Posted 2005-07-26 2:04 PM (#28582) Subject: Rear tires wearing on the inside
Regular
Posts: 56 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
Posted 2005-07-26 8:54 PM (#28590 - in reply to #28582) Subject: RE: Rear tires wearing on the inside
Expert
Posts: 2689
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 ?
Rear tires wearing on the inside
