Front end alignment and pulling a 5er. - Montana Owners Club

edmojenks · 07-21-2011, 04:24 AM

Two years ago I bought four Firestone Destination A/T tires. I drove those the first approx. 6 months before I purchased my 35' Montana fifth wheel. The tires have approximately 25K miles on them. Of that, probably 7k to 8K came while I was pulling my 5er. Two of my tires are so warn down (I mean no tread) that I had to replace them yesterday. I have been aware that I had an alignment problem for some time now, but waited before I took it in to get that corrected (my fault obviously).

Here is my question. The technician showed me on his printout how all four of my wheels were out of line. He also said that when you pull a heavy trailer you are more likely to have alignment issues and thus may need more front end alignments. Is that true???

farmboy · 07-21-2011, 04:48 AM

I have 120k on my 2wd Dodge and on my 3rd set of Michliens. I have towed my 5er for 15k miles since new and have no alignment issues.

edmojenks · 07-21-2011, 05:13 AM

Maybe I am a bad driver.

camper4 · 07-21-2011, 05:35 AM

I never heard that before but with extra weight on the truck, it may be true.
I know I have towed my Montana over some roads I thought would tear up my truck and camper because they were so rough. I knew parts would be broken and flying off. But no parts have came off, yet, and alignment is still good. 101,000 miles. Somewhere over 35,000 miles towing.

dieselguy · 07-21-2011, 05:53 AM

You will to a point have a change in alignment pulling a heavy load, but not to the point of peeling off tires as fast as you indicated. When you put weight on the rear of any vehicle and make it squat, it changes the front alignment somewhat. Also, the extra bounce promoted by your fiver while just traveling down the road causes more suspension movement than driving solo. Generally factory alignment numbers take into account useage and possible loading of the vehicle drawing to a best fit set of figures. If you are going to be towing exclusively with little solo driving ... tell the alignment tech ... he may adjust your truck's alignment towards a lower rear ride height. This info is based on my alignment experience several years ago ... newer suspensions may make my response all wet here.

edmojenks · 07-21-2011, 05:56 AM

Then how often do you guys get/need an alignment?

Phil P · 07-21-2011, 06:56 AM

Hi

When you are using the 5th wheel type of hitch the weight distribution is a lot more even than with a bumper pull. We have pulled our Montana over 25,000 miles and replaced the tires (all six) on the TV at 50,000. GM recommends rotating the tires on a fairly short interval but it doesn’t match up with the oil change intervals so we had them rotated every oil change.

We have had the alignment check three times one of them with the trailer attached. They have not reported any “out of alignment” to us.

Phil P

grampachet · 07-21-2011, 07:59 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by grampachet

I have over over 44,000 miles on my TV tires and 10,000 plus of those are towing the Monty. I just had them rotated and asked if it was time for new tires. The tire store, Charlies Tire Factory in Portland Oregon said no, you still have 50% left on the tires. It sounds to me like you may have an alignment problem, or bad tires.
At 31,000 miles I had the ball joints replaced, realigned and new Nokian tires, nothing but rotate tires since. We now have 78,000 miles on the Ford.

8.1al · 07-21-2011, 08:38 AM

A fifthwheel will add little if any weight to the front so the suspension is really doing no extra work. As dieselguy pointed out there may be a little alignment change if the rear is sagging. We have 180,000 on our 2500HD and have had the alignment done twice.

camper4 · 07-21-2011, 08:41 AM

I only check alignment if I can see a little uneven wear.

HOOK · 07-21-2011, 08:47 AM

We have had a towing co. for 35+ years and have towed RVs approx 40 yrs and have never had any special front end align. problems.

TLightning · 07-21-2011, 01:52 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by edmojenks

Then how often do you guys get/need an alignment?

Never.

snfexpress · 07-21-2011, 03:11 PM

According to our CAT Scale weight slips, we only add 400 pounds to the front axle. We rotate our TV tires at 5,000 miles which gives us good longevity. Walmart will rotate for $2.50 per tire. We do have the front tires of the TV balanced when we rotate - makes a big difference to us, having a dually.

HOOK · 07-21-2011, 04:06 PM

Any change that requires alignment will show up quickly in tire wear, just keep watch.

edmojenks · 07-21-2011, 05:17 PM

So if nobody is having the alignment problems I am having this must mean this dealership is not finding a problem I have with the truck, becuase this truck chews up tires and spits them out.

washley1 · 07-21-2011, 05:53 PM

I have posted in the past that we have alignment problems. When the trailer is on, the back of the TV sags, which in turn lifts the front end a tiny bit, but enough that we had uneven wear on the front tires. Have not had a real long tow yet this year, and right now the tires are fine. I have been planning to add air bags to the TV before the next long pull, to keep the rear end up where it belongs and the nose down. Any thoughts on my theory?

Clemson1881 · 07-22-2011, 01:49 AM

A lifted front end would cause the tires to dip. Wear bald on the outer edges in uneven spots.

washley1 · 07-22-2011, 02:54 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Clemson1881

A lifted front end would cause the tires to dip. Wear bald on the outer edges in uneven spots.

That's pretty much what happened to me. We moved the fronts to the rear, spent a few weeks without towing, and they smoothed right out. "New" fronts are so far OK, but if the hot weather clears and we head north for awhile I may have a problem again. Guess I need to get off my butt and decide about the bags!

richfaa · 07-22-2011, 03:37 AM

The post by washley1 and Clemson1881 are absolutely true.It happened to me recently. Now we tow a lot, of the 40K miles plus on this 08 Ford 85/90% of them are pulling a 06 3400 with a pin weight 0f 2800/2900 lbs and a weight of @14K. The tires were wearing on the outer edges and I thought we were out of alignment.Went to a alignment shop and the alignment was perfect(no charge) On our trip to Florida we noted increased tire noise from the front.

In Florida we went to out Servicing Ford dealer there. The service manager looked at the truck the 5th wheel hitch in the back asked me what I pulled and told me exactly this "A lifted front end would cause the tires to dip. Wear bald on the outer edges in uneven spots" The rear of the truck only dropped 2 1/2 inches when the 3400 was attached but that was enough to take some weight off the front end. Went went to the Goodyear dealer in Haines City, Fla related that story to the owner and he said...yes see that all the time all brands. Got two new tires for the front and the tire noise stopped.

now to lift the rear end a bit. Went to Camping world in Kissimmee Fl related the same story and they said see it all the time..all brands. Got a set of airlift airbags and adjusted them to raise the truck level when the 3400 is attached.Thhat should solve the front wear problem. Oh..It was not cheap to do that.

washley1 · 07-22-2011, 10:10 AM

Rich, yes on the cost! I have been quoted anywhere from $450 to $800 to put bags on! Now, many here will say that it is easy enough to do it myself, but I would never even think about it, even after watching an installation video...not unless I was with someone who had done it themselves a couple of times or more. But compared with the price of new tires every time I turn around, I better get it done!

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