odd tire wear....pix

I went out to rotate my ltb's and noticed my front passenger tire had odd tread wear. The front of the tread block is thick and rear is thin. The three other tires are fine.





Might be hard to see it though. It's like the tread blocks are wearing like a ramp, front to back, not side to side. I know if it's ramped inwards (side to side) they it's probably over inflation but this is forward to back. Is this cupping?

My bearings are new and tight, ball joints changed last year, but I do notice a slight clicking when i grab the tire at 3 and 9 and shake. I'm thinking worn tie rod or....?

Shake it down for loose parts and look closely at shock bushings.

JJacobs said:

Shake it down for loose parts and look closely at shock bushings.

Click to expand...

I did. Nothing was loose on the driver's side. I felt a very faint click/clunk when i shook the passenger tire at 3 and 9. It was very very faint though. There's no visible play in the joints and the shocks are only 6 months old and bushings are good.

I'm getting the same thing, I suspect my tires are slightly out of balance, I know my CA bushings are probably pretty worn, and my bearings or balljoints might be a bit worn but I don't think they are.

See http://www.procarcare.com/includes/content/resourcecenter/encyclopedia/ch25/25readtirewear.html

muddeprived said:

Is this cupping?

Click to expand...

Looks like it to me. I had the same problem. My track bar was loose at the mounting point, so I rotated tires and fixed the TB. The fronts (that were on the rear) are wearing evenly for me now, though I'm still trying to wear down the rear tires back to normal.

HQuakers said:

Looks like it to me. I had the same problem. My track bar was loose at the mounting point, so I rotated tires and fixed the TB. The fronts (that were on the rear) are wearing evenly for me now, though I'm still trying to wear down the rear tires back to normal.

Click to expand...

Trackbar's pretty tight. I have the trouble-free JKS bar. It's never given me any issues in years.

I'm gonna check out the tie rod ends.

muddeprived said:

Trackbar's pretty tight. I have the trouble-free JKS bar. It's never given me any issues in years.

I'm gonna check out the tie rod ends.

Click to expand...

From what I've been told, not rotating the tires can also contribute to this. I don't want to give out bad info, but it's just what my shop told me, and they see a fair bit of it on other 4x4s.

It was a combination of a bad tie rod and alot of slop in the remanufactured steering box. The steering box was only 7 months old and you could move the pitman arm 1/2" by hand. I got it replaced under warranty and the jeep drives a heckuva lot better.

It didn't help that the cold lowered my tire pressure from 21 to 17 either.....