I am not an O/O but I know you guys tend to pay a lot more attention to your equipment than most of us company turds so I figured I would get a good answer.

On my current 07 T600 (and my previous 07 VNL670) I have a problem with irregular wear/cupping on my inboard drive tires. They wear great on the other 6, nice and straight but the front inboard tires on both sides are getting some pretty serious cupping going on.

I drive VERY conservatively, you would think I was paying for the truck and fuel, no hard braking, 5th wheel is always well lubed, and tire pressure is checked every couple of days and always spot on.

I am wondering if it's something I am doing here that I don't realize or if it's just the nature of the beast. I had the Volvo about 60k and it did it from day one but this KW was great at first with no issues like that at all and then in the last 1000-1500 miles, it started eating the inside of the tire noticeably.

Any advice would be appreciated. I know it's not mine but one day I will own my own so I try to treat these the way I would treat something I am paying for so when things wear abnormally and excessively, I want to know why. I can get it in the shop monday but I really try to stay out of there unless I have to because that sucks up time I can be making money lol.

Thanks guy.

 

My guess is that they are not doing a 3 axle alignment and are only doing the steers. I just had all mine aligned and it took about 2 hours.

 

That was my first thought as well, I was just curious as to why only the inside tires are wearing and not the outside set as well.

I guess Monday I may just have to roll it into a shop and have it looked at dangit. That kills a day where I could get a nice long run headed west.

 

I am an owner operator or maybe an independent contractor. I have no idea at this point from reading the other thread on that subject.

I do spend an enormous amount of money on preventative maintenance. I tend to replace lots of things before they break. I have a small leak in my radiator that only leaks once in a blue moon but I'm having it replaced next week.

You come off as an owner operator in the near future. You seem concerned even though it's not your truck!!

 

I try to care man, I want to own my own truck eventually once I get the industry figured out.

I was a QA for aircraft for a long time and have been an aviation mechanic and a performance auto mechanic my entire adult life. Keeping things in working order comes natural to me I guess. I can't stand to see a piece of equipment neglected and abused when a few minutes of your time and a few dollars now could save so much money and time later.

 

3-axle alignment- if the guy knows what he's doing, he'll check your king pins and bearings, too.

Try to stay away from the computerized alignments- they tend not to be accurate. Find a guy who actually understands what he's doing and does it right.

An alignment can take anywhere from 30 minutes (if the guy is good and doesn't have to fix much) to 5 hours (if the guy is slow- don't equate with bad- and there is a lot wrong with the truck). You should pay by the job, not the hour, but you can't always expect things to go smoothly.

I'd check out Laserline if you run up into Utah, Idaho or Ohio. There's a guy who does a good job in Greely, CO, too, but I can't remember his name.

 

That's what they used on my truck. I kind of thought they all did it that way. I guess I lucked out!!