Replacing just two tires on a 4WD?

[BrianDye]

I was changing my front pads today because they started grinding last night, and found that my front tires are both pretty worn on the inside. More than I imagined. I need to replace my balljoints, and/or get an alignment (I have all my new parts inside but I am waiting a few more weeks until I can buy the new wheels and tires to install all that, along with the lift).

My passenger side is severely worn, the cotton or whatever is right under under the rubber is starting to show in a very small line.

I disabled my 4WD/Auto 4x4 awhile back doing the "brown wire mod" so I am only running in RWD. Would this hurt anything to swap on two used front tires? The fronts are more worn than the rears, so I feel like if any damage would happen, something already would've happened. I could be wrong though.

What it seems like is if I was running without the BWM it would think the tires were slipping if they were that far off sized and keep the auto 4x4 engaged which I could see being an issue, but since I have 4x4 disabled (I cant get into 4 high, 4 low or auto. I can spin my rear wheels, in rain I can fishtail, etc) I don't see it causing an issue.

Theres a local place near me that I could get two nice (but used) matching size tires from for probably $30 mounted. I can't order the tires and wheels I want for at least 2 to 3 more weeks, and was hoping to get it all done during my week of shut down at work, in early July. If I can throw on two replacement tires, that would be no issue to wait it out a few weeks.

 

[BrianDye]

Been searching and reading threads for hours now, and getting nothing but conflicting answers. Half say yes it will hurt the drivetrain, half say no, no issue at all.

Guess we'll give it a shot tomorrow and see what happens. Will be replacing with used, not new, so hopefully that helps some of the size difference.

 

[Machine090767]

All I know is, that tire professionals all say you should replace all 4 tires at the same time. Especially on a 4x4.
To be honest, I think this is a scam just to make money.
But, I could be wrong.
I'm no help.

 

[JeepGuy25]

On subaru's, you have to replace all 4, but ONLY after a certain wear amount. In other words, if your tires are all worn 25%, you can replace one tire. But as soon as your tires are worn 45% or more, you cant just replace one, you have to replace them all. Because of the change in wheel speed. Now thats symmetrical awd.

On the Explorer, Im still REALLY confused as to how the system functions. Does it KICK in 4x4 when it senses slipping? Or does it pour on front wheel power as needed. I think it kicks 4x4 into action. It SHOULD be a limited time use. I just got a brand new transfer case, and I can say, I dont hear/feel/sense 4x4 kicking in at all anymore.

With your brown wire mod, assuming you left it disabled, you will see no issues with swapping front tires. Actually you should see no issues replacing even one rear tire, as I dont think you have a posi. If you have a posi, then they have their own rules about how much tire wear is allowed between sides.

When you decide you want 4x4, assuming again this will only be on slick surfaces, the tire sizes dont matter quite as much, because there's slipping going on here and there at all 4 corners under power. Coasting and all, should be ok.

Thats just my thought though. Again, Im not 100% sure whats going on when auto kicks in. I plan to disable mine regardless as soon as Im sure everything is working properly. I hit 4x4 high the other day and i got some nasty popping up front. I guess they mean it when they say dont use that unless you need it. Guess you're supposed to let auto do all the work.

Justin

 

[BrianDye]

That's been a long-going debate on here as to how it works. Personally, from my experience in my 2006 XLT V6 with 4WD auto, 4 High and 4 Low, I do not get power to the front wheels unless the auto 4x4 senses slipping. I can actually feel my tcase/drivetrain or whatever when I am getting power to the front wheels. (Many members have reported the same thing, so as far as im concerned, it's normal)

But what you said is exactly how I see it. Even in 4x4 high or low, I would be using that in a terrain that wouldn't be hard and not able to allow wheel spin but this is literally going to be a one to two week temporary thing before the new wheels get here and I can get to a tire shop to get it all together.

I even tried to at least have it aligned today, but apparently my lower ball joints are pretty bad. Weird thing is, there's no play, no noise, no signs of them being bad (to me at least) aside from the uneven tread wear but I thought that could've just been from the poor alignment.

 

[CDW6212R]

Brian, you are fine to use any tires you want to, when the A4WD system is not controlling the front drive shaft(internal clutch inside the TC). That's what the brown wire mod does, it stops the Control Trac or whatever the system is called in later years, from engaging the front drive shaft.

Without that brown wire mod, then yes the tires better be all identical in size. A full locker differential also needs tires close in size(for those two axles), for people who want to be extra picky and point out the extreme cases.

My "new" 98 Limited has AWD, but the previous owner had the front drive shaft removed seven years ago when she got it, a mechanic told her the TC was bad and that would bypass it. I got it and the tires are a mixture of sizes, all old, so I'll get rid of those now when I'm swapping a front drive shaft in. The AWD or A4WD are great when everything is as it should be, but boy you better not get a flat and have to use an odd tire unmatched with the rest. I think I prefer the A4WD and have a 2WD setting, or the BWM. Good luck with the suspension rebuild, stay in the shade.

 

[BrianDye]

Awesome man thanks for the reassurance.

So I've been searching high and low for a pair of tires. Craigslist is turning up empty (unless I want to drive 50+ miles) and the 2 local shops we used to have are closed. One is still in business but had a mix up when they were relocating, so they are still without a shop but working mobily (if that's even a word?) and she said she was checking on the tire size I requested but hasn't responded. -_-



Boy did I really pull a jackass move today/yesterday. I went to Belle Tire today to see if I could at least get an alignment. I know all 4 or at least one each front and back are out of whack. I was unaware that my lower ball joints were bad, but they couldn't do one because of that. (I figured by getting an alignment, I would stop the excess tire wear for the next couple of weeks)

So I left, went to work and something just felt really off. I'm like there's no way that coincidentally after I leave belle tire and they tell me my lower ball joint is bad that it just completely is failing. So I got to come home, I was doing about 60, staying in the far right lane and had some weird vibrations, seemed to be progressively getting worse as I got closer to home.

So I jack the front end up, take off the passenger front tire, can't see anything out of the ordinary and nothing looks out of whack.

I go to take the drivers side wheel off, I never torqued the lugs when I changed my brake pads yesterday. D'OH! I normally double check that they're snug before I lower it off the jack, and then a final torque on both sides. Apparently I missed the final torque. These lugs spun with my fingers, that's how loose they were.

I'm extremely thankful that my wheel stayed on, and I safely made it home. I've done some stupid stuff before, but I usually double or triple check that because I've heard enough horror stories and could only imagine how bad it would be to lose a wheel going 70 down the freeway.

 

[CDW6212R]

Good catch, and hopefully the studs and wheels are okay.

Get to work on changing the ball joints, and did they inspect anything, tell you of anything else needing replaced? They usually do that first before doing an alignment, and the BJ's and tie rod ends are the biggest worries to find worn. They tell you which parts need to be replaced before they can do an alignment.

I went to my favorite shop last week for an alignment, hoping there was nothing bad enough to have to replace first. I was glad to find out that the parts on my new 98 truck are good enough for now, so I got it aligned and now I can trust it for a while.

I don't know anything about the newer trucks, but I'm sure there are lots of examples here of what they take to keep going well.

 

[BrianDye]

He just mentioned the lower ball joints, specifically the passenger side.

Everything seems to be okay, though it's still on jack stands with the front tires off. Hopefully I can get a set of tires thrown on the front tomorrow before work.

Weird thing is though, I cannot tell how they are saying the lower is bad. I see no play in the tires, up/down or left/right, no clunking or popping, etc. oh well, I have the parts anyways, but that's just got me curious.

Really wish I could fast forward about two weeks so I could have my wheels ordered and be heading out to Belle Tire to get the new BFG's put on and have basically a whole new front end!

 

[michael loibl]

You could also nuts rotate front to back for the couple of weeks. Finish off those two better rears. Maybe put your spare on the back axle with the second worst tire. Put worst one as spare til new tires go on

 

[BrianDye]

You could also nuts rotate front to back for the couple of weeks. Finish off those two better rears. Maybe put your spare on the back axle with the second worst tire. Put worst one as spare til new tires go on

It's funny you say that, it never crossed my mind until last night when I was laying in bed to do that. Apparently this lady I'm in contact with for the tires has a drinking problem and that's more important than the business. (Dealt with them before and loved them but without their shop they are really unreliable). Looks like that's what I'll be doing! Let's hope I can get my spare off! Lol

 

[BrianDye]

My spare is a completely different size wheel and tire.

My stock wheels and tires: P245/65r17
Spare: P235/70r16

 

[BrianDye]

Forgot to post back, been a busy couple of days, but I ended up getting 4 tires put on, they are a 225/65/17 I think, so about an inch smaller than the tires I had on there. Rides nice, and funny thing is, my alignment isn't bad now, nowhere near what it was.

So I have a question though. I only bought new tires once, back when I had my 2000 Limited, and I didn't shop around too much, just got some Firestone Destination A/T's.

These BFG KO2's im looking at, I was just probably going to go with a 265/760/18 because I couldn't get a definitive answer of if bigger would fit, (Was wanting a nice wide tire) but the 265/70/18 is $255/pc pretty much everywhere. I went up a size width wise, to a 275/70/18 and its nearly $30 cheaper per tire. Any idea why a bigger tire would be cheaper? Is it just the 265 being popular they charge more or something?

 

[CDW6212R]

Prices have a lot to do with common sizes. Lots of OEM tires are now way bigger than they used to be, so many sizes you think of as odd, they may be stock or a close popular size.

A set of wheels I bought last year for my "sporty" truck, are 17x9's and there are few sizes that will be in the range of what should fit and look right. A 275/55/17 is my first choice, I wanted wider tires. But I've seen 275/55/20's on stock trucks, a Dodge for one, and the tire doesn't look big at all(width). As the tire gets taller, the section width doesn't appear as wide, even though they are wider.
I could want a wider tire than a 275, but there are virtually no 17's in a 29-30" range. The series drops fast as the tire gets wider, because they make tires for the vehicles they expect to need them(thus a car with a 325/35/17 etc).

So you kind of pick a size and see how it does, and the next time maybe alter it a bit more.