Question on uneven tread wear

TexasJ · Sep 4, 2023

I have 35" Nitto Trail grapplers on my rig. (96 7.3 F250 w/4" lift). The tread on the inside of the front passenger tire is wearing a little unevenly. One lug is high, one lug is low, the next is high, the next low, and so on. It appears to be just the inside portion of the tire that's like this, the rest seems to be wearing evenly. Any idea what's causing it? They haven't been rotated in awhile, maybe 2 or 3 oil changes. I'm just trying to figure out if reballancing and rotating is all I need to do, or if there's potentially a suspension component that's bad, or the wrong air pressure (I'm running the psi that the Nitto rep said to run), or alignment is out (I just had it aligned, twice), or something else. Tia.

ncollins64 · Sep 4, 2023

Jack up each side and see if you have movement in the ball joints

TexasJ · Sep 4, 2023

ncollins64 said:
Jack up each side and see if you have movement in the ball joints

Unfortunately I'm in the middle of a move right now, sp I don't have access to my jack or jack stands. But the last time I had the truck in the shop they said there was about 1/8" of play in that ball joint, but that it wasn't an issue yet and could still be driven for awhile. Is that the culprit do you think?

ncollins64 · Sep 4, 2023

Any play is too much play in my opinion. I’d be replacing all your ball joints upper and lower and get a fresh alignment. I usually do all 4 ball joints at the same time

TexasJ · Sep 4, 2023

ncollins64 said:
Any play is too much play in my opinion. I’d be replacing all your ball joints upper and lower and get a fresh alignment. I usually do all 4 ball joints at the same time

Ok, well I guess I'll be doing the ball joint that's bad, getting the tires reballanced and rotated, and getting a fresh alignment. I can't afford to do all 4 ball joints though, probably going to have to stick with replacing just the one that's got play. What's the reason for doing all 4 if 3 of them are fine?

ncollins64 · Sep 5, 2023

In my experience, if one is bad, the others are going to soon follow suit, same with wheel bearings and tie rods etc.

Sixfoh · Sep 5, 2023

I would agree with replacing all 4 ball joints. Not replacing worn joints risks harming the hard parts the joints bolt to. Hence my buddies truck ripping through lower drag link joints, due to the sterring knuckle hole getting oblonged from running a bad joint too long. $900 later for just the new knuckle, not to mention seals and joints he will now be doing again.