driver side tire wearing on the inside

[gabeg420]

i have problems with my driver side tire it is going bald on the inside.the tread is fine on the outside but the inside is bald some one told me its my ball joints so i figured i would ask on here what was wrong.....also it is always pulling to the right and i jus had it inspected and they told me my alignment was fine:navajo:

 

[twink90]

The only reason I know this is due to having the same problem. It was the upper and lower ball joints on Drivers side. The passenger side had to have wheel bearings replaced too. I took the Ex in to get a front end alignment and they couldn't do it. They told me then what the problem was and we had a guy help us. It also pulled whenever you hit the break, or hit bumps in the road it would almost jerk you to the side.

Now all is perfect, no more feeling like I was swerving all over when I hit a low spot in the road! We had just bought new tires in November of 07 and by Feb. 08 the inside drivers tire was worn almost half off compared to the outside of the tire! Thats when we decided it had to be fixed.

 

[TedJ]

I had the same problem except on the outside of the tire, sounds like your ball joints are bad. If you jack up the truck and grab the top and bottom of the tire and push/pull in and out (i.e. push in on the top, pull out on the bottom, etc), there should be less than 1/32 of play. If there's more and you see movement in the ball joint area, they're bad. Check the link in my sig for a tutorial on how to replace them. Also grab the left and right sides of the tire and do the same thing, while looking for movement in the tie rod ends, there shouldn't be any slop.

It may be easier to have someone else move the tire around while you look. The factory non-greasable ball joints are horrible, once the grease goes away they fill with crud and fail. If you're going to do all the work, make sure you get good parts (like Moog), cheap parts on a job with so much labor are not worth it.