My buddy has a trailer with 2 8,000 pound rubber torsion axles on it. The left rear tire wears really bad on the inside, but all three other tires also wear some just not as bad. He took it to an alignment shop and they recorded the measurements, but said they could not fix it. Here is what they recorded.
left front +1/4", right front -5/8" toe +3/16"
left rear +1/2", right rear -5/8" toe +7/16"
Does anyone know what the that all means? He thinks the tires have wore bad since he got it in Jan 2005 so that makes us wonder if both axles are not mounted to the frame square. Anything we can check ourselves? He was kinda hoping the alignment shop was gonna do more than just give him numbers and tell him the toe and camber were bad. Thanks
Posted 2006-05-20 7:59 PM (#42028 - in reply to #41898) Subject: RE: Axle Alignment
Expert
Posts: 2689
Originally written by Congress on 2006-05-18 1:13 PM
My buddy has a trailer with 2 8,000 pound rubber torsion axles on it. The left rear tire wears really bad on the inside, but all three other tires also wear some just not as bad. He took it to an alignment shop and they recorded the measurements, but said they could not fix it. Here is what they recorded.
left front +1/4", right front -5/8" toe +3/16"
left rear +1/2", right rear -5/8" toe +7/16"
Does anyone know what the that all means? He thinks the tires have wore bad since he got it in Jan 2005 so that makes us wonder if both axles are not mounted to the frame square. Anything we can check ourselves? He was kinda hoping the alignment shop was gonna do more than just give him numbers and tell him the toe and camber were bad. Thanks
Yes I understand it, but I think it doesn't explain the tire wear.
Posted 2006-05-21 6:08 AM (#42036 - in reply to #41898) Subject: RE: Axle Alignment
Expert
Posts: 2953 Location: North Carolina
I had a similar problem. One tire was wearing poorly. My trailer's left front tire was wearing the outside edge. The alignment shop your buddy took it to wasn't equiped to bend the axles. Fixing the problem will require remounting the axles or bending the axles.
I found a heavy truck alignment shop that was able to correct my problem. I also told the shop to consider that the trailer will only be hauled loaded. If they align the wheels, trailer empty, the alignment will be off, in use. Consider how often you will haul the trailer empty. For me it was rare, since the trailer is either going or returning home with the horses.
Posted 2006-05-21 8:21 PM (#42060 - in reply to #41898) Subject: RE: Axle Alignment
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 309 Location: MO
Have you hit anything?
I had a similar situation. I has a bent torsion bar caused by hitting an underwater boulder when fording a stream. The bent tosion bar trhew the axle out of whack and caused the from trailer tire to wear excessively on the inside. 4 I wound up buying a new axle.
Posted 2006-05-22 8:49 AM (#42078 - in reply to #41898) Subject: RE: Axle Alignment
Veteran
Posts: 104
I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM. ONE TIRE WAS WEARING ON THE INSIDE. I TOOK IT TO AN ALIGNMENT SHOP THAT RESET (BENT) THE TORSION AXLES. I HAVE PUT ON ABOUT 1000 MILES SINCE AND THE TIRES LOOK GOOD SO FAR (KNOCK ON WOOD)
Posted 2006-05-22 8:52 AM (#42079 - in reply to #41898) Subject: RE: Axle Alignment
Elite Veteran
Posts: 798 Location: Tenn/Ala.
My understanding has been that Dexter does not advise nor endorse the bending of a torflex axles since the damage is usually in the swing-arm which isn't accessible to be re-bent anyway (you don't often see a bent housing on a torsion axle). By the way- we don't often bend axles anymore on HD trucks because the trucking and axles company's insurance carriers won't allow it. If it's bent- replace it. Besides, if you cold bend, they seem to eventually go back to where they were anyway.
But with the excessive positive toe readings (tires pointed in to each other if viewed from "above") you show here, it should wear on the outside of the tires.
Is the trailer level when driving? If not, the rear axle will carry too much weight, resulting in an induced negative camber (tires lean in at top) that will cause wear on the inside edges. Do this long enough & it will get permenantly bent into this position.
Posted 2006-05-22 1:11 PM (#42093 - in reply to #41898) Subject: RE: Axle Alignment
Member
Posts: 25 Location: Ohio
Thanks everyone for your input.
I asked him if he'd hit a curb really hard and he says no, plus I didn't see any nicks to the rims or marks on the tires.
Hopefully he might be able to find a shop that will bend them for him cause I doubt he'll be to excited about buying new axles. hehe
If those measurements make it seem like it should wear on the outside what else might be wrong to cause the inside wear? The way he described the alignment shop they seemed pretty fly by night so it's hard to tell if they knew what they were doing. Could it be possible that these axles were bad when they got put on? He thinks they'd been wearing bad from day one. No idea why he waited this long to check things out though.
Axle Alignment
