Alignment on 2015 20K Miles?

[machete-lc]

Greetings,

Been a bit of Lurker here and haven't posted much but I have a 2015 PW-Tradesman with about 20K miles and the Duratracs are cupping and needing balancing again. I took it to my local dealer here in southern NM and they said my alignment was off. As a bit of background I haven't wheeled it really hard and to my knowledge there haven't been any high speed hits on potholes, curbs, etc. Also the truck drives straight on the highway and the steering wheel is not out of alignment while driving straight. Tires to me look out of balance and I do not see any of the tell tail signs of alignment issues. Service advisor says an alignment is needed just about every year. So far had a lot of trucks in my life and I haven't needed an alignment unless I did some major off roading or had a minor accident. I have only owned the truck for about a year and would appreciate some of the groups' feedback.

MLC

[vanished]

My alignment on my '15 was off at 17k when I put my new tires on as well.. Also surprised me.

[JD 500]

I'm no expert, but in my experience, any aggressive tread pattern tires need to be rotated every 5000 miles max, or cupping and uneven wear begins.

[RustyPW]

How often do you rotate your tires? You should rotate every 4 to 5 thousand miles. Solid front axles will cup tires more easily.

[machete-lc]

Thanks for the quick replies. I will try and answer some of the questions. I bought the truck at 12K and at 21K I have rotated twice. Tires looked like they had never been rotated when I bought the truck so I rotated them almost immediately. So far they have pretty even wear, no signs of tow in or tow out. Just some minor cupping on the outer edges (mostly on the tires that were originally on the front). I don't see signs of needing an alignment though, just poor maintenance prior to it coming home to me. I declined the alignment for now but I am wondering if I should be more concerned. I already have a set of BFGs that I plan on putting on it when the Duratracs are completely toast. My plan was to get an alignment shortly after mounting the bigger (35") tires.

[RustyPW]

Once a tire is cupped. It will stay that way most likey.

[rkgzx9leftcoast]

Yeah, like others have said , rotate the tires accordingly. I dont think the Dura Tracs are the best tires for these trucks anyway. As far as alignment I've had mine done and only have 5,800 miles on it, because I put Thurens front end components and 37`s on it. I would stay away from the dealer if possible. Thuren and Carli have some good info on alignments on their sites. I think dealers like to much cross caster on these trucks, they are a little touchy. The shop I took it to does a lot of Rams for an off road shop out here, if you can find a shop like that it is best.
They told me these trucks like a little stagger in the front or they will dart back and forth ( have to take road crown into account). Mine drives really nice, was done pretty close to what Thuren has on his site, with a little more stagger in the front caster.