02 F250 SD 7.3 4x4 long box manual tranny. I tow a 29 ft camper around on gravel roads and get only 10 k or so on a set of tires. Yes I rotate, no they are not soft compound mudders or all seasons. I was wondering if the weight distribution spread out over 4 tires as opposed to only two will reduce the aggressive wear. I mean if I replace the rear 4 every 25 to 30 k wouldn't that be better than 4 every 10-12k? Do you dually guys get that many clicks on your rear tires? And how much are those total conversion kits? Arrowsomething or the other on the web looks good but post no prices - gotta call them. I'm not that far along wrapping my brain around the project yet. I live in the arctic and drive the Dempster hwy in the NWT and the Taylor hwy in Alaska alot. Does the cold break down the tires? Just tired of buying tires up here at 1200.00 a set.

 

I couldn't help you with the conversion question since mine was a dually new from Ford, but here goes on the other. You need to look at what is causing the tire wear. If the issue is slippage from the gravel, then yes, duallys would help with this. If the tires are just plain wearing, then you will be wearing two sets of tires for every one by getting the conversion. All in all, it boils down to traction. Incidentally, rotating a dually is more expensive than a single, and some shops cannot align a dually truck as the racks are not large enough to hold the larger vehicles.

 

what kind of tires are you buying? are they the correct load range? are you running correct preasure? even with gravel issues and a SRW you should not be going threw tires like that! whats the weight of camper? I am assuming they are decent tires, correct load, and psi, but just need to eliminate the little things, and when towing its the little things alot of people over look. not saying you are, but lets start there! i am runing soft mud tires and have about 10k on them and are still like new. i tow a 26 ft camper and with a full bed (8ft) of firewood and camper loaded and full (water) i have about an extra 8k lbs. ive done about 5k of pulling with this set of tires and they still have the little nipples on them! more info and we can try to figure this issue out

 

Strikes me you have a problem. Some dually posters don't even rotate their tires, just replace/rotate the fronts as needed. I.e., when there's no wear on the tires, they don't need to be rotated.....

 

The rear axle on a dually '350 is different. So you might find a dually axle in a salvage yard and just replace the whole thing at once.....

 

I prefer srw on nonpaved roads. Duals especially on corners tend to spin more for me. Add in a nice rock between the duals and thats 2 ties in 5 feet

 

best set were yokahama, load range E. 65psi rear, 55 front. Wear is even, no cupping, aligned last year, after new b-joints, shocks.
Do 5th wheel trailers with the load IN the bed rather than hanging off rear end do any better on wear?

 

Even if you buy whole dually axle, you will have different wheels on front and different on the rear. That not likely will be cost effective. Might be cheaper to sell the truck and buy dually.
That said I bought my dually with tires already beaten up on sharp objects. I put additional 50,000 miles and the Hankook tires are still legal.

 

Are the tires wearing down to bald in 10K miles, or is the problem that the tread is chunking and getting torn up?

 

They are wearing down. No chunks missing. Problem as well, with lesser tread, the rocks and stones are more likely (and they do) cause flats and star like breaks in the tire. Don't matter what brand. Goodyear, Goodrich, Toyo Yokahama, albeit Yokahama has been the best so far. In case you're wondering, the quote I got over the phone on the Arrowcraft dually conversion is $1726.00 for 6 steel rims two front spacer/adapters 2 rear adapters and two fiberglass fender flares.
So now for a question I really don't want to have answered... Could the wear be due to speed? I do the Dempster at no less than 100KPH to 120 w/out a trailer and 80 to 100 klicks with.

 

First off, I am FAR from being a cold weather or gravel road expert...
But, I am an avid dirt bike rider and have been wearing out tires for 30+ years.

Right off, the answer to your speed question is exactly what you think. Yes. Big time. More speed means more wind resistance. More wind resistance means more power needed.
On gravel or dirt, there is a lot of slippage between tire and ground. Slippage means wear. So increased speed (or load) will greatly increase wear.

Will duallies help?
I really don't think so. From my experience with duallies, the tires definitely don't last twice as long under similar conditions. So your total tire cost per mile would go up.

A potentially interesting side note: Our riding terrain tends to be quite rocky (granite and other volcanic rocks). A normal dirt bike knobbie rear tire lasts maybe 100 to 200 miles. BUT, we are getting over 1000 miles using trials tires. Seriously, they are lasting more than 5 times longer! Trials tires have less spacing between ***** so more ***** on the surface... but the big difference is that the rubber is super soft and gummy. You would think softer would wear faster, but there is another mechanism at work. The super soft rubber grips better and spins less. A LOT less! Have to change riding technique to work with them.
Not sure if this experience would transfer to a heavy truck, but it is something to consider.
Have you (or anybody you know) ever tried a hard core winter tire like a Blizzak or other tires optimized for ice use? They use very soft rubber compounds so they can remain flexible and grippy at very low temperatures. Maybe they would slip less?

The only negative to these tires is they get too soft at 75+ degrees and then wear abnormally fast.

 

Oh, I learned the same thing on my road sport bikes. When ridden aggressively, I get longer life out of softer tires... Because they slip less.