Odd edge wear on tires

[Stealth13777]

About 6500 miles into a cross country trip, and over 11,000 miles total on the unit, I’ve noticed completely normal wear on the tires on the passenger side of the trailer.

However, the driver’s side is showing outside edge wear on the front tire and inside edge wear on the rear tire. It’s pronounced enough on the front tire to be uneven and show signs of cupping on that outside edge.

Of note, 6500 miles ago I installed new springs, wet bolts, and Dexter EZ Flex equalizers. Hadn’t noticed issues prior to install, but also hadn’t noticed much wear period.

Any ideas on a possible cause?? It beats me, other than maybe axle position when I bolted it to the spring - seems that would affect both sides though.

My plan for now is to just rotate tires and see if we can finish the trip on them, but would love to identify why the wear is what it is.

Pics to follow

 

[Stealth13777]

Driver front (worst on outside edge)


Driver rear (worst on inside edge, but not as bad as front)


Both driver side


And for reference both passenger side (look good to me). Can add individual, trying not to clog thread


Happy to provide more pics if it would help. Here’s the axles, which also look, to me, same as they always have:

 

[Hoopy Frood]

When you did the the springs and such, did you do one side at a time, or jack the trailer up by the frame and do both sides at the same time?

 

[Stealth13777]

When you did the the springs and such, did you do one side at a time, or jack the trailer up by the frame and do both sides at the same time?

One side at a time. The suspect side is the side I did first.

 

[traveldawg]

That is very likely an alignment issue. You can't fix it. Things like this take a few thousand miles to show up. I had the same experience. I ended up getting the axel aligned and things got better.

 

[Stealth13777]

Yeah I figured alignment. Wondered if it might have been screwed up by my spring/wet bolt install. @Happy Frood might be onto something with how I did the springs - waiting to hear more!

 

[Hoopy Frood]

Honestly I don't see how you could have screwed anything up. It's pretty simple, especially with only a tandem axle.

But that kind of wear, outside edge, points to bad camber of the axle, IMO anyway. The tire isn't rolling perpendicular to the road, and is scuffing the outside edge of the tire. You didn't, by chance, jack on the axle at some point other than the U-bolt where the springs attach? Ah, you changed the springs, so how did you support the axle when you replaced the springs?

 

[Stealth13777]

Honestly I don't see how you could have screwed anything up. It's pretty simple, especially with only a tandem axle.

But that kind of wear, outside edge, points to bad camber of the axle, IMO anyway. The tire isn't rolling perpendicular to the road, and is scuffing the outside edge of the tire. You didn't, by chance, jack on the axle at some point other than the U-bolt where the springs attach? Ah, you changed the springs, so how did you support the axle when you replaced the springs?

I was hoping to hear tightening the axle with the other side on the ground might tweak it just so haha

So I lifted with a bottle jack under the axle, then supported at the frame with jacks/jack stands, and supported axle by gently letting it down onto a jack stand. However… on this side the trailer started to fall and some extra weight ended up supported by jack stand - wood block - axle … while I rushed to get the jack back under the spring before it completely fell (thankfully springs already installed at this point). It tried to rotate forward and fall - what I get for stacking blocks and then trying to put jack stands on top.

I hoped for no damage, but it certainly could have just tweaked something. It is weird that they are worn on opposite sides though if that’s what did it.

Other than alignment checking it, tire rotation seems like my best option. I have had decent tire life in spite of this

 

[grandaddy]

I had a similar issue with a previous trailer a few years ago. Called the local alignment shop [family owned been in business forever]. they fixed the problem., when I asked how they did it he said they used the same equipment they used to do the ford twin Ibeam front suspension years ago.

 

[traveldawg]

I had a similar issue with a previous trailer a few years ago. Called the local alignment shop [family owned been in business forever]. they fixed the problem., when I asked how they did it he said they used the same equipment they used to do the ford twin Ibeam front suspension years ago.

When I had my axels aligned they heat my axels to bring them into alignment. It was pretty interesting to watch them do it. They got the alignment equipment all set up and as they heated the axel you could watch the monitor screens to see how the alignment changed. Who knew such a small adjustment could make such a large difference. They would heat either the top, bottom or front & back depending on which way they needed the alignment to change.

 

[grandaddy]

When I had my axels aligned they heat my axels to bring them into alignment. It was pretty interesting to watch them do it. They got the alignment equipment all set up and as they heated the axel you could watch the monitor screens to see how the alignment changed. Who knew such a small adjustment could make such a large difference. They would heat either the top, bottom or front & back depending on which way they needed the alignment to change.

That is interesting. Learn something new everyday.