The issue of runout comes up as a concern before someone uses this system much more often than as they use it. It's true that Goodyear has very bold lettering and if you have one side of the horizontal bar on that lettering but not the other side, then you would do well to place a 1/16th inch shim between the tire and the horizontal bar on the side without the lettering. In practice, I haven't used this remedy but once in maybe 50 alignments. It's interesting you bring up the bent axle because measuring the toe to reveal a bent drive or trailer axle is a common troubleshooting technique. As far as steer axles, a bent steer axle doesn't affect my alignment process but less than 1% of the time... and 9 out of 10 times, that's because someone has gone and had that axle bent by someone intentionally. The reason this system is so simple is multi faceted. Most important, we find that this design works to provide the measurements we need for the tire wear the truck deserves. We know it works because we can take the time to recheck our work: back the vehicle out of the shop, drive it around if we want, bring it back to the shop and remeasure in just minutes to verify the alignment is still what we meant it to be during our work aligning it. This is where a bent rim or lettering would reveal itself as a problem if we didn't address it but as I said, we rarely find that to be an issue that would even need a 1/32 inch toe change or shim adjustment. The resulting durability and simplicity of the system through the design we came to around 30 years ago has meant the system is usable in mobile services, across any available bay rather than one dedicated alignment bay, outdoors and in any weather, all while consistently conducting alignments that surpass the deliverable handling and tire wear of systems 10 times the cost.

@MDAlignment Well I've got my own Mobile business and it takes me less than 15 minutes to set up my 6 heads and a rolling compensation my machine will tell me if one of my wheels are bent plus it will show live camber and toe readings on all three axles not to mention caster readings on the front all in about 15 minutes plus I can give a customer a print out ! I do own a mechanical bubble camber and toe machine as well just for back up. Like I said your product is not a bad product? It's just my Experience and preference to used Hunter, I was going to purchase Beeline but way to expensive. Question? How do u check caster? On your MD Alignment machine?

@@robertbenavidez7164 I'm surprised you have success with a Hunter as a mobile unit. Testing that was done by one of the US manufacturers found that the system needed to be recalibrated every 14 alignments in stable conditions. I can't imagine how those tiny parts put up with travel. Not to question your success, mind you! But you do bring up caster, which deserves a longer discussion. Caster is one of the primary reasons we ended up with the system that we have. It was consternation with the completed alignment when we got caster where we wanted it that led us to understand conventional equipment wasn't providing us the results they were advertising. There's a number of factors, of course, but to start with, the process Hunter and others use was designed for manual steered trucks with steel or bud rims and bias ply tires. They simply didn't have the consistency of radial tires and aluminum rims, as a rule. More importantly, bias ply tires responded to camber issues different than radial tires, due to the stiffer sidewall construction of bias ply tires. Caster, at that time, would have been .5 degrees positive on pretty much all trucks with manual steering. since just .25 degrees more caster on either side would have caused a rather dramatic pull, caster was carefully measured. Now, manufacturers are installing 1-5 degrees disparate caster right out of the factory! The result is not a better handling truck and certainly not better tire wear because of this split. If you need to know more about that please watch this video regarding our alignment settings and how we came to them: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4a8gat6bK5-kM0si=vKH_SOFkbGnM30CG So, to answer your question, we measure caster using a digital level on the axle pad next to the u-bolts. This is compared to the level of the bottom of the frame for an accurate caster reading per side. I don't worry about sweeps or the chance there's a twist in the axle unless the vehicle has been in an accident or to a Beeline shop. If the vehicle is new or was only ever aligned by my customers and hasn't been in an accident, just looking at the physical shims under the spring is all you need! Get rid of any extra shims and assure you have the same degrees of shims on each side when you are done. It's a much simpler process than the conventional systems but the result is a better handling truck and longer steer tire life.

@MDAlignment Heads are removed ,and put into a special case that I fabricated myself. Have been doing Alignments since 2020 with my Hunter machine, (mobile) just had it checked before Thanksgiving my heads calibrated & everything is spot on . Been using Hunter for 40 yrs never had problems with having to recalibrate heads after 14 uses whoever did your study? Had to have been biased? Only have had problems with heads if dropped. Just like another Lazer machine. So if you drop it, u must have it checked out ,and make sure it's calibrated. But just for argument sake? Your product is better, (money wise) way less expensive! I'm just an old Dog who has always used Hunter so I'm used to their products. So for you people out there ? MD has a good product for a very good price I just chose to buy Hunter because that's what I been using most of my career! (Personal choice).

Only if you want to reduce outside edge right steer tire wear more than you want a sharp turning radius.

What kind of trailer/operation?

@@MDAlignment dry van 53. Hyundai 2020

@@ДимаКама-ю9ъ then the axle flex is undoubtedly the cause of the wear. Tires that get worse fuel mileage ratings often handle axle flex better but the particular manufacturer has a lot to do with the overall life. I can’t recommend a particular trailer tire right now I suggest asking users what they find works best. Strengthening the axle as described in the video will help.

@MDAlignment I have the same thing with my spread axle cattle pot. The front axle wears horrible, but it seems that it may follow a wheel but not certain. The back axle has a whole new set of 4 with balance beads running 100 psi and are wearing wonderful. Curious on your thoughts @MDAlignment

@@travishinck3843 Spread axle trailers have terrible wear problems themselves simply because they are not designed to turn a corner as smoothly as a close tandem. The inside edge wear from axle flex is also an issue on a spread axle.

@@bryond.wilsonjr.4753 I wouldn’t say no for sure. I don’t recall anyone complaining about this with a steering stabilizer installed but that may just mean those customers have different operations and different rate tight turning. My initial reaction is the left tie rod end is already holding the tube tight and the scuffing is coming from movement of the spindle but if the tie rod were held in more dimensions then maybe it would wobble less. Worth trying!

The third book we wrote called Common Tire Wear and Handling Issues -and is available on our website www.mdalign.com - contains our inflation discussion with graphs and examples.

Our experience is if the truck is set up this way and the handling is right then excellent tire wear will follow, I suspect they drive more in the right lane than they think, and tightening up the gap between the 2 drives will result in right side steer tire wear. If your trucks are experiencing left side steer tire wear its definitely time to address the handling complaint your drivers are talking about. Setting the drives with half the split we discuss here may be best for the operation in that case.

@@MDAlignment by half a split are you referring to the 1/32 shim difference from left side to right side of the axle or? What exactly

@@Tcorellis-j6d yes that. Our specs as written say we want a 1/16 shim difference between the 2 axles. If they were only 1/32 inch apart then the vehicle should act very neutral in the center lane and drive pretty straight in the right lane. But if they drive in the right lane more and just notice the handling in the middle because it’s different, I suspect changing from our standard will result in right side tire wear.

@@MDAlignment oh I wasn’t looking to change from your standard per say I was just trying to Figure out what you guys recommend for a set up when drivers report more center line travel then right lane travel. It’s early to tell because we’ve just started doing this in house and we’ve been looking to your videos as a model to start with and hopefully stay with that’s why I’m asking. As of right now the few trucks we’ve done we’ve been setting toe to 1/16” TOE IN and as for the single drive axle trucks we’ve been setting the left side of the axle forward NO MORE than 1/16” compared to the right side so the axle is pointed right but only by a tiny bit. And the few drivers say it drives great on the right side of the road/right side crown. How ever every once in a while when In the center lane a top two crowns some times they’ll say there’s a very very slight left hand pull

If these are 22.5 dual tires then 105 is more than necessary to carry the max load. Dropping to maybe 90 pounds would still accommodate the load and should eliminate the wear.

@@MDAlignment I should clarify 43ft hopper bottom almost always at full 34k on rear would the 90psi be ok for that

@@lonewolfmjm Yes, the same tire that carries around 6000-6500 pounds on the steer only carries only 4250 (34,000 divided by 2 axles and then by 4 tires) in a dual application. For that weight as a dual the same chart that says you need 105 or 110 psi for a single operation fully loaded only requires 75psi for your duals. Knowing that, you can confidently run 90psi in duals. more information here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnmxZJmLe7Rqfa8si=5JQp493MXvfDaB08

The thing is the tire couldn't know when in the rotation you were going to back up. When you get localized cupping it's more likely a static problem, like a mis-mounted or out of balance tire, a bent rim, an out of balance or mis-mounted drum or an out of round race or hub. You could draw a line from the spot of the cupping to the spindle and inspect every component in that line that is mounted to that tire and any of them could be the culprit. If you can't come up with a specific culprit, switch tires and place each component out of order- but still marked from where the original cup occurred- and if it returns and lines up with any of those marks you have your answer.

Drives are already overinflated by 30% at 100 psi. As far as we are concerned 90-100 is enough on dual drives

Which Tire store is that? I need to make sure they are highlighted on our shop locator at www.mdalign.com

@@MDAlignment Shakopee MN. 1315 Maras street.

That all depends on the operation, the tires and the truck configuration. The ideal steer tire life conditions are: a long nose Pete in a cross country operation on premium steer tires. Those tires should last over 200,000 and some people get up to 300,000. The worst is a garbage truck fleet in a large city. They count steer tire life in single digit weeks.

@@MDAlignmentthat last part about garbage trucks in the city getting way way less life and steering my issues. Would you say a delivery company that does a lot of stop and go in the city/towns. Seems like when we get the trucks to be in alignment ( all the ball joints in tow rod ends, drag link, bushings in spring hangers all hood and torque bar all good and it seems like every other PM/inspection they’re out of alignment Is that just the nature of stop and go city driving/delivery ? And less than ideal road conditions ?

@@Tcorellis-j6d where are you driving? While it’s possible the conditions are driving the need for alignment it’s also possible that the alignments are never right in the first place. I suggest trying our shops at www.mdalign.com and just see what the people we trained say about the vehicle condition and how close the alignment is.

@@MDAlignment mainly city a lot of city time and obviously highways to get there but most of the driving is spent in cities. Stop and go turning ALOT. Case in point. 2019 freightliner ( try to keep this short and sweet) (thanks for you time by the way!!) Found on an inspection, passenger steer tire had tapering on both inner and outer treads and diagonal flat spotting in the middle of the tire. driver side steer looked pretty normal with a small small taper on the inside tread. Ball joint on the driver side tie rod bar had small play. Before changing tie rod bar assembly I checked the toe of the vehicle (on the ground full weight of vehicle) (no alignment rack nothing full weight of truck on the ground with lasers and a tape measure) Found the truck to have a 5/16” toe IN. Installed new tie rod bar assembly set toe to JUST OVER 1/16” toe in. Measured front axle both sides center to center. Driver side: 156 3/16” Passenger side: 155 15/16” So axle is pointing to the left which explains the right hand pull and toe in problem that you explained perfectly at the end of the video. Re shimmed the rear end to have the final measurements Driver side: 155 15/16” Passenger side: 156.0” Axle is now pointing right a so it should push slightly up the crown of the road but the truck still pushes right a little bit. I’m no where near the 1/32 difference but I’m close with a 1/16” do I need to get a little bit more aggressive with my shins and go an 1/8 instead 1/16?? Also please note the the truck during the process has had brand new steers on it so there’s no influence from old tires with tread wear pulling. I checked all the other bushings. From rear end spring bushings front/steer axle bushings all bushings look to be in good condition. Drag link has NO play in its ball joints. do I need to be more aggressive with my shimming or what’s going on Thanks for your time

@@Tcorellis-j6d A direct tape measure measurement from drive spindle to steer spindle is difficult to get accurate. If the steer axle is in any kind of steer then the spindle is not lined up straight across from each other and a very minor amount of steering that may be unnoticeable at the wheel can cause dramatic variations on a tape measure. This is why we use a laser up the side of the drive tire to the steer axle to get a reliable measurement we can work with. There is another video on our website www.mdalign.com where Mike uses a string for this same purpose. I suggest using that to get the axle set the way we want.

I agree that you wouldn't want to over tighten a bearing. Would you agree that if a process consistently results in longer bearing, seal and tire life the bearing is not over tightened?

@@MDAlignment i believe you are playing both side of fence. What is correct is correct. That's obviously what everyone should strive for. But a tapered wheel bearing, at least on a drive axle, can be tighten too much. It was said in this video that it is not possible to overtighten a bearing. That is not true. I've seen it. Wish i had took a picture. I didn't know why until i reaserched it myself. Before replacing it with new one. But Thank you sir for your reply.

@@hardhead7056 I had to re-watch this video based on what you said and I did not hear Mike or I say that the bearing cannot be overtightened, in fact we talked about the indicators that a bearing is too tight or too loose when you have completed the job and before you put weight back on the wheel. I know a bearing can be overtightened, that's why we discussed it in this way.

@@MDAlignment well, now i will to.. I thought i re-watched it before posting. 🤔

@@MDAlignment on the topic of too tight.. 22:30. "If it's not wiggling and i can still spin it, it's fine". Can lead me to believe that, "no matter how tight, if i can spin it, it can't be to tight.". That's giving someone to much latitude to screw up. I say this because a looong time ago. Before I knew better. 20 years ago. I watch a guy put on my drive hub with an impact and it spun with one hand. Some time passed and i had tire ware issues. I proceeded to check and change ALL my drive wheel bearings. Starting with the one with irregular ware. It was the only bad one. It had bad heal ware on the end of the roller bearing. In my reaserch i saw how excessive nut tension can easily cause the premature ware of the hardness coating that Timken and other bearing manufacturers employ for longer life. Once the coating exposes the softer core bearing material it's very quick to completely fail. So. I used the torque step method recommended by a few bearing manufacturers to preload and sent my bearing backlash.

As we get feedback it seems the wheel ends are significantly more important than the center, with many reports that omitting the middle lost nothing but omitting the outside was the same as doing nothing. I am also hearing from tanker operations specifically that the weld on the outside isn't helping them as much as our other customers. I assume this has to do with the liquid shifting weight, and the greatest amount of flex occurring at the weld on the suspension.

@@MDAlignment ok. Thank you for responding. I appreciate all of your knowledge and videos. I’ve learned a lot.

look up our customer shops at www.mdalign.com

It sounds like the issue we talk about in the “4 forces” video, that the rear end is pushing the front end to the right. The most obvious piece of evidence is how it handles: on a straight section of highway from the middle of the right lane at 60+ mph, if you were to let go of the steering wheel how many seconds before the right steer reaches the white line? More or less than 2 seconds? If it’s more, then just correct the read end at any mdalign.com shop. If it’s more than 2 then there’s more to discuss.

@@MDAlignment takes less than 2 seconds

I have a typo above if it's LESS than 2 seconds then the rear end needs aligned at any mdalign shop you find on our website. @@billoodean

Sounds like you might need shims on your trucks rear ens where the bushing is

No video of that but you can call us at 515-967-5626 to discuss any issue. Helps to ask questions that pinpoint the problem.

@@MDAlignment pin & point are not coming together yet. But agree it is useful to feeling good that the question is specific enough to feel good about the answer.

I have a semi trailer that easy the hell out of the 19.5 tires on the inside tires. This is why I’m on this video now. I think the trailer has a Henderson system on it as well.

Do these happen to be Yokohama tires? Some tires are just tougher rubber on the outside rib so the wear starts on the second rib. But if it’s happening consistently on that second rib my first concern is inflation. Yokohama in particular tends to wear a second rib (inner or outer second rib) if there’s just too little air in the tire. And by that I mean 5 lbs. over the pressure listed on the side instead of 10 lbs. over that pressure.

@MDAlignment They are Roadmaster tires, but I've ran other brands and they all did the same thing...some not as fast as others. Yeah, the tire pressure is likely off. I was running steers at 105 to 110. Driver's side steer lasts like it should, with no irregular wear. Will try adjusting bump stop to see if that helps.

That’s the thing it’s a tool, it will be in a truck shop and it needs to put up with truck shop abuse.

Rechecking your work is the key to successful alignment. And you can’t just deflate the airbags, you have to roll the vehicle forward preferably 3 truck lengths or more, if space allows.

@@MDAlignment 🙏🙏🙏After 40 plus years Yes! Very much so! I truly believe on living off of eggs, not the chicken. 😁

@@MDAlignment YOU FORGOT TO SAY LET IT COME TO A SLOW ROLL !🤭😉

That’s about the object you are measuring, which I will make another video discussing. This video is just about system reliability.

@@MDAlignment Got it 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼keep up the good work that you guys do!

I always aim high. In this case I don't see a benefit for dropping pressure from around 100.

The available options are: purchase high rolling resistant tires from brands such as Falken. Verify that your wheel bearings are properly adjusted. It has been suggested that you could weld angle iron near the end of the axle similar to what has proven successful on trailer axles but we don't know of anyone that has tried it mostly due to warranty issues.

We don't sell fuel but the more pressure you start at, the smaller the footprint and therefore the less resistance/ better fuel economy. I'm not promising an amount on your truck fuel or tire life because there are many factors however more air is the cheapest, most reliable way to improve both tire life and fuel economy.

yes