Canadian Hummer Club Forums

Wondering if anybody has had this problem and what the fix was...



Inner edge of the rear tires have worn down bare in less than 5000Kms.



I jacked the truck up and tried to check the ball joints and they appear ok, ( no noticable play when prying between the tires and A arms)



I dont tow anything heavy and rarely have more than 500Lbs of gear in the truck.



Tire are GSA running 40-45Psi, the outer edge of the tread is still nearly 1/4 deep gradually tapers down to 0 at the inside edge.



I am planning to take the truck in to get an alignment, but I am suprised that alignment could have gone out so bad in so quick...



Any advice on what to look for would be great as I am getting new tires next week and dont want to wreck them...



Truck is a 2001 H1 Wagon CTIS, one piece Factory aluminum rims, M12000.



THanks



Paul

Paul,if you have a carpenters level, check to see if tires are within 1/8 - 1/4" plum to the ground(top side out farther). Both sides should be really close to each other.Check toe out (front of tires point outwards) at 0 to 1/4". measure from tire to tire at the same rib area at the front of the tire and the rear of that tire.

The alignment cams do move since in a while,I'd advise to mark them with a paint marker for easy checking in the future.



When checking ball joints, lower, did you pry up on the tire while the jack was under the a frame?

Upper, while still in the air, push and pull tire to check for movement in upper joint.



If all has been done and seem correct, give Phil a call . There are some different solutions he can tell you about.

yep tried all that when I had it in the air but never measured the Toe or checked it with a level (my drive way isnt quite level...) Stuck a 2x4 between the tire and Arm and couldnt produce any noticeable movement so doesnt look like ball joints...



went by my Alignment guys shop and he said if the tires were excessively toed out they would wear like that, there is also no noticable out of camber at least not enought to have produced the excessive wear so fast.



He has never aligned an H1 before but has the specs in his computer so hopefully he should be able to do it, anything I should warn him about before he does it, or should I bite the bullet and take it to the stealership...



Tires should be here this friday so it will be straight there after... and hopefully I dont have to waste the weekend changing balljoints or bushings...

Hopefully his alignment rack is meant for the large beasts. I'd give Phil a call to get some more pointers on this problem. He has a few causes that I cannot remember what they were. 905-584-9448



Good luck

PS: check your book for alignment specs before going just to make sure his are right

for a 99 setting specs read...

front  26 psi ,caster +2.5 to +3.5 , camber 0 to +0.5, toe in  0 to +0.19 deg.

rear  28 psi, camber +0.25 to +0.75 , toe out -0.19 to 0

GOOD LUCK BRO...... <img src='http://www.canadianhummerclub.com/forum ... /smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> <img src='http://www.canadianhummerclub.com/forum ... /smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> <img src='http://www.canadianhummerclub.com/forum ... /smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

WhooHoo!!!



Tires are here early, just arrived this afternoon, so going to get them installed tomorrow morning!!!



Just curious about the tire pressures thou, I usually run about 40-45Psi in the GSA otherwise I find the squat to much and heat up excessively, ie starting psi 30 drive about 50km and the pressure will climb up to 40+psi just from the heat, I was told by a tire guy should typically have more than 5 psi increase when hot.



Would anybody happen to have the alignment specs for a 2001 Wagon??? or can I find it in the owners manual???

I am going to take a better look at the suspension while the tire shop has the tires off, and see if anything is obvious...



Does Phil post on here, where is he located???

Phil is in Caledon,does not have too much time to post. Give him a call-- in last message

Warn ball joints usually show up as instability while on the highway... Sort of like a strange large body vibration that is speed specific.



In general the ball joints start to go every 30k to 40K miles from what i have seen. The hummer has the same hubs front an back. The front turn with the steering, the rear are held with fixed "steering" with a "radius arm"on each hub. If these are out of adjustment the tire can be quite a bit out of straight.



You can check them your self. Bascally the rear should be perfectly straight ahead. There is a "string method" that is listed on chucks website. www.amghummer.com. The article was written by dave breggin. It will give a pretty good idea if the alignment is out but best to take it to someone that knows these trucks.

So just got the truck back from the shop last night, and the alignment was way out, rear end was toed out over inch and a half. Couldnt even get it to track straight onto the hoist. All the tie rod sleeves and cam bolts were siezed up and took about 6 hours of beating on to get to move, all I can say is the shop was cursing my name by the end of the day...



Havent taken it on the highway yet to see how it drives, so I will post a final update after.