One bald tire

[Charli]

Just finished removing my tires to give the axles a couple squirts of grease. Noticed that one of the tires has significantly more wear than the other 3 tires. It is bald on the inside with gradually increasing tread as you go towards the outside of the tire, although even the outside of the tire has more wear than the other 3 tires. All the other tires have lots of tread left and are worn evenly.
So do I have one bad tire or is it more significant, like a bent axle. If a bent axle I would have expected to other tire on the same axle to have wear problems as well.
Thanks

[Broadway Joe]

If the tire wear is worn on the inside I would suspect the camber is off on that axle. I just replaced both axles on my 26' Wildwood. Try to find a good truck alignment shop to see if it can be straightened.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by Charli

If a bent axle I would have expected to other tire on the same axle to have wear problems as well.
Thanks

That can depend on exactly where it's bent at/near (ie the spindle). What kind of axles do you have?

Was the bearing good/tight at that tire/wheel position?

[wmtire]

Here is a pdf file that may help. Check out the cupping and one-side wear causes:

[Charli]

Thanks wmtire. From your link it appears to be an alignment issue with the camber being out. I'm not overloaded as I visited the scales last trip out and well within GVWR and approx 20% of total trailer wt on the pin. I think the loading is fairly even from side to side. Not sure how long this has been going on as the tire looks fine when viewing standing beside the trailer. It's only when the tire is removed or if I get down underneath the trailer that I see the wear on the inside tread. The first 2 rows of tread are basically gone. With 5mm of tread in the centre and outside. The other 3 tires have approx 6mm of tread and the spare (never used) about 6-7mm.
The axles are from AL-KO and the manual shows similar diagrams and diagnosis of the problem as the above link.
I'll call a tire shop on Monday to see if they can fix the problem. They handle trucks so a trailer shouldn't be a problem. Would like to stay away from an RV dealer if possible (my dealer is 3 hrs away).
We are heading out on a 2 week trip in 8 days so hopefully the problem can be fixed by then. Don't want to put on the spare and chew it up to. Unfortunately we just listed our trailer for sale as we want to move to a bigger unit and this extra expense ticks me off.

[Charli]

Got the trailer in yesterday for an alignment and discovered 3 of 4 wheels were misaligned. The tire that was showing the excessive wear was out the most but decided to have them all corrected. They found some play in some of wheels so he tightened them up as well. Also replaced 4 of the bushings and one of the bolts in the shackles. Also replaced the tire with a brand I'm not familiar with, Carlisle, but the tire shop said they were a quality tire, more so than the TowMax I was replacing. All in it cost $1000. but at least everything is straight and tight. Hope it stays that way for awhile.
The more I experience and read on these forums the more I question the quality sacrifice made in the newer trailers to keep the price and weight down. We are currently looking at selling our trailer and getting something bit bigger. Will need to do more research on brands with quality construction and not just the decor and floor plan. Can't expect any help from the salesmen cause they don't know much more than I do.

[Broadway Joe]

Glad that you have your trailer back and in one piece. I had the same situation only one axles was bent outboard of the spring seat and was unable to have it straightened. I replaced both axles from 4 inch drop to straight, and gained 4 inches. My sewer drain was to low to the ground, so this gives me some clearance.

[Eaglelover]

Carlisle tires are a very good tire. I replaced mine with Carlisle st (special trailer) and got much longer service than others I have used. Happy Camping; Frank