4 wheel drive question?

[OffAxis]

So I had to use the 4WD a little this weekend, which is good b/c it meant I got some great powpow at Kirkwood, but my car was pulling to the left pretty badly. When I was finally able to check it, my left front tire was pretty badly worn on the inside tread. Any ideas what this could be? Is it just that the right wheel is getting no power? Thanks for any help.

[Snow Dog]

That indicates that's it's time to break out your wallet. I have no idea what kind of 4WD you have.

It could be the front end alignment.

If you have locking hubs up front then one was probably not engaged. The hubs could be manual (you get out and twist to lock) or electric (engaged when you select 4WD). Electric hubs are failure prone (water gets in and corrodes the wiring).

If the front tires are different sizes (as in one is new and one is old) then it might pull but I don't do those sorts of experiments.

[CascadeSkiBum]

I'd guess its your camber that's off, could be caster too I guess. Either way, it means your front suspension is out of alignment. Take it to an alignment shop and they should be able to fix it up for you. Midas, etc can do things like this easily. Hopefully your tire isn't worn down too much past salvation.

[pollard]

your front end is definetly out of aligment. get the tires balanced and alignment. If you have auto hubs and more then 50k and are used somewhat often then its likely that they maybe out, but that has nothing to do w/ your problem. hubs are cheap anyways and something you can replace yourself.

[Lynx]

first thing you might want to check on is the tire pressure.

[Tical]

OffAxis, does it not pull to the left when in 2wd mode??

If that is the case, there is probably an issue with the 4wd mechanism and should be taken to a mechanic to be checked out..

If it pulls to the left in both 2wd and 4wd mode just the same, which by your post doesnt sound like the case, but if it is, then it is probably an alignment issue and you should take it to any tire shop and they should be able to fix you up..

Either way, the fact that you can see substantial wear on the inside of the tire, does mean that you probably need new tires and an alignment..

[OffAxis]

Thanks for the help.

It only pulls to the left in 4WD so it probably has something to do with that. Also the tire wear wasn't there Saturday morning, it did it all in that day of driving.

I'm going to have it looked at tomorrow by someone. Hopefully, it's a small problem monetarily, b/c if it isn't my 4WD vehicle just became a 2WD vehicle for awhile.

[Snow Dog]

Originally posted by OffAxis
Also the tire wear wasn't there Saturday morning, it did it all in that day of driving.

I hate it when that happens.

[Billow]

My guess is that the left front tire was getting power while the right was along for the ride. I would think this would cause the vehicle to want to turn left and the tire wear was caused by a counter steering Battle .

[Viva]

What kind of car, OffAxis? The point Snow Dog made about only one hub being engaged sounds reasonable. Did you check that?