g_mau18

Hello I have a 90' pickup with a solid axle. I put new 36 swampers on it and I noticed they wore down to the wear bar in a couple of weeks! I also then noticed my front right tire was leaning towards the truck. How do I fix this and what is going on?

Jay351

Front housing might be bent. Take some pictures of the front axle so we can see whats going on.

Kiroshu

^Yea what he said is possible and sucks bad if its true... your axle you swapped may very well be bent... Front end alignment? Improper tire pressure.... Bad tires...

abecedarian

Front right tire leaning in is going to cause that tire to point slightly inwards / to the left. This means the left tire has to be pointed right to balance the pull. When the tires do that, they are pushed across the ground slightly sideways which causes the wear. I'll bet that the truck pulls a bit to one side and the steering feels either really sensitive to the steering wheel or really loose, correct?

Anyhow, have a shop look at it. 99% chance you don't have the tools and capabilities to repair the issue, which could be a bent axle or worn bushings on the end of the axle... or even worn wheel bearings on the right side.

g_mau18

yup, you are right, the steering does pull a lot, Im going to have it looked at, hopefully its an alignment issue and not a bent axle.

1989toy4wd

I hate to tell you this, but you can only adjust toe on these trucks. If the top of the tire is closer to the body than the bottom (camber issue), then you either have a bent axle or the knuckle bearings (i think thats what they are called)may be bad, but they wouldnt cause a significant lean. If the front of the tire is closer to the truck than the rear, then its a toe problem... take a pic and put it on here so we can see!

1989toy4wd

Also, a toe problem will not cause a pull...it may trick you because the steering wheel is not centered but generally a toe problem wont cause a pull

abecedarian

Correct. Toe angles generally cause issues with steering response- turn the wheel and nothing happens until you turn a little bit more then "wham" and you're carving a corner (positive toe) or wandering, where you're constantly adjusting the steering wheel to keep going straight (negative toe).

Toe is not a 'pull' angle but camber and caster are. Toe can be adjusted to compensate for caster and camber and can reduce the pull since adjusting the toe can cause the camber and caster on the good wheel to go out of spec.

But since the wheel is noticibly leaning...? Oh, and larger wheels can amplify the effects- what was acceptable on a 31 may become unruly on a 33.