Re: Tire wear on trailer
I've seen many boat axles manufactured with a downward bow myself, just for keel clearance as you stated. <br /><br />I presume we're talking about the boat/trailer combo in your avatar pic? If yes, it looks to me that you may be a bit overweight for that trailer. Need to verify this before you assume a bent axle. If you can't find a weight capacity decal/plate on the trailer, inspect every inch of the axle itself...many axle manufacturers will rivet a spec plate directly to the axle with some weight and/or model numbers. But in your avatar pic I can see what just might be the capacity plate for the trailer? What's that light rectangular spot facing the keel just behind your spare tire? And if you find capacity info, it is useless if you haven't physically weighed the boat yourself...don't rely on any published dry weights to estimate this.<br /><br />Also, I'm not sure exactly what you measured, but toe is pretty easy to check. Measure distance between the front edge of both wheel rims. Now measure distance between the rear edge of both wheel rims. Should be the same. That same method doesn't work so good when measuring for camber (tops of wheels tipped in) due to keel interference, but you can check the same with a bubble level against the tires (parked on level ground obviously) to see if the tops of your wheels are tipped in while the boat is on the trailer. Now check bubble level again with boat OFF the trailer and see if the camber relaxes when the load is relieved. That'll tell you if you may have excessive axle flex under weight that is tipping your tires in.<br /><br />About 20 years ago I recall Dad having the same tire-eating problem with a boat trailer of his...premature wear on the inner tire treads. He used to load the boat with huge amounts of luggage, food, and gear as an extension of the trunk of his car for family camping/fishing vacations.<br /><br />After the last of the kids moved out of the house and it was just Mom & Dad travelling with the boat, there was no more need to load the boat with gear since the back seat was suddenly available! And just like magic, his tires completely stopped the uneven wear problem. That was no coincidence...I believe he's now within his acceptable trailer capacity weight without having all the crap in the boat.
