Funky tire wear in front: worn components?

1998 4x4 TRD. 178,000 miles on original stock everything.

So I'm holding out buying my new tires until spring when I hopefully get a new suspension as well.

My concern is that my front tires are down to 0/32nd on the inside while they still have a decent amount of tread left on the outside. Also for the last 12,000 miles the rear tires still have about 6/32nd left on the tread while overall the fronts are around 3 or 4/32nd.

Is there anything I should look at in terms of components up front that may be causing the odd wear pattern on the front tires?

I would want to fix it before I put a new suspension and tires on so I don't F up the new tires and have the suspension dialed in.

 

When's the last time you had your alignment checked?

 

Just after I put the new tires on, I had an alignment done. Approx 50,000 miles ago.

 

Do you rotate your tires regularly? It's normal for fronts to wear faster than rears.

Excessive tire wear on the inside is normally an indication of too much negative camber. This could be caused by weak springs, worn ball joints, control arm bushings, etc etc.

178,000 miles with a lot of off road use is a lot of wear and tear on suspension components.

If you have the money, get new tires. Have an alignment done and make sure you look at the alignment printout. (you could even do this before new tires just to see what exactly is going on)

 

I rotate them religiously at 6,000 mile intervals (per Discount Tire's and BFG's protocol).

And it's the worn "springs, worn ball joints, control arm bushings, etc" that I'm worried about.

I'd rather fix those (if needed) than upgrade my suspension.

 

I would be checking ball joints and comparing ride height to factory specs. (remember to take into account tire height if you're running something other than factory)

 

Currently I'm running 31x10.5 r15. It's the larger of the two stock options.

And here's a noob question: obviously my suspension is tired. If I measure now surely I'm going to be lower than factory specs. Is that the difference I'm looking for?

Thanks for all the help btw

 

To put it simply, yes.

But i'm not so sure if 6 lug tacomas get negative camber gain in compression (They probably do, i just don't know for sure)

 

Chewed up a set of BFG's in about 50,000??,, wow. I ran 92K before I replaced my last set,,no joke. I had 3/32 left front and back and passed them onto my less fortunate friend. I run a 30x9.50x15 BFG AP/AT year round. 28 to 32 PSI, depending, front and back.

The BFG's like to be rotated often. More so than the 6000 mile recommended from BFG. I go about 3500 before I rotate.

If the ball joints were never lubed, I would venture a bet that those could be your problem. If the ball joints start to lay out from wear, then your toe in can change,,which leads to aggravated tire wear.

 

Yeah, the last set of BFGs I had lasted 105,000 miles on them and still had about 3/32nd on them.

Not normal I know. But this is the first set of BFGs I've had that haven't lasted 75,000 miles.

The ball joints were never lubed, not to my knowledge.

Just called my friend who has a shop in town. Next oil change we're going to get under the truck on the rack and go over all the upper control arms, bushings, ball joints, etc knowing that I'm planning an OME 881 and rear leafs + AAL lift.

I think the next set of tires I get (more than likely BFGs again) I will rotate at 3000 or 3500 miles.

 

Have had one of these since the 80's, for lubeing the unlubable booted/sealed parts. Have used it on my truck since new.
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...se+gun+needle_-1_-1&keyword=grease+gun+needle

Still on the OEM ball joints at just now 204k and racked it at my buddy shop last year. Still well within alignment specs after a 2" 881, Bilstein OEM, and 5 leaf setup (no AAL). Everything was still tight. I did the sway bar bushings as well while I was there. Stock A-arm bushings were good when I did mine, you'll probably be ok also on those but have them checked.

I have had really good luck with BFG's, so I am sticking with them for now.

 

You run a 30x9.5 r15 with the OME 881 and 5 leaf set up?

Have any pics?

 

I started looking around and I really don't have alot of pics of my truck. Builds or otherwise.




It's easy. Envision your truck with a 2" and 30x9.50 BFG's with a old white HD Brahma canopy for a long bed toyota. lol. It's the best I can do. This is right after the 2" and tires, just picked up my canopy at my buddies place. Hounded him enough and he finally broke down and sold me that cap.