Dual Rear Wheels and Tire rotation

[textruckr]

What is the correct method of rotating your tires when you have duals?  I guess that as long as you keep them rolling in the same direction they should be all right.  I have heard from other sources that if the tire is "conditioned" by rolling in one direction that the belts will tend to delaminate if the tire is rotated to the other side.  Of course, this is only true for radials.  I remember that for bias-ply tires I used to swap sides each time I rotated them.

Thanks.

[JEBar]

Have just recently rotated my tires for the second time.  I  decided to use the spare as part of the rotation ... should make it longer prior to having to buy new ones.  The pattern is easy to follow and is shown in your owners manual.  It does include "X-ing" the tires as part of the pattern.  One good feature of the factory pattern when using the spare is you never have to have more than one wheel jacked off the ground at any given time.

[Shaners]

This is from page 6-55 in the manual and it assumes the tire tread is the same design on all six tires.

 

left front to left outer rear

left outer rear to left inner rear

left inner rear to rt front

rt frt to rt outer rear

rt outer rear to rt inner rear

rt inner rear to left front

 

If you use the spare everything is the same except the left inner rear goes to the spare and the spare goes to the rt frt.

[textruckr]

Thanks.

I did not receive an owners manual with the C3500 when I purchased it used.

From the description though, it seems that some of the tires will be "reversed" from their normal direction.  This concerns me because I was once told by a tire center that this is not good for a radial - as evidenced by the fact that on 4 tire rotations the rt. rear goes to rt. front and vice versa.  He told me this tended to cause the belts to separate.

To complicate matters, the back 4 tires are all pretty aggressive mud grips and the front tires are all-terrain tires.  The spare (still new) is a road tread.

Maybe I just won't rotate the tires.

[Shaners]

To complicate matters, the back 4 tires are all pretty aggressive mud grips and the front tires are all-terrain tires.  The spare (still new) is a road tread.

Maybe I just won't rotate the tires.

In your case this is what you are supposed to do... (from the manual again).

 

left frt to rt frt

inside left rr to outside rt rear

outside left rr to inside rt rr

inside rt rr to outside left rr

outside rt rr to inside left rr

[Colorado Kid]

In the very early days of radial tires there was some truth to the "do not reverse rotation" rule.  Today, however, every tire manufacturer I'm aware of recommends X rotation of any tire that does not have a directional tread pattern. (That is, some tires have an arrow on the sideway pointing out which way they are supposed to roll).  Improvements in radial tire construction have long since addressed the problems associated with reversing rotation.

 

Since you've been rotating tires long enough to remeber bias tires, the information was probably valid when you heard it, and good for you for taking it to heart.  But you don't need to worry about it anymore unless you find some 1978 radials up on a shelf somewhere and put them into service!

[textruckr]

Thanks a lot folks.  This forum has proven very helpful in the past, and once again it has helped me out.

Wish I could afford a new C3500.  Some of our friends on the Texas Longhorn cattle show circuit have bought new trucks.  Every time they offer to let me drive theirs I have to say no - I am afraid I will be bitten by the "wanna new truck" bug again.  I truly lust after the new C3500 CC/DRW/8.1/6SPD - loaded that a friend of ours purchased a few months ago.  That thing just walks right on down the road with all of the big 'ol steers they haul.  I have to putz around at 65 and frequently downshift on grade.  The old 454 isn't a spring chicken any more.

As far as the old do not reverse rule, that was how I used to get 1/2 priced tires for my Toyota from Sams Club.  I would reverse them all (Generals, I think) and in less than 3K miles the old compact would be shaking like a wet dawg every time I hit the interstate.  I would pull into the tire bay there and they would all say "yup, looks like them belts have all separated".  I would then get a new set for about 1/2 price (excluding mounting, balancing and road hazard).  This never happened with their 16.5" tired I ran on my Dodge 3/4 ton though.

Maybe an $18 tire really is not such a great bargain? :blush: