded truck. Caster will not affect tire wear but will cause it to pull.Edited by: GMCSID