Trailer Tire Issue

[Twobrothersbusa]

Well, I've got maybe 3 thousand miles on the new trailer. (8.5 x 22) When I was chocking the wheels from our last trip I noticed that one of the four tires was extremely worn. Seems like if the axle was out of alignment or tracking wrong the tire on the other side would be just as worn?

I'm not even sure who could diagnose a problem like this. Can an alignment shop check a trailer?

Tires are stamped to be 2014 and pressures are identical on all tires. These are torsion axles if that matters.

Worn tire


The other three look like this

 

[GsxrBots]

Something's definitely not in alignment here if the air pressure checks out normally. On a torsion axle I'd assume each tire could be off independently of each other...

Hopefully you get that sorted!

 

[Twobrothersbusa]

I'm going to call lippert in the am. I was wondering about independent alignment side to side. If the bushings for the right side are skewed then just that one tire would be worn.

 

[FlatlandBusa]

Make sure nothing is broken or worn, then take it to a good trailer alignment shop and they will bend the axles to line up the wheels. After the alignment it should tow better as well.

 

[VIPER]

problem is that tire is worn in the middle not either side. If the alignment was out the sides would be worn on one side or the other. It looks to me like an inflation problem. Here is my thought, Check the bearings on that side that is worn. If the bearing is bad it will heat up a lot and the heat will transfer into the rim and tire making the pressure spike badly. If you check it cold you would never know. The tire worn in the middle like that is usually caused by over inflation.

 

[omslaw]

Sure does appear to be pressure. I had some bad wear on one of my tires, turned out to be under inflated.

 

[GSXcite]

Sure does appear to be pressure. I had some bad wear on one of my tires, turned out to be under inflated.

I agree with Omar. Looks just like the tires I took off my trailer that were low on air pressure.

 

[Kiwi Rider]

I agree with Omar. Looks just like the tires I took off my trailer that were low on air pressure.

General rule is if under inflated the tyre will wear on the sides not the center, over inflated will wear in the center not the sides.
Why? Because over inflation causes the tread to bow outwards and the contact patch becomes smaller and more central.
When under inflated the tyre tread bows inwards and the outer shoulders take the load causing them to wear rapidly.