unusual tire wear

Post by **salty_dog** » February 1st, 2006, 10:15 am

After searching the forum for tire wear questions, I come to you with a new question. I have a 22ft center console on a continental tandem alum. trailer. The trailer is 9 years old and has been well maintained. I just noticed that my front tires are wearing terribly on the inside. While the boat was in for it's 100 check two weeks ago, I asked that they check the axle. I keep proper air in the tires. I doubt the springs have anything to do with it. I now need new tires but do not want to tear them up too. Any suggestions?

Post by **Frank Bradfield** » February 1st, 2006, 10:18 am

Andre, I have about 4 traliers on the road every day, the front tires wear out faster because they drag when you turn. Best advice i can give you is rotate when you can and buy a good quality tralier tire. A lot of people just put the cheapest tire on for traliers but a tralior tire will last much longer. frank

Post by **tin can** » February 1st, 2006, 10:21 am

Take it to Sirmons Alignment. More than likely your axle is bent. They can determine that for you, and fix it, if necessary.

1427 Tennessee Capital Blvd.
574-3581

Post by **Chalk** » February 1st, 2006, 10:22 am

Might want to have the axle checked....Tincan know someone in Tallahassee that will check it...

Post by **Chalk** » February 1st, 2006, 10:23 am

There you go

Post by **salty_dog** » February 1st, 2006, 10:51 am

Thanks for the info everyone. I gave them a call.

Post by **Frank Bradfield** » February 1st, 2006, 10:55 am

I pull tandem traliers for a living for the past 20 yrs. You could have a bent axle but even if you buy a brand new tralier and start pulling it on the road the front tires will wear out way ahead of the back tires and the back tires will get almost all the nails thrown up by the front tires ! Being your tralier probably doesen't have that much road time on it it might be worth a check anyway ! If it turns out you don't have a bent axle i'd just say normal wear for a tandem tralier, and rotate more often. Also could be on how the weight is balanced on the tralier, boat could be to far forward or back or the running boards could be off a bit, left or right, causing more weight on one side or the other, some other things to check... frank

Post by **Frank Bradfield** » February 1st, 2006, 11:17 am

P.S. --- I do have a trailer which the axle is bent and the back tires are wearing out faster than the front tires. It took a hard lick on the axle. You may can think back if you hit a big pothole or curb which also could give you a clue on the axle idea...

Post by **salty_dog** » February 1st, 2006, 11:45 am

other great things to look at. Thanks

Post by **Sea Dawg** » February 1st, 2006, 11:47 am

OH Frank your guessing again ..I had a majic tilt trailer and the tire wore out on the inside and the promlem was the boat was way too heavy for the axles..It had the wrong weight axle under the trailer for the boat

Post by **Frank Bradfield** » February 1st, 2006, 11:57 am

Welcome Sea Dawg , lots of things to guess at, gotta check em all. Could be but that comes back to weight on the tralior but you could be right !

Post by **Tom Keels** » February 1st, 2006, 11:57 am

Sea Dawg wrote:I had a majic tilt trailer

There's your problem.

Post by **Sir reel** » February 1st, 2006, 12:02 pm

Are the front tires on BOTH sides wearing on the inside, or just one side? If it's one side I'd suspect a bent spindle. If the weight of the boat is more than what the trailer can handle (over a period of time) you may have a bent axle on the front where it's developed a bow which would result in the camber of the two wheels to be thrown off and cause the inside of the tires to contact the road surface more than the outside. If you've hit something, that many times will cause an alignment issue where the tire will "scrub" and run down the road at an angle towards the outside. Have you noticed a "hop" recently when towing?

Using a string line and a couple of clamps with some sort of straight edge clamped to the frame infront of and in back of the wheels would allow you to stretch a string equa distance from the frame parall to the wheels. Then measure from the string to the front and back edge of each wheel. They should be the same. In other words, if the measurement to the front edge of the front wheel is a 1/8 inch less than the measurement to the back edge of the same wheel .... then the wheel is running down the road at an angle pointing out. Here is perhaps an extreeme example but it probably shows better than my description.

Post by **Jumptrout51** » February 1st, 2006, 1:39 pm

All else said and done,don't forget air pressure.Most trailer tires call for about 65 pounds of air. Any less than the pressure rating will cause wear.

Post by **Frank Bradfield** » February 1st, 2006, 3:02 pm

I have one of those majic tilt's on my Sundance, Tom your right, its not hitting on too much !