Bearing issues or axle issue

[Bowhutn]

We purchased a brand new 2021 Fifth Wheel Reflection 29RS in November of 2020 and put it under cover for the NH winter. Our plans were to leave NH for the 2021 winter and spend it at our sons house in California, so in October 2021 we finally left on our trip. At this point our fifth wheel had not been out since we purchased it. We put a total of 8534 miles on our trip there and back, arriving back in NH at the end of April 2022. When I was treating my slide seals again I noticed extreme wear on the inside edge of both rear axle tires. The forward axle and tires have very minimal wear and would easily get us to Ca and back to NH this coming year as well, but the rear axle tires will not. It looks like a negative camber on the rear tires but not sure. I have included pictures of just the right side front and rear tires for comparison as the left side wore exactly the same. Our rig has a GVWR of 11495 and UVM of 8934 and fully loaded our weight was less than 9700 (this included 20 gal water [166 lbs] and 120 lbs of propane), so I know it is not a weight issue. Everything I researched says it is a bad axle but when I brought it back to the dealership service dept on the 27th of June his first impression was bad wheel bearings. They are currently looking at the problem but my question is this. How can both the left and right, rear axle only, wheel bearings be bad if this was brand new and only now has less than 8600 miles on it? Can bad wheel bearings wear the tires out exactly the same way? GD recommends repacking wheel bearings every 12000 miles yet we only have 8534 miles on it. The service dept says that the 8534 miles we have on it is alot and that the bearings probably needed to be repacked (not what GD says). Why would bearings need to be repacked before we even used it? I could see having them repacked before we headed out again but they should not have failed before i hit 9000 miles. Of course the 1 year warrantly is up, but we did purchase a Complete RV Service Agreement but we are not sure what is going to be covered. Has anyone experienced this same issue and what was the result? Thank you for your time. Regards

[Hoopy Frood]

My feeling is the axle camber is the issue. As you suggested, it's unlikely that both bearings have loosened up enough to cause the wear. That being said, it isn't unheard of bearings to be set incorrectly from the factory, or have insufficient lube and fail.

IMO the best thing to do is inspect bearings on new, or new-to-you trailers, to make sure they have sufficient lube and the clearance is set correctly.

[huntindog]

My vote is for an axle camber issue.
As for the factory bearing workmanship, I did not touch mine. It was towed over 2000 miles to my dealer, so I figured they had to be done right.I have put another 6000 on them and all is well.... I think when I look at them, I will be switching to oil bath hubs.

[traveldawg]

Another vote for a rig that is badly in need of an axel alignment. Whether camber, castor, toe in or out - it's all just a guess. Dual axel mis-alignments cause strange wear patterns.

On my rig the rear wheels were wearing on only one edge (I forget if it was the inner or outer). It ended up that the alignment shop made more adjustments to the front axel than the rear. They explained that one never exactly knows what is wrong as wear is strange on multi-axels trailers.

Take you rig to a good alignment shop. New bearings will be a waste of time and money.

Personally I don't think are many dealers qualified to diagnose, let alone correct, bad tire wear. Just my opinion.

[huntindog]

Another vote for a rig that is badly in need of an axel alignment. Whether camber, castor, toe in or out - it's all just a guess. Dual axel mis-alignments cause strange wear patterns.

On my rig the rear wheels were wearing on only one edge (I forget if it was the inner or outer). It ended up that the alignment shop made more adjustments to the front axel than the rear. They explained that one never exactly knows what is wrong as wear is strange on multi-axels trailers.

Take you rig to a good alignment shop. New bearings will be a waste of time and money.

Personally I don't think are many dealers qualified to diagnose, let alone correct, bad tire wear. Just my opinion.

There are NO alignment adjustments on trailers like there is for autos.
When the hangers are welded on the frame, the alignment is set. If it was done properly. If it later becomes an issue, then the axle bent. In any case one should fix the real issue. If the axle got bent,and nothing was hit, then upgrade is in order. If the hangers are not installed correctly, then that issue needs to be fixed. Yes the axles can be custom bent to compensate for incorrectly installed hangers BUT if one goes this route and later the axle becomes damaged, then a new axle would be needed, AND another visit to the alignment shop. If the hangers are installed right, simply bolt on another axle and continue on your trip.

[jm_bc_]

My vote would also be that it is an axle issue. We had severe inner edge tire wear on the rear axle of our rig last year, and it turned out our rear axle was bent. New, heavier-rated axles installed this winter, and tire wear issues have been solved. As others have noted, there is no alignment possible on trailer axles. Good luck!

[huntr70]

Take a long straight edge and hold it on the rear axle (the one where the tires are worn).

The axle should be higher in the middle than it is at the wheels.

The axle may have gotten bent somewhere along the line. If the axle tube is flat or lower in the middle, that would explain why your tires are wearing on the inside.

[Soundsailor]

Hey @Bowhutn, looks like you're new here, welcome to the forum. Looks like you've got plenty of good advice on your axels, so I'll skip that (don't know much about that anyway). But I see you're a fellow New Hampshirite so I just wanted to welcome you aboard.

[Bowhutn]

Thanks for all your thoughts on this matter. Seems like my thoughts were in the right direction. Going to see how the dealership handles it. If they think its bearings and replace them then we will leave on our trip again in Oct and see what 8000 miles does this time, if its the same issue then dealerships service area will have to replace them again, but this time there cost. Thanks again

[Bowhutn]

Thanks for the welcome aboard message