Weird tire wear

[rogerwa]

I have an 87 EZ-Loader single axle trailer. the problem is that the inner two treads on both tires are just about worn off, while the rest of the tires are just fine.<br /><br />The trailer has leaf springs and surge brakes. What kind of adjustments are available to correct this problem??

 

[NOSLEEP]

Re: Weird tire wear

If your boat is not to heavy for the trailer, and<br />your tires are properly inflated. You may have<br />an axle out of align "dog tracking" slightly.<br />You can correct it yourself.

 

[SlowlySinking]

Re: Weird tire wear

rogerwa, good comment from NOSLEEP, two other possibilities are tires and rims that aren't matched, for example, if you use a rim designed for a 6 inch tire but use a 5 inch tire the center of the tread will be bulged out and take most of the wear, or maybe the tires are overinflated which does the same thing, push the center treads out farther than the side treads.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Weird tire wear

Or a bent or bowed Axle....

 

[Cobotr]

Re: Weird tire wear

The axle is either overweighted or bent. The axles are pre-arced with positive camber (tops of the tires further apart than the bottoms). When the axles get loaded with a boat of proper weight, the axles arc (flex) to a near zero camber state. <br /><br />If the trailer is overloaded, the axle over-arcs to a negative camber thus creating that wear pattern you talk about. The tops of the tires are closer together than the bottoms, thus wearing the inside of each tire.<br /><br />Take the trailer to a good axle shop. They can determine the proper axle for the weight of the load. If the proper axle is already on the trailer, they will re-arc and align the axle. If you know the axle is the proper axle for the trailer and it's weight, you can save a few bucks by removing the axle yourself and take it to them. Just make sure that you mark the front of the axle so that they know what direction the axle mounts. Should cost less than $100. Which is cheaper than tires.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Weird tire wear

Thanks for the comments. The trailer is matched to the boat, as it was a package so I don't think overweight is a problem. When looking at it from behind, it seems as if the tops of the tires are bowed inward, which would support the axle arc comments.<br /><br />Is this rearcing a common procedure? Also, I've never heard of a Axle shop. Would an RV repair place do this kind of thing??

 

[Cobotr]

Re: Weird tire wear

Re-arcing and alignment is pretty common. Check your yellow pages under "trailer repair". If you call one and they don't have the equipment, just ask them who does.