I had my 09 in for some front end work a couple of weeks ago. noticed the tires were wearing on the inside on the front and were nearly bald, ...

I had my 09 in for some front end work a couple of weeks ago. noticed the tires were wearing on the inside on the front and were nearly bald, not sure how long it was waering like that. had an inspection done, they determined the passenger upper ball joint was worn, so i had the upper ball joint control arm assembly replaced and an allignment performed. front had excessive outward toe, corrected to factory spec and two new goodyear wranglers mounted. since the work has been done i find that the truck wants to sort of dart in its lane when the wheels are met with uneven road surfaces, like it either wants to ride up a rut edge or pull unto a rut. there has also been an intermittant vibration that comes and goes at highway speed, sometimes not there at all for an entire drive. its a buzzy sort of bouncy vibration, i can feel it in the seat and feel the buzzing in the steering wheel, the steering wheel does not shake at all and the truck holds true on a flat level road and does not pull to either side under braking. sometimes it feels like the rear wants to swing out when on rough roads and feels like the rear isnt following properly while turning, like i have to over steer at times in a turn. what is the likely issue? bad tires? doesnt feel this way when i have my camper hooked up. any ideas? thanks

Since it comes and goes it sounds like steering suspension alignment related to me. How many miles on the 09 and has there been any other front end work done? Is it original factory shocks and struts?

truck has a little over 223000km or a bit over 139000 miles. this is the first front end work i have had done. shocks are stock but feel fine when driving no excessive nosing or squatting and they settle fine, no leaks. rear had leaf springs replaced at 120000km, one was cracked due to a defect. i checked underneath, all u bolts are intact and tight, springs look great no sagging, centering bolts are still intact. i just find it weird that this started right after i had the ball joint and tires replaced. It drove prefectly fine before the repair, tires and allignment. so well that i didnt even know it was out until the tires wore unevenly.

that is about the mileage when ball joints, tie rods, shocks and everything are getting worn usually. but you had it at a shop so I assume they looked over everything pretty well. Since it didn't happen until after the upper ball joints were replaced, I suspect the alignment is not set quite right. It kind of sounds like your caster may be off. That could due to worn front springs. When I replaced the shock/spring assemblies on my 2010, the truck sat visibly higher in the front for a while. Here is a description of caster from alldata:

"Caster is the tilting of the uppermost point of the steering axis either forward or backward, when viewed from the side of the vehicle. A backward tilt is positive (+) and a forward tilt is negative (-). Caster influences directional control of the steering but does not affect the tire wear. Caster is affected by the vehicle height, therefore it is important to keep the body at its designed height. Overloading the vehicle or a weak or sagging rear spring will affect caster. When the rear of the vehicle is lower than its designated trim height, the front suspension moves to a more positive caster. If the rear of the vehicle is higher than its designated trim height, the front suspension moves to a less positive caster.

With too little positive caster, steering may be touchy at high speed and wheel returnability may be diminished when coming out of a turn. If one wheel has more positive caster than the other, that wheel will pull toward the center of the vehicle. This condition will cause the vehicle to pull or lead to the side with the least amount of positive caster."

Do you have any print out of the alignment measurements before/after the repair? Another thing to consider: since you replaced two tires, is there a pressure difference or are two worn considerably more than the others?

rear tires are much more worn than front, they are general grabber at2, probably due for replacement next year. i do have an alignment report, i will take a peek at it when i get home.

I wouldn't rule out the rear tires yet, make sure the pressure is consistent in all 4 tires and they are close to the same diameter with being that worn. The alignment print out should tell us alot though. Let us know what you find out. I attached the alignment specs for our trucks