Extreme tire wear issue during roadtrip.

[Patman]

WOW!!:Wow1:

Take out the ball joint spacers or crank the Torsion bars WAY UP!

What is the spec on the spacer? Looks like it raises the upper arm to the stock height and moves the ball joint out. Normally only needed with a bunch of lift.

Normally a ball joint spacer will level the upper arm and adjust the angle of the ball joint to allow for normal ride height to be in the middle of its angular travel. Or a replacement arm, will be longer and adjust the angle. Looking at your spacers they seem move the upper arm back into the proper level, but also move the ball joint out too far.

 

[Patman]

How was it loaded when it was aligned? Also if I read it correctly the alignment specs were with this setup, prior to leaving?

As the suspension droops from the pics, it should pull the top of the tire in. So if it is loaded way down, and that's the way you'll be going, pulling the spacers may be the answer.

 

[bfdiesel]

Is there any way that spacer ended up in backwards? That tire is leaned out a lot.

 

[Slicky72]

I'd say from those pictures that your alignment is no longer where it was when that spec sheet above was done but from the shots of your suspension there are no extreme angles on any of the components so you should be able to get it dialed in if you can find a competent shop. Good luck !

 

[Deleted member 12023]

I am not an IFS guru by any means, but the ball joint spacer seems to be too tall for that application. Is there a way to get shorter ones, trim those down, or just remove them all together?

 

[Bullseye240]

I would take out the spacer, it doesn't look to be necessary with that amount of lift. Load it up as you will be driving it with fuel tanks half full and have it realigned after rotating your tires.

Your getting two kinds of wear on them. One from the camber/toe combo and one from the tires simply needing to be rotated. Don't fall for that you can't run radials in an opposite direction myth. You need to run them in a different direction and different position to smooth them out and make them last longer.

Air pressure will wear out the center from too much inflation and both outer edges from under inflation/overloading. The best method I've found to get the right pressure is to drive on a dusty road with the tires over inflated then drive on to a paved road a little ways to remove the dust, check the pattern and deflate as necessary until it's even across the tread. Then maybe adjust it a little lower for ride quality.

If removing the spacer is not a possibility then you could look into slotting the holes for the camber bolts a little more or maybe cutting the mounts off and relocating them further inboard on the frame, if their top mounted. Just make sure the bolts are in the middle of their adjustment range before welding them in close to the camber/caster you desire.

The shop that tells you there is nothing left they can try just isn't thinking far enough outside the box.

 

[hoser]

I would get it up on a rack or jack up the front end and check every suspension bushing, ball joint and nut/bolt for play.

 

[Chris85xlt]

The added weight to the vehicle most likely altered the ride height and causing the positive camber and toe-in.
I would try and adjust the front suspension height. U can do this by adjusting the torsion bar adjustment bolt to twist or untwist the torsion bars. give it couple of turns on both the left and right side. then drive the vehicle back and forth couple of times. U should be able to see the front tire camber angle change. U want it closer to vertical. From looking at the pictures it might need more lift

The spacers in the upper balljoint is to lessen the angle/strain on the joints when its lifted by spacing the A-arm upwards. Removing or keeping the spacer depends on how much u have lowered the vehicle and the angle of the balljoint at ride height and under full cycle (u dont want it to bind when the suspension travels).

Also check suspension parts for wear and tear like mentioned by hoser

 

[UK4X4]

The 0458 pic certainly shows the problem

how to fix it - well that depends on the suspension adjustments and the replaced parts

Its certainly wrong - don't need a machine to tell you that !

A piece of string with a weight on it is sufficient

First thing- get the tires reversed on the rims, so you wear the other side of the tire and extend their life a little

Second go to a real suspension -off road fab shop-

rather than a tire dealer with pimply spotty teenagers

 

[dinoevo]

It seems like the problem is solved. Thanks for all your tips.
Special thanks to lostworldexpedition. I contacted Kurt and he recommended these guys: http://www.afwd.com in Salt Lake City.
Randy and his crew were super helpful and fixed the issue. Took them a while to figure out what was going on.
Basically the camber bolts on both sides came loose every time we drove away from the alignment shops. Even they seemed tight. Just not enough.
Advanced 4WD replaced parts and made all the necessary adjustments, now the tires look still straight even after 1000 Miles.

Not sure why a normal alignment shop couldn't figure that out?

Thanks again.
See you on the road...

 

[UK4X4]

"Second go to a real suspension -off road fab shop-

rather than a tire dealer with pimply spotty teenagers"

A tire changer who learnt how to use an alignment machine

is not an engineer -mechanic !

 

[dinoevo]

All the alignment shops we went so far are specialized shops (some of them even recommendations of the local 4x4 crowd). No big national chain, nor teenagers at the machine. They all knew the alignment is off and fixed the alignment, BUT as we drove away the alignment went off again and got worse the more we drove.
What really piss me off is that none of them looked at the real problem even we told them we are having the same problems over and over again.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Glad to hear Randy and crew got you taken care of!

 

[ersatzknarf]

Great news !
Thank you, Kurt ! ! ! :clapsmile

 

[nk14zp]

Glad you got it fixed.