New Problem with wheel alignment.

[EricBu12]

Have a weird problem affecting only 1 tire of my 3 axle trailer.



Went out to rotate the tires and lube the axles. . a big job in 93* weather. .



Noticed my left rear tire had bad wear like a car with toe-out condition. . inside tread is 4/32ns. . outside is 8/32 nds. . and ridged. . so like toe-out. . All the other tires have 12-13/32nds including the other end of the axle with the bad tread wear.



Now I replaced these tires from 15" --"pretty good" "D" tires to 16" BF Goodrich Commercial T/A "E" tires. . Didn't have a problem with the bad wear on the left rear with the 15". . these new tires are 2 years old... a few vacations. . not too many miles as evidenced by the other tread wear.



Before the 15" tires, I did a lift of 2" Blocks on the axle to level the trailer..... did one axle side at a time to keep axles in place. . seemed good on the tread wear as the tires did not have a problem. . Now this tire scuffs off from the inside. .



Could the axle on the left side be slipped back a little to do the scuff but not bother the other tire?. . I see the block is a very tiny bit back. . like 1/8". . Wouldn't think this would do it... .



Moved the affected tire to the middle position to minimize the wear on it. the front tire is now in the scuff position. . it has 13/32nds on it. If I do nothing for a while, I will rotate the front and rear tire to the scuff position every year til it is time to get new tires in a 2-3 years



The frame and spring hangers look to be in good order. . no obvious problems I can see. . This trailer is a toy-Hauler and the Yamaha Rhino is usually set to the right half of the trailer and I use a Pressure monitor system and the pressures of all 6 tires are always about the same within 1-2 psi. .



So what could be causing this drastic wear on 1 tire with no obvious damage or counter damage on the other end of the affected axle?. Do I need to take it into an alignment shop for RV's?

 

[HBarlow]

Trailer axles that were originally equipped with 15" LRD tires are 5200 lb. axles which have less inherent strength than 6000 lb. or 7000 lb. axles and they are probably Lippert components, not noted for great strength or durability. You may have struck a pothole or stressed that axle on a fuel station driveway ramp or other hazard you hardly noticed or have forgotten. It may not have been true when built but the misalignment is just now showing up. Trailer axles are built on a jig for basic alignment but no RV or trailer manufacturer I am aware of aligns axles when the trailer is completed.

An alignment shop that is capable of aligning trucks can align your axles by simple bending. I had a 34' Airstream w/triple axles in the early '90s that was wearing tires. I took it to a local truck alignment facility and watched them align it. They had me back it onto a long raised steel platform at grade level over a pit. The alignment specialist secured each axle end or center depending on direction he wanted to bend it with chains and used hydraulic rams or clamps to push or pull each axle end until all six ends tracked. The charge was about $200 then.

 

[NIsaacs]

If your trailer has Lippert 3500 or 5200 lbs axles, they have a recall for manufacture dates of May and June of 2006. It seems the spindle was not welded to the axle properly.



One of my boys bought a new Hallmark single axle enclosed trailer, pulled it one 3000 mile round trip lightly loaded. The left side showed double the tire wear on the outside versus the inside. I am not sure of the axle make other then it is a 3500 lb w/o brakes.



Nick

 

[EricBu12]

Harvey,

It is entirely possible as you say the axle might be bent a little on that side. . What you did might be $500 now. . wouldn't supprise me. . The GVW of the trailer is 15,500 so I imagine the axles are at least 5200#. . might even be 7000#. . they have center lube zerk fittings. The manufacture of this trailer is, it is a Keystone Raptor 36' toyhauler. . it was built in the latter part of 2004 so it is a 2005 model.

 

[HBarlow]

Eric,

No, no manufacturer installs 7,000 lb. axles with 15" wheels and tires. The wheels and tires always match the axle capability and vice versa. 15" LRD tires equals 5,200 lbs. six lug axles in the trailer world.

Complete axle assemblies with springs, brake backing plates, brakes, etc. are relatively inexpensive. You can review prices on the http:///www.SouthwestWheel.com website to get an idea. Some owners prefer upgrading axles for the added strength and durability they provide.

 

[CUMMINZ]

12,



One of the best things I did was to push Forest River into larger axles and they also sent EZ-Flex connections. My heavy rig tracks and handles mucho better.



:-{} Also notice in bottom photo that floor jack is under center of one of the axles. This is a real NO#@$%!NO because you could easily add camber to your axles with wheels on the ground. My rig was being held up by my leveling jacks. The floor jack was to hold axle in place while mounting.







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[EricBu12]

CumminZ,

Those are nice!!. . Disc brakes too!!. nice Add-on to the EZ flex. .

Talked to a guy here locally that does these all the time... he says that when he aligns one axle, he may have to do all 3 to make all 3 square to the rig. . About $80/axle. . not bad I guess. Considering just replacing the worn tire as all the other tires have 12-13/32nds on them... what is max on new tread, 16/32nds? These tires are 2 yrs old

 

[CUMMINZ]

12,



This is what I was getting with old axles. I could not look at axles and see anything wrong.



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[EricBu12]

is that outside treadwear or inside?. That looks like a camber wear. .

Mine is like a toe-out on a front of a car. it is scrubbed and feathered and half the tread on the inside.

 

[CUMMINZ]

It is inside wear.

 

[EricBu12]

Taking my trailer to a place near here that does these alignments all the time. . He said that when he makes the problem axle square with the trailer, he might have to align the other 2 as they wont be aligned with the axle that is just aligned... Says it is $80/axle to do. . not bad I guess.

 

[Schumacher]

My uncle had the some problem with his keystone 5er. It turns out the spring and shackle bushings are plastic. They wore through in very few miles. He replaced with brass greasable bushing and has not had a problem sense.