Are my axles beefy enough?

[Palinduff]

I have 3500lb axles and my GVWR is about 9100 lbs. I weighed my axles and the trailer axle weight was 7300lbs with a full tank of fresh water that is over my axles; and I also had my quad in a utility trailer hooked up behind (not sure what the tongue weight of that was, the quad weighs 450lbs and the trailer is light).

One of my front tires (passenger side) is wearing severely on the outside and I need to get the axles aligned. Although with my new TV, my 5th wheel rides quite high in the front so I am considering flipping my axles to raise the back of the unit in order to level it; and possibly upgrading to 5200lb axles.

From the discussions I've had, my camber could be out and/or the unit is rear heavy and with the nose high, is causing the tire wear. (The tire that is wearing is not on the slide side, but the kitchen is above it). I have barely put 2500km on it (+ 4000 km for delivery), but I just noticed the tire wear in the fall after my first trip (1000km) with the new TV and the quad trailer.

Thoughts?

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by Palinduff

I have 3500lb axles and my GVWR is about 9100 lbs. I weighed my axles and the trailer axle weight was 7300lbs with a full tank of fresh water that is over my axles; and I also had my quad in a utility trailer hooked up behind (not sure what the tongue weight of that was, the quad weighs 450lbs and the trailer is light).

One of my front tires (passenger side) is wearing severely on the outside and I need to get the axles aligned. Although with my new TV, my 5th wheel rides quite high in the front so I am considering flipping my axles to raise the back of the unit in order to level it; and possibly upgrading to 5200lb axles.

From the discussions I've had, my camber could be out and/or the unit is rear heavy and with the nose high, is causing the tire wear. (The tire that is wearing is not on the slide side, but the kitchen is above it). I have barely put 2500km on it (+ 4000 km for delivery), but I just noticed the tire wear in the fall after my first trip (1000km) with the new TV and the quad trailer.

Thoughts?

Are you 100% certain you've got 3500lb axles? I've owned 3 Puma TTs with GVWRs in the 8-10K range and they've all had 5200lb axles. If it does have 3500's, they're way too light for a 9.1K GVWR, IMHO.

[Iwannacamp]

In theory they are light. 3500 x 2 + 10?% on the hitch. Mine is advertised at about 10K and 4400# axles...about the same boat. I think the brakes and stuff is all the same on the Lippert 3500-4400 axles. I assume the only difference is the springs. Someone smarter may have a different input.

I would consider getting someone I trusted to check the allignment. May be $100 wasted, but the tire wear isn't happening on its own. YMMV

[5picker]

I agree on getting the alignment checked, especially since you mentioned wear on just one tire.

I'm not saying your axles are OK (or not) but if they are causing your issues because of insufficient capacity, you'd likely see problems on the other tires as well.

[Palinduff]

Originally Posted by dustman_stx

Are you 100% certain you've got 3500lb axles? I've owned 3 Puma TTs with GVWRs in the 8-10K range and they've all had 5200lb axles. If it does have 3500's, they're way too light for a 9.1K GVWR, IMHO.

I'll have to check that out. It has 5 bolt rims so I assumed that they were the lighter axles. The unit is in winter storage so I'll have to get out my snow shoes and a shovel and have a look next week end.

I'm definitely getting an alignment and flipping the axles though.

Thanks