Check Your Toe!!!

[YPCUB]

TLDR - Bought truck with 37s from original owner. Was getting terrible fuel economy and front tire wear. Toe from the factory was 2 1/4" so the tires were burning off when driving. I would highly suggest everyone check your toe. It takes 5min in the driveway with a tape measure.


Hey guys and gals,

I thought I would share my experience with my gladiator and issues I have been having. I purchased my truck used with 5000mi on it from the original owner. He had put 37s on it and put a daystar spacer in the front for clearance. Truck ran fine everything was good no steering issues at all. After owning the truck for a few weeks I felt that when I let off the gas it really slowed down in a hurry. Like a brake was dragging. I also was getting pretty bad mileage (12-14mpg) no matter how light i was on the throttle. I pulled all the tires and checked everything. Nothing was dragging so i figured it must be those 37s. Drove it all winter and noticed last week the front tires are 3/16" more worn then the rears. This truck only has 9000mi on it now. Then the lightbulb went on. I put a bar on each tire and measured and the fronts were toed in 2 1/4" from front to back. I had to spin the adjusted 3-4 turns to get it to 1/8" where it should be. Immediately the truck stopped slowing down and mileage has increase to 17 mpg in colder weather. I called original owner and he confirmed he never touched the toe on the truck so it came from the factory that way. The nut and adjusted also had no marks on it and had never had tools on them from what I can tell.

Hopefully this helps someone. I ate though almost 40% of the tire life on the fronts in 5000 miles because of massive toe in from the factory.

Here's a great video on how to do it.


Or using levels on the outside of the wheels if your by yourself.

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[Gren71]

I was nervous to do this on my own the first time. Its so dang easy ill do it on my own forever going forward.

after my last home adjustment i marked my tie rod so id know if a shop messed with it.

 

[hjdca]

TLDR - Bought truck with 37s from original owner. Was getting terrible fuel economy and front tire wear. Toe from the factory was 2 1/4" so the tires were burning off when driving. I would highly suggest everyone check your toe. It takes 5min in the driveway with a tape measure.


Hey guys and gals,

I thought I would share my experience with my gladiator and issues I have been having. I purchased my truck used with 5000mi on it from the original owner. He had put 37s on it and put a daystar spacer in the front for clearance. Truck ran fine everything was good no steering issues at all. After owning the truck for a few weeks I felt that when I let off the gas it really slowed down in a hurry. Like a brake was dragging. I also was getting pretty bad mileage (12-14mpg) no matter how light i was on the throttle. I pulled all the tires and checked everything. Nothing was dragging so i figured it must be those 37s. Drove it all winter and noticed last week the front tires are 3/16" more worn then the rears. This truck only has 9000mi on it now. Then the lightbulb went on. I put a bar on each tire and measured and the fronts were toed in 2 1/4" from front to back. I had to spin the adjusted 3-4 turns to get it to 1/8" where it should be. Immediately the truck stopped slowing down and mileage has increase to 17 mpg in colder weather. I called original owner and he confirmed he never touched the toe on the truck so it came from the factory that way. The nut and adjusted also had no marks on it and had never had tools on them from what I can tell.

Hopefully this helps someone. I ate though almost 40% of the tire life on the fronts in 5000 miles because of massive toe in from the factory.

Here's a great video on how to do it.


Or using levels on the outside of the wheels if your by yourself.

2-1/4" toe in is quite a lot.... Hard to believe someone would set it like that. I would Check the tie rod for a slight bend, the stock tie rods are very easy to bend when you bang a rock, and that causes the toe to come in.

 

[YPCUB]

2-1/4" toe in is quite a lot.... Hard to believe someone would set it like that. I would Check the tie rod for a slight bend, the stock tie rods are very easy to bend when you bang a rock, and that causes the toe to come in.

Good Point, I will double check that but it looked good when I was under there. After doing it I would recommend checking it every time you do an oil change. Like you say if you bach something your not burning the tires off for 2 years before you catch it.

 

[Wet Willys]

I just ordered a set of these from TMR to use for when I do my RPM 2.5 ton steering upgrade next week:

 

[OneTraveler]

As I was loading my wheels in the bed just last night in preparation of taking off my winter wheels, i noticed a funky wear pattern myself.....very timely and exactly what I was wondering but hadn't had a chance to check it out. Thanks!

 

[jjmstang]

Could have just used angle iron or angle aluminum from a hardware store, would have been a lot cheaper.

 

[obrianmcc]

Could have just used angle iron or angle aluminum from a hardware store, would have been a lot cheaper.

Yeah ... could have, but opted to buy a turn key option instead. Not your $$$

 

[Gren71]

Yeah ... could have, but opted to buy a turn key option instead. Not your $$$

Got any examples? Id love to have a jig on the cheap

 

[Bonanza]

I tried this once with square aluminum tubing on the tires. Then I re-did it with the TMR plates. It was not insignificant difference. I'd recommend getting the TMR plates.

 

[sass JT]

I checked my toe… it’s a little to the left… lmao

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Bought truck with 37s from original owner. Was getting terrible fuel economy and front tire wear. Toe from the factory was 2 1/4" so the tires were burning off when driving. I would highly suggest everyone check your toe. It takes 5min in the driveway with a tape measure.

From the factory? Seriously? 37s and nothing else what changed? Hmmmmm, I doubt it was set like that from the factory. you could SEE THAT by looking!

I changed the steering wheel centering on mine and I'd bet no one could tell - no tool marks..........
I'm also wondering about another member posting to look for damaged or bent parts.
37s are big and it would take nothing at all to bend something with tires that large.

There's got to be more to this story, IMO.

 

[Gren71]

I checked my toe… it’s a little to the left… lmao

 

[hjdca]

I just ordered a set of these from TMR to use for when I do my RPM 2.5 ton steering upgrade next week:

Cool. I have the "bleepinJeep" ones that look like the TMR. I originally bought the flat cheap ones on Amazon, but, they came in bent... lol... I sent them back, and I have the "BleepinJeep" ones now. Here is a link:

https://bleepinjeep.com/product/bleepinjeep-alignment-tool/

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