Tire Wear

[jltcym]

I have a Lund 1700 Fisherman on a Wesco trailer rated for 3500 lb. Both tires are showing excessive wear on the outer edge after only about 2000 miles. I've heard that the boat maybe too light for the trailer. The boat and all equipment weighs about 2200 lb. Can anyone offer any help with this? Thanks

 

[araiha]

Re: Tire Wear

Sounds like you probably have enough weight to be ok. You want to be somewhat under the max. Look closely at the inside edge of the tires. If they are showing wear as well you may be low on pressure (too high and you would have center wear). Another possibility is a bent axle. You might also check that the axle is square under the trailer. Measure from the back to the mounting brackets. Particularly if the railer is pretty new, bolts are not tight and things shift around.

 

[petryshyn]

Re: Tire Wear

jltcym<br /><br />If in fact you do have wear on only the outside of the thread, the camber alignment is in question. Since the axle has a tendency to bow under weight, manufacturers build in a positive camber alignment into the axle (they bend it so it leans out at the top). Theoretically, the axle will straighten under the weight of the boat, giving you a zero camber alignment (straight up and down). It could be that there is too much compensation for the weight of your boat. I'd check all of Alaskaskiff suggestions, and if everything is OK and you actually do have wear on the outside only, I'd take it to your local alignment shop and have them check the alignment with the boat on. They should be able to bend the axle into alignment at this point....<br /><br />Good luck!

 

[jltcym]

Re: Tire Wear

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions. I removed the axle and took it to the manufacturer (only 80 miles away) and it in fact had too much camber. Some other information is that they (Wesco) say that the camber is sometimes accomplished at the spindles and the axle is not bent. This is the way it was on my trailer. So they bent the axle in the opposite direction to compensate for the spindles. It all made sense to me and they said if it didn't work they would give me another axle. Again thanks for you help.