How to rotate dually pickup truck tires

[bobbolotune]

The manual for my 2016 Ram 3500 dually shows tire rotation only side to side. Specifically, switch the driver front and the passenger front tires, switch the outer rear tires driver to passenger, and switch the inner rear tires driver to passenger. The picture in the manual showing how to rotate shows no rotation back to front.

The manual really doesn’t explain why not to rotate back to front. It does say the rear tires must be matched for wear. Possibly the concern is that if tires are moved back to front that wear won’t match.

The manual does explain why it says to keep the inner rear wheels inner and outer rear wheels outer. It is for the Tire Pressure Information System. To quote, "The Tire Pressure Information System uses unique sensors in the inner rear wheels to help identify them from the outer rear wheels, because of this, the inner and outer wheel locations cannot be switched".

With my last tires it turned out that I had an alignment problem (now fixed) that I wasn’t aware of until I noticed that the tires were wearing unevenly. Since I was rotating the front tires only side to side both front tires wore unevenly on the outer edges. By the time I noticed this the tires were unsafe and I had to replace the tires probably 6,000 or 8,000 miles early.

I had to have the tires replaced during a trip. I ended up at a tire shop in a rural area that seemed to have plenty of experience with duallys. He told me to ignore the manual. He said that they rotate back to front all the time. He says they take the best looking tires from the back and put them on the front.

If I had rotated like that it would have stalled the uneven wear that killed my last tires.

I am about to get the new tires rotated for the first time. I have been telling the mechanic to follow the manual. I am now totally unclear what to do. It would seem that only rotating side to side in the same positions really isn’t going to help much because every other rotation the tires end up back in the same location.

It could be what the manual says that if you don’t keep the inner tires inner and outer tires outer it will confuse the Tire Pressure Information System. But really how important is that? It is nice to have the tire pressures in the instrument cluster because I look at the pressures frequently as I drive, much more often than I would find myself checking tire pressure manually. But I don’t care much about location. If a tire is low (something that actually has never happened yet) I can find out which one by checking the tires manually.

Any opinions about the best answer to this question? Only switch side to side as the manual says, or rotate front to back at the tire place service manager said?

Note: I already posted this to the truck camper forum. But I am dropping the truck in for service tomorrow and am still unclear what to do. Please excuse my posting twice. I know you are not supposed to that that but I am still unclear what to do.

[Cummins12V98]

time2roll wrote:
Yes -1/4" toe would be a spec from the 1960s sloppy suspension and bushings etc. Vehicles are far better today.

My 15 DRW showing the factory setting before getting the new TOE setting.

[time2roll]

Yes -1/4" toe would be a spec from the 1960s sloppy suspension and bushings etc. Vehicles are far better today.

[Cummins12V98]

"It was alignment that killed my last tires as I discussed in my original post. Alignment is now fixed."

Not trying to beat a dead horse but do you know what spec they used to do the alignment? If it's MOPAR spec of 1/4" toe you will destroy your new tires.

On my 11 I got Chrysler to pay the local dealer to do my alignment since my tires were wearing so bad ou the outer front's. Thy didn't say anything but they simply checked and left it at 1/4". Spoke to my alignment,ent guy of many years and he said spec was too much toe! So he did the 1/64" and all was good. On my 15 I had him set it correctly also. You can see by the pic the fronts are wearing nicely.

[bobbolotune]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Please explain why you paid to have a new set of Michelins rotated. Did they balance them? This should have been included in the cost of the tires. I doubt if they balanced the tires with the rotation, didn't ask.

What about your alignment????

These tires have nearly 60k and still look great doing the front side to side rotation I have had great luck with.

I live in Chicago and bought the tires during a trip in California (I noticed uneven wear, the sides were worn very low, tire shop said I was ready for a blow out). Besides, there was no talk of free rotation. Sounds like that it something to ask about when buying tires.

It was alignment that killed my last tires as I discussed in my original post. Alignment is now fixed.

Good to see tires can last 60K with only side to side rotation.

[Cummins12V98]

Just noticed your trucks not a Cummins so the 80psi front does not apply.

[Cummins12V98]

Please explain why you paid to have a new set of Michelins rotated. Did they balance them? This should have been included in the cost of the tires.

What about your alignment????

These tires have nearly 60k and still look great doing the front side to side rotation I have had great luck with.

[bobbolotune]

I am the original poster.

I got the truck back from service today, so it is already a done deal. I decided to follow the manual and do side to side rotation only. Dealer charged me $100 to rotate the 6 tires.

Some good advice in the responses.

Someone asked, is it worth the cost to pay someone to rotate? Will you get the $ back in tire life? Tires may age out before needing to be changed anyway. Good point.

Or if the front tires wear out before the rears I can replace only 2 tires not 6 tires. The responses have confirmed that the tire guy (see my original post) was a sales job saying I couldn’t replace only the front tires. But I don’t regret replacing all 6 because I was running the original Nexen tires. Replaced with quality Michelins (had to argue with the tire store about this he wanted to sell me his cheap value brand) and the difference in handling was immediately obvious. But now that I have the tires that I want, if I need to replace only the front in the future I can buy 2 new Michelins.

I am concluding it is extreme what the RAM manual says to rotate with every oil change (which is 8,000 miles). But in this case actually it was 14,000 miles since I got the new tires and this is the first rotation. I don’t regret doing it. Maybe a good idea to do at least one rotation on brand new tires. But I'm not sure if I will continue to pay to rotate the back tires. For sure not every 8,000 miles. But it might be worth still rotating the front tires once in a while since the cost should be minimal.

From the responses. I am thinking rotating back to front might be risky because you can end up with uneven tires on the dually rears. In other words, the manual may be correct. But I know some responses don’t agree and do rotate back to front.

People saying it isn’t worth rotating the rear tires because they will last long enough without it make sense.

Thank you for all the responses!

[larry_barnhart]

I rotated the tires on our 2001 chev dually at our rv park using the spare in the deal. never did it again and on the 05 never rotated with no weird tire wear i bought new tires at 5 year each time. Also same on our 2001 alpenlite fifth. maybe lucky ?? chevman

[Cummins12V98]

time2roll wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"I cringe thinking what the dealer would get to swap those two fronts on the wheels. + rebalance."

Why would you have the dealer rotate your tires?

Read my post again. I don't rotate tires.

What was the cost the last time your fronts were swapped on the wheels as you suggested?

Not a single cent. Rotation is part of the cost of my tires with Discount tire.

I had a set of Michelins waiting to go onto my 15 when it arrived. Within 200 miles I had Discount Tire remove the JUNK NEXEN's and installed the Michelins.

I could have them do a full 6 tire rotation every 15k but they are happy to do what I suggest doing no problem.

I don't think you will find too many getting 60k on a DRW that runs full RAWR of 9,750# 50% of it's miles.

Proper alignment, and proper inflation based one load is where it's at!!!

[Michelle_S]

I'm in the group that it's more trouble than it's worth.
As for actually dismounting tires and remounting, I would be worried of possible damage to the bead and damaging a tire.

[time2roll]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"I cringe thinking what the dealer would get to swap those two fronts on the wheels. + rebalance."

Why would you have the dealer rotate your tires?

Read my post again. I don't rotate tires.

What was the cost the last time your fronts were swapped on the wheels as you suggested?

[Cummins12V98]

"I cringe thinking what the dealer would get to swap those two fronts on the wheels. + rebalance."

Why would you have the dealer rotate your tires?

[time2roll]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

time2roll wrote:
I have not rotated tire position in decades. New cars and tires hold alignment so much better and the tires wear flat across the tread with little effort. If there is a wear issue fix the alignment or tire pressure. If the fronts or rears wear faster, replace one axle at a time.

Topic is "How to rotate dually pickup truck tires"

What did you say that helped the OP???

I am saying I don't think the rotation is necessary except for the dealer to tack on one more fee while in for service.

Not very different from what you said. So we mostly agree.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Leave the rears where they are. Fronts leave the wheels where they are and move the tires side to side keeping the rotation the same.

I cringe thinking what the dealer would get to swap those two fronts on the wheels. + rebalance.

[Retired_JSO]

fj12ryder wrote:

Retired JSO wrote:
You can’t rotate front to rear. The wheels are made for one position either front or rear. I never rotate tires on any vehicle and on my DRW Ford is cost prohibitive since the amount of wear is hardly noticeable. The only way to truly rotate on a DRW truck is to unmount and remount on the appropriate wheel.

Completely wrong. It may be so for your truck, but don't jump to the conclusion that is so for all dually's. My Ram has the steel wheels and any wheel can be located at any position. YTMV.

The spare is a steel rim that can be run in any position. The front aluminum and the rear aluminum are not the same. Aluminum wheels are usually not polished on the inside.