Outside tread wear, 1 of 4 only

[ImagesThatSing]

I have one tire on my tandem axle travel trailer that is wearing on the outside of the tread only. No sharp edges to tread as if it were misaligned, no wear on both outsides as if underinflated, no wear in middle as if overinflated. I am thinking about rotation maybe this next weekend to "spread around the wear, but I am wondering what could or probably causes this and what the remedy is?



Thanks for your input, it is much appreciated

 

[HBarlow]

Wear on the outside edge of one tire is caused by misalignment of the axle end where the wear is occurring. The cure is an axle alignment which can be done by truck alignment shops. A typical charge is approximately $100/axle. I think some large RV dealers and some Camping World outlets can also do the job. Alignment is accomplished by bending the misaligned axle.



Rotating the wheels/tires will only cause all four to wear more quickly with the same pattern. In the long run, if you plan to keep the trailer, it will be cheaper to have the axle aligned than paying for replacement tires more frequently. Not to mention the possibility of a tire failure and increased rolling drag.



Trailer manufacturers claim the axles are aligned when the trailers are built but I'm skeptical. I think they only check to see that the axles are within manufacturing tolerances when attached to the frames (upside down on a jig) and before the weight of the assembled trailer is resting on the frame. I've toured the Airstream factory several times and have never seen an alignment process performed on a completed trailer. I've owned one near-new Airstream that had misaligned axles and a friend bought one new and it also was misaligned.



Harvey