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Old 09-22-2010, 03:29 PM   #11
Wavery
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Originally Posted by brulaz View Post
OK. I'll keep a look out for cat scales where I can just measure one wheel at a time.

I went back and checked the tread wear difference; it's only 1 mm diff in the centre. And measured more accurately the distance difference from axle to frame: 1.5cm. These #'s don't seem too bad after all.

Also checked the axle's relationship to the frame and it seems pretty true, as best I could tell +- 1 cm.

Wayne's remarks sound about right. At least I hope the wear is "normal" after about 15,000 km. I also noticed that a lot poorly maintained highways have some pretty deep ruts on the right side of the right lane which would help explain the edge wear.

So I'll rotate, and probably up the pressure to 65psi on both. That will mean a lot more banging in trailer, but hopefully might extend the tire life.

These Marathons are doing pretty well otherwise.
Weighing side-to-side may give you some good info for load balancing but will not explain the wear that you have. Even if one side were 200# heavier than the other, the wear should still be even across the tread of each tire (if towed on a level surface). However, one tire may be slightly more worn than the other, over a lot of miles.

If you were towing on level surfaces (which no one does) and had that type of wear pattern over the short haul, I would be looking at a "toe-in" condition on the side of the wear. Even then, the other side would show some evidence of outside wear on a single axle trailer because the other side would compensate to off-set the drag or the trailer would go down the highway noticeably crooked and sway may be an issue.

If you had "Cupping", that would tell you that it is an axle or balance issue. However, you stated that the wear is even. That's a "Drag" and/or under-inflation issue.
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Old 09-22-2010, 04:47 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by harveyrv View Post
It is normal for trailer tires to wear more on the curb side of the trailer.

Highways are sloped for water run-off. Trailers mostly tow in the right lane which would leave the right side tire down-hill, taking more weight and more drag (as the TV tries to tow the trailer "up-hill").
Wayne, I'm not sure this is right - is there a source? If I am doing the calculations right, a 2 percent sideslope (about 1 degree, typical* for an Interstate highway) should shift at most a couple pounds from the uphill tire onto the downhill tire. That certainly doesn't account for what the OP is seeing. I think he needs to keep looking.

Or is my math off?

Bill

*Ref: Highway Design Manual, Texas DOT
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Old 09-22-2010, 06:12 PM   #13
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Wayne, I'm not sure this is right - is there a source? If I am doing the calculations right, a 2 percent sideslope (about 1 degree, typical* for an Interstate highway) should shift at most a couple pounds from the uphill tire onto the downhill tire. That certainly doesn't account for what the OP is seeing.

Or is my math off?

Bill

*Ref: Highway Design Manual, Texas DOT
It has nothing to do with weight. It has to do with gravity pulling the trailer to the downhill side of the highway. If one were to look at a single axle trailer from the air as it is being pulled down the highway, one would see that the rear of the trailer is pointing slightly downhill from the rest of the rig (depending on the slope of the road). This will cause the downhill tire to have drag on the outer edge of the tire. This would be especially exaggerated if that tire were not at max air pressure.

Most of us would not notice this because we seldom put 9K miles of cross-country driving on our trailers in a short period of time.

We had a U Haul franchise at the dealership group that I managed (years ago). We used to see this on long-haul rental trailers all the time. We probably replaced right side tires 2 to 1 to left side tires.
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Old 09-22-2010, 06:23 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by harveyrv View Post
This will cause the downhill tire to have drag on the outer edge of the tire.
If that happens, then wouldn't the opposite tire drag on the inside, and thus show more wear there, roughly equal to the wear on the outside of the curb-side tire?

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Old 09-22-2010, 06:58 PM   #15
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If that happens, then wouldn't the opposite tire drag on the inside, and thus show more wear there, roughly equal to the wear on the outside of the curb-side tire?

Dave
If you have ever watched race cars racing on a flat, oval track, you will notice that the outer tire is the one throwing up all the dirt. One could use the same logic.....Why doesn't the inner tire throw up as much dirt? The outer tire is the one that takes the brunt of the force of gravity and centrifugal force. The inner tire is just along for the ride.

The principal is similar on a single axle trailer. The downhill wheel (in this case) is the one that absorbs most (not all) of those forces.

I think that you will also find that highways that are built across the plains and deserts are sloped more drastically than the highways around the cities.
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Old 09-23-2010, 06:41 AM   #16
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Brulaz -

Have you been whipping your TM around a dirt race track on the weekends?? Bad boy! No wonder you have strange tire wear.
-------------------------

Wayne -

I don't mean to be argumentative, but if slanted roadways lead to wear on the right tire, then we would all suffer from this. And I just don't recall a flood of reports - or any, for that matter.

In addition, if slanted roadways cause right side wear, then cars would suffer from it as well. Although they have twice as many tires, they travel 10 times as many miles for most of us. And again, I just don't recall any reports.

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Originally Posted by harveyrv View Post
If you have ever watched race cars racing on a flat, oval track, you will notice that the outer tire is the one throwing up all the dirt. One could use the same logic.....Why doesn't the inner tire throw up as much dirt? The outer tire is the one that takes the brunt of the force of gravity and centrifugal force. The inner tire is just along for the ride.
The oval track story is fun, but not particularly relevant. Race cars on an oval track do indeed wear the outside (right) tires very quickly. But the reason they do is that the cars run around the oval counterclockwise, at high speeds, in a near-constant left turn. The centrifugal force of the near-constant turn makes the car tend to roll to the right. As the weight comes off the inside tires, the stresses are all borne by the outside tires. (And if the driver pushes it too far, the car actually will roll over.)

By contrast, a TM on a straight road does not experience centrifugal force, so there is no tendency to roll in either direction. And on a highway, the turns are very gentle compared to those experienced by a race car on a track. And the turns that it does make are evenly distributed left vs right, so any wear would be balanced between the sides.

Quote:
The principal is similar on a single axle trailer. The downhill wheel (in this case) is the one that absorbs most (not all) of those forces.
Again, it is the roll that wears the outside tires, not the fact that the outside tires are the downhill tires. In fact, on most tracks, the right wheels are the uphill wheels, not downhill - but they still wear excessively.

Quote:
I think that you will also find that highways that are built across the plains and deserts are sloped more drastically than the highways around the cities.
Again, my experience says that this is not true, and the Highway Design Manuals suggest that it is not. Do you have a source for the statement?

In the end, the only reason we care is that the Original Poster (OP) is experiencing a problem, and he needs help identifying the cause. I don't think we can just blow it off as the inevitable effect of slanted pavement.

Bill
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Old 09-23-2010, 07:50 AM   #17
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Brulaz,

A Google search on the net produced this hit at The Hull Truth Boating Forum:

http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-...r-trailer.html

The poster reported the same tire wear on the outside of the curb side tires. The diagnosis was bent axles most likely caused by hitting curbs or potholes.
Repair was to replace the axles.
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Old 09-23-2010, 10:42 AM   #18
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Hmmm Bruce, it does sound like something is wrong, maybe with the camber, on that side. There may be a possibility of something being bent there, since it is on the outside.
I'm with WMTIRE here...
I think you need to have the alignment checked.
Just because it's a new trailer, doesn't mean they can't make blunders when manufacturing the axle.
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Old 09-23-2010, 10:47 AM   #19
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We had a U Haul franchise at the dealership group that I managed (years ago). We used to see this on long-haul rental trailers all the time. We probably replaced right side tires 2 to 1 to left side tires.
Wayne's explanation sounds totally feasible to me, but I'd still want to have the alignment checked, if only for peace of mind.
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Old 09-23-2010, 11:01 AM   #20
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Bill stole my thunder. I was going to joke about high speed cornering and a preference for left turns. Are you guilty of either of these Brulaz?
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