Here's a new one. (tires)

[narcodog]

So last week I went to my favorite tire store in Bozeman, MT to get some new shoes for the rig. The tires I have are 60K miles or 36 months. I had 45K on so a warranty was do. They measured the tires and told me that the inside was worn about 3/64's more than the outside indicating that the rig was out of alignment. It was aligned after the last set was put on. Now here is the new one, the store owners son, not young, told me I should have the front end aligned with the the TC on and when driving without it it should be re-aligned as the camber will be off under both circumstances.
I normally put on 8K miles a year with the TC on and less with it off.

The question is have any of you ever heard of the necessity to have your truck re-aligned whether the TC is on or off.

Buy the way, they haggled which I knew they would so I ended up paying $500.00 for an $800.00 set of tires.

[Grit_dog]

F350/RR wrote:

Marcela wrote:

If there was a need for realignment with weight in the bed, you would notice this driving without the weight as what is called bump steer, and it would be noticeable, and it would scare you. Very little bump steer or toe movement with suspension movement is designed into the suspension. Some manufacturers do it better then others, Ford twin I beam pre '08 sucks more then most I have read. I know my new GMC ifs drives better then the '99 Ford ever did..

My twin beam 1 ton was great after I found the local truck dealer that had the rack and gear to “adjust” the beams.
My 2016 F350 came with bump steer whether loaded or not. Dealer has fiddled and twiddled and only makes it a little better or a little worse. Just can’t find good suspension folks anymore.

What's the caster?
Somethi g is off, because there's like millions of them that don't have bump steer. But idk how caster is adjusted on super duties.

[jimh406]

F350/RR wrote:
My 2016 F350 came with bump steer whether loaded or not. Dealer has fiddled and twiddled and only makes it a little better or a little worse. Just can’t find good suspension folks anymore.

Have you considered adding an extra heavy duty or double offroad steering damper?

[Marcela]

F350/RR wrote:

Marcela wrote:

If there was a need for realignment with weight in the bed, you would notice this driving without the weight as what is called bump steer, and it would be noticeable, and it would scare you. Very little bump steer or toe movement with suspension movement is designed into the suspension. Some manufacturers do it better then others, Ford twin I beam pre '08 sucks more then most I have read. I know my new GMC ifs drives better then the '99 Ford ever did..

My twin beam 1 ton was great after I found the local truck dealer that had the rack and gear to “adjust” the beams.
My 2016 F350 came with bump steer whether loaded or not. Dealer has fiddled and twiddled and only makes it a little better or a little worse. Just can’t find good suspension folks anymore.

Must be an old truck with king pins if they have to bend the beams.

King pins are fun.

[F350_RR]

Marcela wrote:

If there was a need for realignment with weight in the bed, you would notice this driving without the weight as what is called bump steer, and it would be noticeable, and it would scare you. Very little bump steer or toe movement with suspension movement is designed into the suspension. Some manufacturers do it better then others, Ford twin I beam pre '08 sucks more then most I have read. I know my new GMC ifs drives better then the '99 Ford ever did..

My twin beam 1 ton was great after I found the local truck dealer that had the rack and gear to “adjust” the beams.
My 2016 F350 came with bump steer whether loaded or not. Dealer has fiddled and twiddled and only makes it a little better or a little worse. Just can’t find good suspension folks anymore.

[mountainkowboy]

I have polished aluminum wheels, with steel inners. I don't rotate my tires and replace my fronts twice to 1 pair of rears. The nature of the twin I wears the sidewall out on the fronts about every 30k-40k, unless you rotate. Since Red only is the RV my tires usually time out rather than wear out.

[wnjj]

free radical wrote:
Doesnt make sense to do alighnment every time you load or unload TC..assuming your CG is in proper place..
the shop just wants to get more money from you..

Working Trucks carry heavy load one day and next day maybe empty,,using their logic one would have to check aligment every day in that case..

Or it's possible that working trucks just suffer a bit more tire wear. Those carrying campers do (at least on the rear), simply because of higher loads.

[free_radical]

Doesnt make sense to do alighnment every time you load or unload TC..assuming your CG is in proper place..
the shop just wants to get more money from you..

Working Trucks carry heavy load one day and next day maybe empty,,using their logic one would have to check aligment every day in that case..

[Marcela]

Midway between the front and rear axles is the dividing line, fore goes on the front, aft goes on the rear axle, and if there is enough overhang at the rear some may come off the front axle.

For the most part in comparison little weight goes onto the front axle.

If there was a need for realignment with weight in the bed, you would notice this driving without the weight as what is called bump steer, and it would be noticeable, and it would scare you. Very little bump steer or toe movement with suspension movement is designed into the suspension. Some manufacturers do it better then others, Ford twin I beam pre '08 sucks more then most I have read. I know my new GMC ifs drives better then the '99 Ford ever did.

There may be a change of camber with more weight on the front but this also would be little, should not be enough for an alignment adjustment.

More weight on the rear will drop the rear of course, the only effect would be to increase caster very little, again not anything to realign for, it will prob drive better with more caster if set up correctly, more centered.

Whether the camper is on or off shouldn't dictate whether an alignment is needed, I would look to something else.

[mountainkowboy]

DWeikert wrote:

wnjj wrote:

mountainkowboy wrote:
The S&S adds a little more than 100lbs to the front so it doesn't matter for me.

It’s not just the front suspension travel; it’s the angle of the frame compared to the ground. When the rear squats and the front doesn’t it can change things.

^This^
Even though the weight on the front tires barely changes, lowering the rear means the front tires aren't contacting the road at the same caster angle.

My rear drops 1.5"...it really has no effect. What REALLY messes with the way the truck drives is tire pressure.

[Bubtoofat]

Had mine aligned with the camper on but the only thing my truck is used for is carrying the camper. If most of the miles were without the camper then I would have it aligned without the load.

Mike

[DWeikert]

wnjj wrote:

mountainkowboy wrote:
The S&S adds a little more than 100lbs to the front so it doesn't matter for me.

It’s not just the front suspension travel; it’s the angle of the frame compared to the ground. When the rear squats and the front doesn’t it can change things.

^This^
Even though the weight on the front tires barely changes, lowering the rear means the front tires aren't contacting the road at the same caster angle.

[wnjj]

mountainkowboy wrote:
The S&S adds a little more than 100lbs to the front so it doesn't matter for me.

It’s not just the front suspension travel; it’s the angle of the frame compared to the ground. When the rear squats and the front doesn’t it can change things.

[narcodog]

Grit dog wrote:
It should not matter, as TC's generally don't affect the front axle weight significantly.
It makes zero difference on solid axle trucks and only a minute difference....maybe, on IFS trucks. Camber doesn't change perceptibly with only minimal static suspension movement.

Bottom line, no, it really doesn't matter if the camper is on or not.
What astounds me is you actually got a huge pro-ration on 45k mile tires that weren't even worn evenly.

That's why I recommend Big O tires, they have the best warranty as far as I'm concerned.

[mountainkowboy]

The S&S adds a little more than 100lbs to the front so it doesn't matter for me.