Uneven tire wear

[Lumatic]

Noticed some uneven wear on my roadside rear tire. The wear is slight but noticable. More wear on the inside than outside of treads. Wear is even around the circumference.

Other than a bent axle or spindle what are other causes I should check.

What should I look for if I have to have the axle straightened.

It's a Dexter axle. The tire is about 5 years old and due to be replaced anyway. Axle and tire are both about 5 years old.

[richinny]

check terry's reply here:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...nny-92122.html

[Lumatic]

I have been advised to remount the tire 180 degrees and see if it wears in the same manner.

Also told it is possible the spindle is bent and no one will straighten it or straighten a bent axle. I have been told by several trailer service providers the only thing that can be done is replace the axle.

[Zigidachs]

After thought: Are the tires balanced? We balance / rotate and check for wear every 5K miles. Have found at least twice that the tires needed a slight "adjustment". Moreover, I don't plan to use my tires beyond 5 years. When we bought these 16" Michelins, we insisted on "fresh" tires ( no more than 4 months old) .....Zigi

[HowieE]

The nature of the making of torsion type axles leaves them to be miss aligned from the factory. While 90% of them fall within specs those that don't will cause tire ware.

The easy way to check your axles is to take a known straight edge, I use an 8 ft. florescent light bulb on my tri axle, and lay it against the edge of the tires, across the center line of the tires. If the axles are out of spec you will see a gap from one side to the other on the tire that is out. This method only checks toe in/toe out and not camber. However it is toe that is more likely to effect ware so a first line check.

The axles can be rebent on the trailer by any truck axle shop. Do not take axles to Jackson Center for rebending as they have neither the equipment or knowledge to do this type of work.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by HowieE

Do not take axles to Jackson Center for rebending as they have neither the equipment or knowledge to do this type of work.

I wonder when this occurred? At one time that was the place to go according to my dealer. In the fall of 2001 I was up there and a Hi-Lo was next to me in the Terraport. He was there to get his axles aligned and at the time Hi-Lo and Airstream used the same axles.

Jack

[SteveH]

I had an '01 25' that wore the tires unevenly, and it was caused by axle alignment problems. Took it to Dallas to North Dallas RV who did a re-alignment, and it STILL wore the tires bad. It totally wore the tread off one tire going to Alaska, and another one by the time I got back.

Good luck ever getting it fixed.

[HowieE]

Jack

My 34 was tearing up tires in less than 5,000 miles when I bought it, 3 years old and less than a 1,000 miles on it. I went to Jackson, after having checked my axles as noted above. They used wooden ramps and strings to make the alignment. Came home and checked to find NO CHANGE. Call Jackson and asked where could I get the job done correctly and they said Gaumer's in Chambersburg Pa.

While I don't have a picture of the equipment used to bend the axles the ramps should speak for the level of professionalism.

After I replaced my original axles, bought directly from the Henschen factory, I went to Gaumer's and had them aligned also.