1997 Ranger 2WD inner shoulder tire wear

[jcwhidby]

I have been working on improving tire life on my 1997 Ranger. The truck is currently at 398,000 miles total. I drive it 30-40k miles/year and have been able to improve from about 40k per set of tires to 80k on the current set by optimizing inflation pressures and rotation frequency. All highway miles on Sumitomo Touring highway tread tires. I still have reasonably good tread (~4/32”) on the tires but inner shoulder wear is at the point that the tires need to be replaced. The inner shoulder wear keeps coming back despite three alignment checks with no real issues found. Any ideas for what I could check or am I at the practical limit for tire life already? Thanks.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I'm interested in the answer too. My 97 sunbird has extreme wear on the inside tread as well. They are not the same front suspension design but perhaps it will point me in the right direction.

 

[sgtsandman]

It could be as simple as the alignment needs to be reset or your suspension bushings are shot and need to be replaced. I've read a few threads where people had to do the latter in order to get the issue fixed.

Finding someone who knows how to work on and align a TIB/TTB suspension is also getting harder and harder to find.

 

[scotts90ranger]

On a TIB I would suspect the toe isn't right or the radius arm bushings are shot or you have a balljoint going out, the radius arm bushings would be the easiest to miss on an alignment bench I would imagine depending on if they pulled in forward or backed in assuming they didn't jack it up at all on the alignment...

For me I would check toe with a tape measure, pull forward on level pavement and have a tape measure on you and hopefully your chest isn't too big to get under the thing some... stick the tape measure under the radius arms at the back of the wheel rims and go side to side and take note of where the U of the tape meets the rim. Now go to the front of the rim at roughly the same height from ground and measure the front. you want the front side to be about 1/8" narrower than the rear. If the front is too wide loosen the nuts on one of the alignment sleeves and adjust it shorter half turn and measure again, if you need more do half turn on the other side (to keep the steering wheel centered). FWIW it's a 15mm wrench/socket to loosen those nuts...