Rear tires wearing on the inside
david
Reg. Apr 2004
Posted 2005-07-26 2:04 PM (#28582)
Subject: Rear tires wearing on the inside


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Location: va
I have a 3 horse gooseneck and I noticed just the inside 1 1/2 inches of the tire is wearing. And this is only on the back axle. I have to run my trailer on a slight incline because of clearence with the goose neck and bed. Could this be the reason for the wear? Or might it be a bent axle? Thanks david
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Reg
Reg. Oct 2003
Posted 2005-07-26 8:54 PM (#28590 - in reply to #28582)
Subject: RE: Rear tires wearing on the inside


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Originally written by david on 2005-07-26 2:04 PM

I have a 3 horse gooseneck and I noticed just the inside 1 1/2 inches of the tire is wearing. And this is only on the back axle. I have to run my trailer on a slight incline because of clearence with the goose neck and bed. Could this be the reason for the wear? Or might it be a bent axle? Thanks david


Yes and
Yes.

It is also likely that your rear tires are running quite a bit hotter than the front ones. Check them about 10 or 15 miles into a journey and if they're noticeably warmer the front ones you have correctly diagnosed the problem. Your axle may not be permanently BENT, but it is very likely FLEXED in a downsweep.

This also helps diagnose wheel and tire alignment problems:
Find a toy store and buy a dollar's worth of playground chalk, the stuff for drawing hop-scotch on the driveway. Shade a strip across your tire about 4 inches wide, try to get the shading fairly even, do one of the front tires as well for comparison. Drive about 1/2 a mile, check the "wear pattern". If it is normal with the trailer unloaded then the axle is just a bit overloaded and springs back - this is still bad if the tires are getting hot.
I think your REAL problem is going to be the attitude(tilt, angle) of the trailer. How much clearance do you have over the tailgate and sides ?
Could you get by with a couple of inches less ?


Edited by Reg 2005-07-26 8:57 PM
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