Excessive wear on one tire

[FlyStar]

I have 19,000 miles on my 2 1/2 year old OEM GYE tires. The inside edge of the passenger side rear axle tire is worn down to the wear bars. The other three are wearing evenly and have maybe 1/8” tread depth above the wear bars. All 4 tires are quite badly “checked” down in the tread grooves but the sidewalls are all good.

I am here at a RV resort in California on a concrete pad. And I have the jack and jack stands in the truck. I also have a spare wheel bearing kit and the tools to install it if needed. I have 3000 miles to tow to get home which will happen in March or April.

Repair work on RV’s is not permitted per the written rules here. Not even allowed to wash it.

It would be a big hassle to break camp and tow to a tire place and then come back and set up again. Plus, I don’t trust them with their fast floor
Jacks and pneumatic tools. Plus, I would be in the middle of their work telling them to use hand tools and interrupting them to check the bearing “feel”.

Plan is to retract the slides, Jack her up, check for excessive bearing play on the tire that is edge wearing. I expect the bearings to be fine as I packed them myself last spring. Then pull the two wheels off, take em to
The tire shop, get new tires mounted and put em back on. The repeat on other side. Should be a fast clean and quiet job and hopefully not noticed by the RV resort rule police.

If I do encounter a bearing issue I’ll just have to fix it right here at camp. Not ideal but, well …

Other option is to just replace the tire with excessive wear only. Easier, cheaper, faster, but not sure about one new tire only. What is the forum wisdom on my situation?

My spare is a new Westlake. Any advice on how to use that in this situation. Leaning toward just leaving it alone.

If the bearings are good, I plan to just keep an eye on the wheel that is edge wearing and if I have to sacrifice the tire to get home where I could have spindle and axle checked at a real trailer shop.

[trailrydr]

If you feel that the tire in question is not going to make the trip, I would replace it with your spare to get it home where you can do a deeper dive into the problem. Being that it is a CG where folks with trailers can discover road worthy issues, one would think any CG would make exceptions for that. Or it could always be one of those "go ahead and do it, and ask for forgiveness later" deals.

Another possibility would be to tow to a accessible parking lot on the way out of town and change out the tire there before hitting the road.

[traveldawg]

Consider swapping it to another position for the trip home. It's likely the swapped tire will get some wear but maybe not.

Then go to a trailer alignment shop and have a proper check done. Most likely at least one wheel (the worn one) is out of alignment. I suppose when you jack it up you can check for bearing play, but if none there then alignment is the best thing. Been there - done that....

[FlyStar]

Thank you for the suggestions. I like the idea of just swapping front to rear. The thing I’m not sure about is the “checking” of the rubber down in the tread grooves of all 4 tires. Question is, is this normal, or is it a signal to replace? When I get a chance I’ll post a pic of the checking.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Thank you for the suggestions. I like the idea of just swapping front to rear. The thing I’m not sure about is the “checking” of the rubber down in the tread grooves of all 4 tires. Question is, is this normal, or is it a signal to replace? When I get a chance I’ll post a pic of the checking.

Swap front to rear. Perhaps consider replacing the worn tire with the westlake for the trip home. You most likley have a bent spindle imo.
Sooooo..One early morning, jack up the offending tire and give it a wiggle to check the bearings. If they seem s fine its the spindle...swap tires and drive home at the desired time. If you have a bearing issue...Gather all the needed parts, tools etc...and do the repair a couple days before you want to leave. So if they give you the boot for doing maintenance work....no biggie...you were getting ready to leave anyway. Just don't talk about your bad bearings in the few months before you do the job.

[ajg617]

Personally, I would talk to the management there and share your concern that you detected an unsafe condition and want to swap tires before you leave. Over the years, I've found that using words like "unsafe" (and IMHO, you are) can lead to a reappraisal decision in your favor to bend the rules a bit but I always ask it in a question format so that the party on the other end clearly understands I am placing my safety on their decision. Worth a try and would take the stress off of you. Such words imply potential legal connotations which most folks and businesses want to avoid.

[Always Learning]

I have 19,000 miles on my 2 1/2 year old OEM GYE tires. The inside edge of the passenger side rear axle tire is worn down to the wear bars. The other three are wearing evenly and have maybe 1/8” tread depth above the wear bars. All 4 tires are quite badly “checked” down in the tread grooves but the sidewalls are all good
.

At 19,000 miles your tires are probably looking pretty beat up. Get yourself a tread depth gauge and measure how much tread you have on the tires. GYE tread starts at 8/32” and wear bars should be 2/32”. I had the cracking in the tread on my last set of GYE and was one of the reasons I replaced the tires. You said you hav a 3,000 mile trip home. This sounds like a good time to replace all your tires. New tires are so nice and reduce the chance of having problems while on the road. If you want to replace only the worn tire you probably want to also replace the other tire on that axel.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

The cracks between the tread blocks means it's time to buy a new set of boots.

[SolarPoweredRV]

I have 19,000 miles on my 2 1/2 year old OEM GYE tires. The inside edge of the passenger side rear axle tire is worn down to the wear bars. The other three are wearing evenly and have maybe 1/8” tread depth above the wear bars. All 4 tires are quite badly “checked” down in the tread grooves but the sidewalls are all good.

I am here at a RV resort in California on a concrete pad. And I have the jack and jack stands in the truck. I also have a spare wheel bearing kit and the tools to install it if needed. I have 3000 miles to tow to get home which will happen in March or April.

Repair work on RV’s is not permitted per the written rules here. Not even allowed to wash it.

It would be a big hassle to break camp and tow to a tire place and then come back and set up again. Plus, I don’t trust them with their fast floor
Jacks and pneumatic tools. Plus, I would be in the middle of their work telling them to use hand tools and interrupting them to check the bearing “feel”.

Plan is to retract the slides, Jack her up, check for excessive bearing play on the tire that is edge wearing. I expect the bearings to be fine as I packed them myself last spring. Then pull the two wheels off, take em to
The tire shop, get new tires mounted and put em back on. The repeat on other side. Should be a fast clean and quiet job and hopefully not noticed by the RV resort rule police.

If I do encounter a bearing issue I’ll just have to fix it right here at camp. Not ideal but, well …

Other option is to just replace the tire with excessive wear only. Easier, cheaper, faster, but not sure about one new tire only. What is the forum wisdom on my situation?

My spare is a new Westlake. Any advice on how to use that in this situation. Leaning toward just leaving it alone.

If the bearings are good, I plan to just keep an eye on the wheel that is edge wearing and if I have to sacrifice the tire to get home where I could have spindle and axle checked at a real trailer shop.

Due to the mileage and cracking you have found in your current tires. I would buy 4 new tires and mount the Westlake spare on the camper for the ride home. Then after you get the spindle/axle fixed mount the 4th new tire on the coach and replace the Westlake with a new tire to match the new tires.

PS: I would keep a close eye on all the tires on the trip home because, the tire wear could easily accelerate during your travels.

Good Luck!

[FlyStar]

Thanks everyone. Your advice has been a great help. I’ve decided to replace all 4 tires. And I’m going to do it here quickly and quietly, 2 at a time using a shop just 3 miles from here. I don’t think anyone will even notice my slight bending of the rules. I’ll do the work after the holidays. And, as recommended, keep an eye on wear on the way home. I can press the Westlake spare into service if I ruin the new tire before I get home. Then, once home I can pursue the bent spindle/axle repair.

I’ll report here regarding the bearings when I get her up in the air.