Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

I retired my most recent log book to storage last home time, so this number is a bit of a guess. I have driven roughly 35k miles since mid December, and expect to drive about 20k miles before my next home time. Is 55k miles really too soon?

 

I can delay the valve job. The only time I am hearing valve clatter at all is when bobtail.

As for the drives, slightly larger diameter tires should yield slightly better fuel economy. If not, please explain why.

 

Huh. That is so counterintuitive.

I will need to carefully monitor mileage when I change drives because it is fascinating.

When you say they 'squirm' more, do you mean deformation from truck weight (flat spot size), from torqe (rotational twisting from transmission force) or from wobble (lateral twisting from the tires trying to collapse sideways?)

 

My drives are still ranging between 9-15 32nds so I have plenty of miles left on them for warm weather driving. If they were this low in say, November. I might replace them just to be sure to have good tread for icy roads.

Tomorrow I am going to have the tire removed from the one oddball tire with odd wear and have that rim tested for balance or out of round.

 

Well, the tech checked the rim of the RRO drive, and it was balanced and properly round.

He also found the join where the tread was connected together, and it is centered on the worn spot.

There is no evidence of the tread pulling away, but I will be watching it even more closely.

So, pretty sure at this point that it is a tire issue, not a rim or bearing issue.