Uneven Tire wear
 

I noticed last week that the sidewalls of my tires looked cracked and on closer inspection I decided to get new ones. The tires were 2004 and it looked like some sun damage. When they pulled the wheels off two of the tires were very worn on the inside . The rear right and the front left - at least when I walked over it looked like that was the wheel he pulled off. Have any of you had the same experience? What could cause it. The Guy at the tire shop said about all he could think of was different inflation pressures. Any ideas in the HTF Think tank?
Thanks,
Ralph
'95 215TL.

I'm no wheel/axle expert but I believe the hubs are welded directly to the axle and the two affected hub spindle thingies have been bent out of alignment buy hitting a chuckhole or rock or curb or something.

Now if the hub spindle thing bolts to the axle you might be able to try shimming it to realign it ... or have someone do it for you. I would ask my local RV service center or tire store what they might suggest for a course of action.

Good luck.

I had one wheel on my 95 that wore the tire on the inside very bad. I took the trailer to a tractor trailer repair place. They said the axle was bent on that side.They took the axle off and straightened that side of the axle. That tire wore perfect after that. I would say yours are bent also.

There's also a possibility that the rims can be "wobbly", although that would not cause the wear pattern you describe. I recently bought new wheels (to achieve a higher load rating) and one of them was found to wobble when the tire was mounted and then balanced. I had that one replaced.

- Jack

Thanks for the help all. I have a short trip planned for next week - 150 miles. I will check for wear when we get there. If these are doing that I'll call a trailer shop and price it out. Repair vs that lifetime rotation from Discount tire. ;) I hope it's not a bent axle, since it seems to be 2 of them, although that would be the only repairs other than minor ones I have had to make on it. Knock wood.

When you call the tractor trailer repair shop ask about a wheel alignment for the hi lo. Didn't know they did them on trailers until my previous trailer was tracking off to one side. Took it to a trailer alignment shop and they did bend things back and had no problems after that. Was not very expensive and they did it while I waited.

Jim's post here reminds me of something I was told when I had my axle moved forward. The shop owner said my axle had been installed originally somewhat "crooked", and, according to him this is not an unusual thing. I suppose an off-square mounting of the axle could cause the kind of wear you describe on the edges of tires.

- Jack

You said the magic words Jim- Not very expensive - I didn't know tractor trailer repair places did them either. My little Tow-Lite axle would seem like a toy to those guys.