Dually wheel wear

[jerryneal]

The outside tires on my F350 Dually wear faster than inside tires.  Dealer said you don’t rotate.  Is that true or is he just trying to sell me tires?

[NDBirdman]

I would guess not normal, if all tires aired up to same psi, same tires, same age/same mileage?.  Cheap china tires?  More than one set, or has this been on-going with past tire sets?  I'm not a mechanic, but just guessing.  I've not had a set wear uneven like that.

[Lance A Lott]

I have had this issue. Make sure both tires are the same, tread depth and pressure. Even a little difference will were them out fast. If two are worn more and about the same and the other two about the same you can match them up but they won't last like two exact ones. I once read were the author recommended less air on the inside tire as he felt the truck ruts and the crown of the road made the inside cary more of the load. I never tried it. I did find that if I ran less air in each tire this didn't happen. I was running enough in each tire to carry the load single, so if his idea was correct my outside tire was not working very hard.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

Every time you turn, of the two tires locked together, one is scrubbing because the distance traveled is different for each tire.

[RV_]

Jerry,Here is the real skinny and yes you rotate. I just posted this in this forum, click on the arrow to the right below:

 

 

[remoandiris]

Never rotate my dually's tires.  No issues with irregular wear.  Kinda wish I did have wear issues.  Would replace tires differently instead of 6 at a time.  $1500 at once...ouch.

 

[rpsinc]

I have had duallys for a long time, many service bed work trucks with considerable weight.  Yes, inside tires wear more, its just geometry.  More weight is applied to inner tires on a sprung suspension.  Rotation works but I keep close tabs on inflation.  Most commercial trucks like mine will replace tires at 30-35K but I typically get 45-50 with maintenance.  That can make the $1500 at once less ouchy.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Check out this product http://www.dualdynamics.com/products/cross-fire/ it equalizes the inner and outer tire pressure of the dual tires.

[Ray,IN]

You might find this webpage interesting: https://www.truckinginfo.com/154830/mismatching-dual-tires-a-sure-fire-way-to-kill-two-tires-at-once

Rotating tires on a vehicle with dual wheels can be detrimental to tire life if the duals are not properly matched, as that article states.

One thing that may be causing your outer tires to wear differently is bent rims.

[bobsallyh]

I have rotated the tires on our dually for the 15 years we have owned it. Since the last several sets have been purchased from Discount Tire, they rotate them for free. Although some of their shops have no clue on how to line-up the valve stems.

[rynosback]

1 hour ago, bobsallyh said:

I have rotated the tires on our dually for the 15 years we have owned it. Since the last several sets have been purchased from Discount Tire, they rotate them for free. Although some of their shops have no clue on how to line-up the valve stems.

Firestone did not line up my rear stems...

[Ray,IN]

2 hours ago, bobsallyh said:

I have rotated the tires on our dually for the 15 years we have owned it. Since the last several sets have been purchased from Discount Tire, they rotate them for free. Although some of their shops have no clue on how to line-up the valve stems.

I once bought new B.F.Goodrich tires for my Chevy dually from Sams Club. The shop manager tried to convince me the stems must be visible from the same rim hole for access to them, even saying that was Sams policy. I told him to let 10# out of the inner tire then reinflate to original psi. He tore a patch of skin off the back of his hand before relenting and placing them 180° apart as i had requested. I never returned for the "free" rotations.

[beemergary]

19 hours ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

Every time you turn, of the two tires locked together, one is scrubbing because the distance traveled is different for each tire.

That means the inside should scrub more (tighter turning radius) and inside of the inside tire should wear more because of the crown in road. At 50,000 mi. my duals are looking good and alot of my miles are towing.

[Kirk W]

I have never owned a dually truck but did own 2 class A motorhomes that had duals so have followed the issue of matching pairs over the years. Currently, we are back to all single-wheel vehicles but I still find the subject interesting and found the following article on the site of TruckingInfo.com .

Quote

When two tires are bolted together in a dual assembly, both must have the same circumference or diameter in order to cover the same distance as the assembly rolls along the pavement. If the diameter or circumference of the two tires are even slightly different, the smaller of the two tires will scrub along the pavement to make up the distance traveled by the larger tire. It's that scrubbing that kills tread life.

"While that may not sound like much, a diameter mismatch of just 5/16 of an inch, means the larger tire will drag the smaller one a distance of about 13 feet for every mile, or 246 miles for every 100,000 miles," says Guy Walenga, director of engineering for commercial products and technologies at Bridgestone.

1

It seems to be the opinion of the author that matched inflation pressure is most important and tire size is next for good tire life and even wear. 

[richfaa]

Never noticed that they wore differently. They can be rotated but will  usually cost more because the inside dually may have a different rim. We have never rotated the dually trucks. 

[D&J]

The more you pull with a lot of pin weight you will get more outside tire wear, if you drive around empty you will see a lot less.

Denny 

[Ray,IN]

13 hours ago, D&J said:

The more you pull with a lot of pin weight you will get more outside tire wear, if you drive around empty you will see a lot less.

Denny 

That never happened to my Chevy dually, tire wear on the duals were consistently even. I towed a 15,500#, 40' 5er 80M miles, truck registered 143M when I sold it to buy this MH.