How to rotate tires on a dually (simple recommendations)?

You probably already know that your car’s tires wear out after a certain period of use. However, due to the many different factors affecting the wheels, tire wear becomes uneven, which shortens the life of the tires and requires too many repair costs.

Therefore, in order to ensure good tire grip and improve vehicle performance, double tire rotation is an extremely important step.

However, during operation, drivers often pay little attention to the rotation of car tires and do not even know how to perform this operation, especially for some trucks with dual wheels having different rims.

What did you need to know about a dually tire rotation?

Uneven tire wear can be corrected by regularly changing front-rear and left-right tires together using a tire rotation maintenance approach. This is almost the same as spinning outer tires, except more tires are involved.

Do tires need to be swapped? Yes!

Your tandem truck may sometimes run empty and not tow anything, but at other times it can also carry literally tens of thousands of pounds. It is impossible to achieve a camber that covers the full range of loads on your rear dual tires.

A working wheel alignment will always be an estimate because you never know exactly what your truck will see before the next adjustment. In other words, the rear wheels of a light truck are more prone to wear than their front counterparts.

Considering the cost of six new tires, it makes sense to maximize the life of your doppelgänger’s tires.

Can tires be swapped on dually?

Yes, you can swap tires on dual rear wheels, and truck manufacturers put good instructions in their owner’s manuals on how to do it right. These instructions also reduce the amount of work that must be done to complete this task.

However, there are some experienced dual-wheel owners who don’t follow the owner’s manuals and don’t swap their tires even if they can. As a reason, they cite the fact that the tires barely wear out.

These owners also believe that the tires will age before they need to be rolled over. If you change your tires, it is entirely up to you. You can do this if you want to, or you can’t, as it doesn’t make sense for some owners to take the time to swap tires.

Since this is your vehicle, you need to evaluate the tires, their age, condition, etc., and make your own decision.

Tire swapping: is it really necessary?

Tire swapping is one maintenance method to correct uneven tire wear by regularly changing the position between the front and rear and left and right tires together. In other words, the procedure for swapping dual tires is also moving tires from one position to another in the same vehicle.

Why do we need to take this step? The reason for uneven tire wear lies in the completely different weight distribution of the car. Accordingly, wheels mounted on the rear axle subject to higher loads must be subject to wear.

In front-wheel drive vehicles, the front axle is heavier than the rear, and the two wheels mounted on the front axle steer the car at the same time, so they wear out faster than the rear two. According to many experts, the tire wear order can be as follows: front right tire, front left tire, right rear rubber tire, and finally left rear tire.

Manufacturers recommend changing tires periodically after every 5,000 to 10,000 miles, depending on the tires, or when changing the oil in the vehicle. Remember that a set of evenly worn tires will last longer than a set of unevenly worn tires.

If you consider this action unnecessary, the consequences may cause excessive wear on one side of the tires and may cause an explosion when driving at high speed or cause loss of vehicle control in slippery road conditions. Periodic tire replacement provides the following 6 specific benefits:

• Extended tire life.
• Avoid uneven wear on the tire surface.
• Helps the car to balance, and high stability ensures safety while driving.
• Reduce fuel consumption.
• It makes the steering wheel stable, making driving easier.
• Early detection of car malfunctions by tire wear.

How to change tires to dually?

There are several steps involved in changing tires, and all of these steps are very simple and well-known.

1. Park on level concrete, ground, etc., and shift the automatic transmission to park or the standard transmission in 1st gear. Loosen all nuts before jacking up the vehicle. You can break the seal better when the tires touch the ground.
2. Get a heavy-duty jack that can support the weight and raise the front of the truck until the jack is under the axles and the tires are off the ground. Lower the jack until the rear axle rests on the jack stands.
3. Now go to the back of your truck and do the same. Raise the rear axle so that the jack stands can be placed inside the wheels, then lower the rear axle until it rests on the jack stands.
4. Then complete the removal of the lug nuts from all tires. For this task, you can use a wrench with a tip or an air impact wrench. Place the clamp nuts in the caps, so they don’t get lost.
5. Once this is done, swap the tires either as instructed in the manual, or move the inner twins forward, move the outer twins in, and place the front tires where the outer twins were.
6. Replace lug nuts and tighten them only until the wheels start to move. When tightening the clamp nuts, a star pattern is recommended.
7. Lower the truck by first jacking up the rear and removing the jack supports, then carefully lowering the truck. Do the same for the front and then go back to tightening the lug nuts. A torque wrench will help you get the correct torque for each nut.

Dual tire rotation patterns

When you change tires to duals, you can do it in a variety of ways. Let’s start with the most common patterns and move on to the less common ones.

Circular rotation pattern

This is the best pattern to use unless the wear is odd or uneven. If you have dual rear wheels, it is best to rotate tires in a circle. It’s a simple pattern: the front tires move backward, the rear wheels move forward, and the front tires move back.

When this scheme is used, the tires stay on one side of the car. You only need to lift one side of the car, making it easy to change tires yourself.

If you want this drawing to look nice, all three wheels should be the same. Circular tire rotation works best with two-axle bogies with steel wheels.

Directional tire rotation diagram

When you have six tires, turning in a certain direction is a bit more difficult because the rear wheels on the outside of the axle are facing inward. When you change tires, you should keep this in mind.

This pattern is not suitable for non-directional tires because the circular pattern promotes more even tread wear over time. Similarly, you will rotate the white letters that are only on one side of the tire. This ensures that the white letters always face outwards if you care how that looks.

Directional tires on a dually standard four-wheeler can never change sides, but they should be able to do so on a six-wheeled dually truck or motor home.

The front tires move to places in the middle of the rear. The wheels in the middle move outward on both sides. The tires on the sides of the front move to opposite sides.

Side-to-side rotation

Side-to-side rotation works best when the front and rear wheels or tires are different. This can happen if you have rear traction tires and front-steering dually tires. Or the wheels or tires may be of different sizes, making it impossible to move from front to back.

When the front wheels turn, they simply change sides.

Four identical steel discs on the rear axle

When rearranging the rear tires of a car with the same dually wheels, each rear tire should be in every possible position for a while. This is done by moving each rear tire at one point each time the dually wheels are turned.

The rear outer side on the driver’s side moves to the rear inner side on the driver’s side. In this case, the rear inner wheel on the driver’s side moves to the position of the rear inner wheel on the passenger side. Passenger’s inner tire rotation is switched to the passenger’s outer rear tires.

The loop is completed when the outer part on the passenger side moves to the outer side on the driver’s side.

Internal steel and external aluminum wheels

Whenever the outer and inner rims are different, the outer rear and inner rear steel wheels should be swapped.

FAQ

Are you supposed to rotate dually tires?

The correct way to swap dually tires on a dually varies greatly depending on the restrictions you may be facing. The best method, if possible, is a circular pattern.

The circular pattern requires all wheels and tires to be the same. This is often not the case for many dual owners. Often the front and rear outer wheels are aluminum and the inner rear wheels are steel. This makes it impossible for your dually tires to spin, except for side to side, for example, for swaps like this.

Dually tire rotation side to side is far less useful than front-to-back or inside-to-outside rear wheel rotation. Experienced owners of two-wheelers with three different sets of wheels on their trucks usually don’t swap dually tires unless they have a problem with uneven dually tire rotation wear.

Benefits of rotating tires

Although we have mentioned a couple of benefits, there are actually more than 2. Here are some of the benefits you will get if you take the time to change your tires on a schedule:

• Protects against tire failure.
• Maintains performance at an optimal level.
• Helps save fuel while driving.
• Allows you to inspect tires up close to see if there are cracks or holes in the tread, etc.
• Keeps front-end alignment in great shape.
• Allows the engine to run more efficiently.
• Extends tire life by as much as 20%.
• Delays with spending a lot of money on new tires.

How often should you rotate dually tires?

The rear tires on the Dually truck or van should be swapped according to the mileage requirement to maintain the Dually tire rotation warranty. The Dually tire manufacturers usually require to rotating tires before a certain mileage is reached.

Typically, Dually tire rotation changes every 5,000 miles meet or exceed this requirement, but this may vary, so be sure to check your Dually tire rotation purchase documents to make sure you are changing tires in accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements to maintain a warranty.

How often should you rotate your tires on a Dually truck?

In general, a good rule of thumb is to change your rotating tires every 10,000 miles.

How do you rotate tires on a Dually with aluminum wheels?

If your twin’s wheels are aluminum, it’s highly recommended to take the front wheel and put it on top of the rear wheel, then take the two inner wheels and flip them side to side. To do this, you will have to remove all the wheels at once.

How do you rotate tires on a diesel truck?

Turn the wheels laterally forward. This means that the left front goes to the left rear, and the right front goes to the right rear. The left rear goes to the right front, and the right rear goes to the left front. Rear-wheel drive or AWD/4-wheel drive: left rear goes into the right front.

Can you spin aftermarket double wheels?

Aftermarket dual wheels can usually only rotate tires from side to side. This is because aftermarket front wheels and aftermarket rear outer wheels are usually completely different designs. The inner rear wheels are usually inexpensive steel wheels, as they are not visible.

Double trucks with six steel wheels have the rear-facing in rather than out. Aftermarket wheel designs attribute this to unique yet complementary front and outer rear wheel designs for use with inner rear steel on all the wheels.

Conclusion

The Dually tire rotation is known as one of the maintenance methods that prolong the life of the vehicle, as well as ensure safe operation. Therefore, drivers must perform Dually tire rotation for cars in a timely manner. For front-engined vehicles, the entire front tire will carry 60% of the vehicle’s load.

At the same time, when braking, the front wheel also bears 80% of the force of gravity, causing the front wheel to wear faster than the rear. The Dually tire rotation is a change in the position of the rotating tires. This helps the rotating tires wear more evenly, provides the same durability, and more importantly, provides the best vehicle performance.

We hope the “How to reverse rotate tires on a dually?” topic gives you more information and helpful ways to protect and improve your tires.

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