possibly replacing axle

We had a blowout this last weekend. We were not on the road 20 min. prior. It was a freshly paved road and we were driving about 55mph. We had no water on board, just clothes and what was left of our food from the trip (only 3 days and 2 people) so we were traveling light. It was the passenger side tire. When we removed the tire, we saw a pattern of wear around the outside in fist size sections that were worn smooth but the tread going down the center was good. Upon inspecting the remaining tire, we saw the same type of wear. We have only owned this used trailer for a couple of months and the tires were supposed to be relatively new. I did not notice any unusual wear when we purchased it . We have towed it under 1000 miles total.
In trying to replace the tires, it has been suggested that this could be an axle issue.
Has anyone experienced anything like this?
Cheri

[B_and_D]

http://www.swtire.com/ptiretips.html

Does the wear look like any of these?

http://www.shorelandr.com/pages/o_tirewear.html

Are the brakes locking up and causing the wheels to skid?

It seems odd that you are experiencing this problem after you had the trailer, but the previous owners did not.

There are numbers on the inside of the tire that indicate the date of manufacture, I'd check them to see how old they are. We had a blowout running on tires that were over 5 years old. They looked brand new, but they were the original tires. When we had the blowout we replaced both tires on the trailer (the dealer only had 2) and then later replaced the spare.

I asked for the receipts but have not heard back. I was told they had a lot of stuff done in aug 04 but the info was kind of vague. Honestly, Im not entirely sure from the response I've gotten if they bought the tires at that time. Big O has them now. Maybe I will ask them to check out the age for me. We did, however order 2 new tires. A couple of those pics looked kind of like our problem. I will show them to my husband and get his take on it.
Cheri

No brakes locking up. And I can't say for sure if this was a problem for them. They only owned it for a year. It doesn't handle weird or sway around. We have WDH set on the 6th link and everything looks level. I know if you set that up wrong you can put undo strain on the axle.
Cheri

I just spoke to the tire guy. The tires were produced in 2003. So that is not the issue. He thinks the trailer is not square and that the tires are essentially being dragged on the road. He is only going by the tire wear. He has not seen the trailer.
How do you fix something like that?

Cheri

Cheri

If that is the case, a good trailer alignment shop can measure and adjust it. The TM alignment is adjusted at the factory and the axle is then welded and bolted to keep the position. It can also be done at the factory if that is convenient.

FYI... if you plan to do the lilft on the TM, this weld has to be ground off.

I hope a non TM shop can do the job. Tennessee is a bit far from No. CA.
Cheri

If the axle to chassis/alignment is fixed (welded and bolted) I would have thought an out of square condition would be unlikely to occur without some obvious other sign of damage or difficulty towing, but then I'm not an expert.
Perhaps underinflation coupled with wheels being out of balance might explain both the OK center tread and the patchy outside tread wear. I drove next to a car on the highway just yesterday at about 60-65mph - a back wheel was obviously badly out of balance and was bouncing up and down like jackhammer.
If you could get someone to drive next to the TM while you're towing it at various speeds (esp. highway speeds) they could see what the wheels are doing and sounding like and you might get more clues.
Were the tires up to recommended pressure (e.g.50psi)?
Paul




Paul

Not sure about the tire pressure. Will be more certain in the future though.
Cheri

[Harry Womack]

The wear pattern sounds like the tire is separating. I had a tire separate and it wore thru in a fist size spot. It looked like the tire had locked up and wore thru. As the tire comes apart the high spots wear off until it blows outs.