Uneven Tire Wear

[elf62]

I have a 2009 Four Winns H200 with Four Winns Trailer Model DO200VS-G09 with Carlisle Tires. I just got the boat this spring and have put about 1000 miles on the trailer. Since the original owner only put 12 hours on the boat, I assume he put less than 1000 miles on the trailer. Even with this low mileage, the inside of both tires have excessive tread wear (almost bald) but the tread on the outside of the tires looks like new (which you would expect for such tires with 2000 miles on them).

Any ideas on what could be causing the problem (misalingment, bent axle, bent spindles, bad springs)? How much do these cost to fix?

 

[dirtdog38]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

out of alingment fo sure is 2 or 4 wheel could be any ofthe above but dout if its the springs. get a tape and mesure the front of tires than the back and see where the toe is at

 

[JB]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

Bent axle.

 

[Mi duckdown]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

Or the boat is to heavy for that trailer specs

 

[elf62]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

Seems unlikely that the boat would be too heavy for the trailer as they were bought together from the same manufacturer.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

Few boat manufacturers actually make the trailers that are sold with their boats. Trailers are typically matched to boats by the dealer and the dealer will package a trailer that is very close to its maximum load leaving little margin. When the owner adds his/her stuff the trailer can be maxed out or even overloaded. Excessive tire wear on the inside of the tread suggests overloading, uinderinflation, alignment or bent axles in the order of probability.

 

[G-Daddy]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

Could also be the difference between radials and bias ply tires. When we bought our Sportcraft 252 last July the bias ply tires on the Loadmaster trailer were showing the same kind of wear described by the OP. I replaced them with radial tires and we now have about 3500 miles on the radials with no signs of wear.

 

[whiting-5]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

i will give my 2cents, first off how much does the boat weigh plus all your gear,filled with fuel ice chest etc...then add the weight of the trailer.most of the trailers ive worked on have a 3500# axle set up. figure if your over or under.then look at your tires and see what the weight rating is on them rv mnfgs are famous for putting less tire on the trailers then what the axle is rated for guess they save a few bucks.ive seen some pretty sorry radils on trailers that will get funky wear but if you have wear on both ties on inside thats gonna be a camber problem.and there are no adjustments for that.i would jack the trailer up so no weight on axle then pull tires and measure from the back of hub to back of hub on other side top and bottom see what you get least then you will no if its bent..

 

[krakatoa]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

Bent or weak axle, do you know the size of the spindles? the axle is a round or square tube?

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

That boat isn't that heavy. Unless it's been towed through the Baja 1000 at 90 mph, I'd doubt a bent axle. I'm thinking what the OP is seeing is common bias ply edge wear. A quailty radial trailer tire won't do that.

 

[elf62]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

Boat weight is 3000 LB, trailer is another 1000 LB. Another few hundred LB of gear. Tires are Carlisle Radial Tires. I will have to check on the rest of the requested info when I pull it out of storage Friday.

 

['78 Crusader]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

I have a tandem trailer with 9 month old bias ply tires on it and I'm experiencing uneven tire wear on the insides of all four tires too......from what dockwrecker says above, it's wearing because of the crappy tires I have.

Appreciate the clarification....once these tires wear out, I'm putting radials on.

 

[whiting-5]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

maybe i missed it but is it a single or tandem axle?

 

[whiting-5]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

because the numbers your giving 4300 pounds if its a single id bet money its got a 3500 pound axle max.800 pounds over would wear tires for sure.and manfgs. rarley match spring weight to axle weight they usaully under the axle weight to save few buck by using cheaper spring.

 

[whiting-5]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

hey 78 crusader what kinda bias u running ? ive seen nothing but good on a true trailer bias ply tire the new bias technolgy on trailer tires rocks just wondering what you got

 

[elf62]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

It turned out to be a bent axle. The axle was rectangular with spindles welded to it. According to trailer place where I got a new axle rebuilt, the load rating was fine but the only issue may have been that the spindles were welded to the end of the rectangular axle because they were too large to be inserted into the axle. Not sure how the axle got bent. Only thing I can think of is speed bumps at campground I went to on Memorial Day weekend but I did not hit them going fast. Maybe first owner hit something as I am the second owner. Anyway, thanks to all for your advice.

 

[whiting-5]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

cool deal sounds like your all set to go...happy boating

 

['78 Crusader]

Re: Uneven Tire Wear

hey 78 crusader what kinda bias u running ? ive seen nothing but good on a true trailer bias ply tire the new bias technolgy on trailer tires rocks just wondering what you got

Not sure, I bought them from eBay. The tires were manufactured in '08 and I put them on in November '10. I just came back from a long trip and they are all worn out on the insides of the tires. The previous tires were only removed because they were dry rotted but they didn't wear like these tires are wearing.....

Chinese junk tires.....I'm going to put radials on next time.