RE: One Tire out of Four Wearing Funny

[KyDan]

We'd appreciate a follow up post from you just because we're curious what you find out and what it costs?


Good luck!!

[A32Deuce]

I had the insides of my tires wearing. Replaced all the bushings flipped the tires on the rims and all wear gone. Could be something else to check. The bottom half of all the bushings were worn away.

[Splitshaft]

Your bad tire appears to have broken belts under the tread that keep the tread flat and is flexing too much. The bad tire should be replaced before it comes apart while traveling. A wobbling tire should show some kind of scalloped tread wear at the edges due to the harmonics of the wobble or bounce. A scrubbing tire would be feather edged to one side or the other and can be felt by running the palm of your hand over the tread. If the tread feels sharp from one side to the other, the tire is being dragged sideways. If your camber was off, either the inside or the outside edges of the tire would be worn, not both. The RV may be out of warranty; however, the tire may still have remaining manufacturer’s warranty against defective materials and workmanship as appears to be the issue based on the photo. The bad tire appears to have a more rounded profile and not from the outside treadwear alone compared to the good tire that has a flat profile. The tire appears ballooned or rounded because the belts are broken and not keeping the tread flat on the road. Not that there isn’t an axle problem worth inspecting, however appearance suggests only a failed tire.

[The_Rhino]

If the same spindle damages another tire the same way, then it is likely bent... A bad spindle (damaged by me) kept causing problems, regardless the tire in that location, so I replaced the ENTIRE axle, bearing, brakes, spring assemblies for $240 each purchased from:
https://www.tristatesurplusllc.com/

IMO a spindled was damaged in 2014 when I forgot to re-check my lug nuts after installing new Maxxis tires... The wheel nearly wobbled-off before I noticed it making a turn into our destination campsite just 45 minutes from home. I didn't have tools/time to fix it myself, so I had Good Sams send a trailer mechanic. Although he replaced the lug bolts & bearings & properly installed plenty of grease, the same bearing overheated & failed about 5,000 miles later. Close to home again, this time I replaced the bearings myself & noticed that the spindle was damaged. Although most of the damage likely occurred from this 2nd failure, it makes me wonder if there was at least some damage from the 1st incident...

NOT wanting to take any risks before our 2018 trip out West, I found like-new replacement axles/hubs/brakes/spring assemblies from the surplus store noted above < 3 hours from home... The owners said that the axles were new pull-offs from the nearby Elkhart manufacturers who literally pull them off new trailers when they change the final specs prior to delivery. I chose 5200 lb. axles w/12" brakes to replace my 4400 lb. w/10" brakes. I just blocked-up the trailer, pulled the spring pins/hangers, installed the new pins/hangers, connected the electric brakes & all is good. Had no issues out West & felt the increased braking power/less overheating on our descents down mountain passes... Best $500 & 3 hours of time ever spent!

[jackconn]

I have also noticed excess wear, in my case on the right rear of the tandem set. While it was jacked up to rotate front/back on that side to even the wear, noticed more wobble on that wheel than the front one (though still not excessive). I'm suspicious I strained that bearing when pulling out from parking on streets, and rubbing that wheel against the curb. I know I've done this and that could easily damage the bearing. Checked instructions on my axle set and it is adjustable (not by a calibrated bending of the axle) so plan to keep a close eye on it this trip and get service if problems continue or get worse.

[Villagerjjm]

Please note that there are some insurance companies that will recognize a rear end alignment as being equivalent to a "totaled" vehicle loss. The alignment shops usually require an adjustment to the actual frame of the vehicle, and when the frame has to be calibrated, the insurance companies (certain ones) may drop your insurance coverage.

[flhtci2006]

The story on mine: Noticed abnormal/accelerated wear on all 4 tires, outside edge, after first 5000 mile trip taken right after TT (toyhauler) purchase. Under warranty went to CW. They sent it to straightline axle. Straightline found all 4 wheels out in camber and or toe. They bent as necessary the axles. Then CW found out that Lippert does not approve of "bending". So, after 2 sets of axles, I did a 9000 mile trip, on new Goodyear Endurance tires and wear appears good.
With that said, the axles are 5200 lbs x 2 = 10400. Max gross is 9999. That's not much margin. Next time, when warranty is out, I'll replace them with 6000 lb axles.
I also install the Lippert Correct Track. It does not effect camber and toe but makes for easy adjustment of wheel tracking. Best of all, gave me the recommended clearance between wheel well and tire.

[Asrabbit]

I posted my story a few times and then someone really jumped on me saying I was full of it, but I know the facts. I will tell my story again just in case it is helpful, but I don't think I will change my mind about it.

When I purchased my trailer it was unloaded other than the add on stuff like propane and battery. I pulled it 15 miles to a state park. The next day I was giving it a good looking over and notice I had one wheel leaning in at the top. I stopped back by the dealer on the way home the next day and pictures were taken. It took 5 months to get a new axle put on, but it finally happened, (I used the trailer many times during that time knowing full well I was wearing the tire).

After installing a new axle, I pulled the trailer home 65 miles and by the time I got home the same wheel was leaning in at the top again. I had such a bad experience with the dealer I just gave up on them helping out at all. I finally just decided I would purchase a new axle at my expense and replace it myself. I called Lippert just to get the exact specifications. I did not ask them for anything other than information. However, when I explained why I was asking, Lippert offered to replace the 3500 # axle with a 4400 # axle and mailed me one right to my door step.

The old axle on the camper had no camber at all. It was actually flattened out and on one side curved up just a bit causing the tire to lean in at the top. When I pulled that axle off and sat it in the driveway, it showed perfect camber. Only when it was on the trailer did it not have camber. The 4400 # axle has worked out perfectly and I could not be happier with it. I replaced the tires and it pulled noticeably better. I went from load range C to D on the tires.

Now, when I last posted this I was told I was overweight. But, the trailer was absolutely empty both times this happened. So, if I were over weight, then I would have to say that there is an issue with the manufacturer as again I had not put even a chair in the camper when I pulled it off the dealers lot, (all my stuff was in the back of the truck and for that trip we had almost nothing).

Bottom line, the way I see it, while on paper those 3500 # axles appear to be okay, (although there is not a lot of margin), but for whatever reason, from what I saw, they could not carry the weight.

[country ham]

Originally Posted by KEN9XL

OK! Alignment shop to fix axle? I am guessing it would be a truck repair alignment shop for a travel trailer and not a car repair shop. Please, advise.

What actually causes the axle to be bent? Would going over rough terrain (bumpy roads), or catching a curb cornering? Can situations such as those cause such a drastic problems and on only one tire/axle?

had this problem on our camper, but only on one tire. good information on youtube. One shows them doing the alignment. I put 4 new tires on and went 850 miles and the inside of the back tire on drive was wore. Had it aligned and put on a new tire went on a 1000 mile trip and it looked good

[JohnD10]

I think this may be tire/tread separation going on.

Don’t just schedule an alignment and hope it fixes the problem...

Find a good axle shop, tell them what’s going on and let them figure it out.

[Ddubya]

I have similar tire wear and contacted Dexter. After going through frame measurements with Lippert and axle measurements with Dexter, Dexter shipped me a new axle, four rear seals and eight U-bolts.. Three days later another axle arrived. I will be installing the new axle on the front and waiting to install the rear as the tire wear was only on the front axle.

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by Asrabbit

I posted my story a few times and then someone really jumped on me saying I was full of it, but I know the facts. I will tell my story again just in case it is helpful, but I don't think I will change my mind about it.

When I purchased my trailer it was unloaded other than the add on stuff like propane and battery. I pulled it 15 miles to a state park. The next day I was giving it a good looking over and notice I had one wheel leaning in at the top. I stopped back by the dealer on the way home the next day and pictures were taken. It took 5 months to get a new axle put on, but it finally happened, (I used the trailer many times during that time knowing full well I was wearing the tire).

After installing a new axle, I pulled the trailer home 65 miles and by the time I got home the same wheel was leaning in at the top again. I had such a bad experience with the dealer I just gave up on them helping out at all. I finally just decided I would purchase a new axle at my expense and replace it myself. I called Lippert just to get the exact specifications. I did not ask them for anything other than information. However, when I explained why I was asking, Lippert offered to replace the 3500 # axle with a 4400 # axle and mailed me one right to my door step.

The old axle on the camper had no camber at all. It was actually flattened out and on one side curved up just a bit causing the tire to lean in at the top. When I pulled that axle off and sat it in the driveway, it showed perfect camber. Only when it was on the trailer did it not have camber. The 4400 # axle has worked out perfectly and I could not be happier with it. I replaced the tires and it pulled noticeably better. I went from load range C to D on the tires.

Now, when I last posted this I was told I was overweight. But, the trailer was absolutely empty both times this happened. So, if I were over weight, then I would have to say that there is an issue with the manufacturer as again I had not put even a chair in the camper when I pulled it off the dealers lot, (all my stuff was in the back of the truck and for that trip we had almost nothing).

Bottom line, the way I see it, while on paper those 3500 # axles appear to be okay, (although there is not a lot of margin), but for whatever reason, from what I saw, they could not carry the weight.

Had a very similar issue with my previous TT...

Except my trailer started bottoming out on the tires while 1000 miles from home, which turned into a wheel bearing burnout that turned into a fire that almost burned up the TT on the freeway in Phoenix.

This TT had 4000 miles on it...including delivery miles from Elkhart, Indiana.

Anyway, turned out that the TT weighed over 1000 pounds more empty from the factory that what both axles were rated for.

Cost me over $4000 to fix and traded it off a week later.

[dbarr]

I had one of my original set of tires do that, trail express. It didn’t matter what position it was ran and continued to wear until it looked just like yours. No other tire ever wore unevenly on the front right where that trail express started it’s life.

[KEN9XL]

KyDan --- Just for sake of argument, I checked all the lug nuts all tires, tight as I would have expected. I did not jack camper up and view tire spinning to see if wobbled.

Next I used a level on each tire in the vertical (up and down) direction. All four tires including the left rear (extremely worn tire) showed some misalignment and not perfect. I would have expected the bad tire to show some sort of maladjustment but not all. Each tire varied about the same which was very little or
almost unnoticeable.

Next, I took a 6 foot board and ran it horizontally on the right side between both tires very little spacing from top to bottom. Next tried on opposite side where defective tire is, same results, very little deviation. MY next alternative is to purchase a new tire and have it mounted and balance on bad tire rim, then discard old, defective tire and go from there.

I don't consider myself a mechanic or a mechanically inclined individual, so to say, check the brakes, springs, etc, I would not even know where to or how to begin.

[Villagerjjm]

To everyone who has contributed to this thread: Thank you so much for the information you have given!

[Ddubya]

Check out this link for checking alignment.

https://www.centrevilletrailer.com/h...ler-tire-wear/

[JKVenero]

Friend on mine owns a boat repair shop. Most of his bent axles are on the passenger side from running off the edge of roads or turning too sharp and clipping the curb.

[jeffnick]

Could just be the (ST) tire.

[transmission_doctor]

You have a bent/misassembled axle. The wear shown is scuffing on the outside which indicates a severe alignment issue. The repair of this will take either an axle replacement or a specialty heavy duty truck alignment shop as likely the axle will have to be mechanically (read bent) forced back into correct alignment.

[Yoiyoi]

Try laying a straight edge along the tires it should touch the tires front and rear in four places. We had two bent axles on our Cardinal and that's how I found out they were bent.