idler and pitman arm
#11
#12
Just a follow up...took the truck in and all 4 tires were out of balance by at least .50 so after they rotated and balanced them I drove on them roughly 500 miles and had them checked again. And they were again out of balance. This will teach me to buy the cheaper tires. I plain on picking up some hankook optimo h727 here pretty quick. If they hold out as well as consumer reports and other boast I will be in good shape.
#14
#15
Just another update. I thought that I would get an alignment done on the truck before I put two new tires on. The folks at firestone said that the truck is solid and on inspection everything looks really good. They went ahead and aligned it. Came back saying that the toe was way off -.02 on one side and -.06 on the other. Minimum spec on the range is .08 I noticed a difference in the handling immediately. So I hope this with have cured my issues with tires.
#17
The shocks will cause cupping, especially replacement ones, if the damping isn't enough. Without proper damping, the shocks can rapidly move up and down and cause cupping in the tires. This happens mostly with Gabriel and Rancho shocks. For some reason they seem to do it the worst. My old Dak had Ranchos on it and the tires were cupping, so i bought Monroe SensaTrac shocks (from Sears) and it was fine after that. Also, sometimes the quality of tire can make a difference. If the rubber is too soft it will cup easily.