Excessive camber on trailer tires

[skyking897]

Since my buddy's truck was in the shop for a couple of days, I towed his boat to his winter storage yesterday. Did my usual walk around, kick the tires, check the lights, transom tie downs, double check the coupler is locked, etc. Couple of blocks down the street, I notice in my side mirror the left tire is REALLY tipped in at the top. Couldn't see the right one because of the location of the spare tire. Figured something was wrong so I pulled over, expecting to find the wheel bearings gone but all was ok and the wheel was tight. He says he never reallly noticed that before. Now I'm looking at everything and see the axle has quite a bow to it, but it's bowed down not up as I'm used to seeing. Is it possible his axle is installed upside down? He had new springs put in a few years ago. BTW, the wheels being tipped in at the top is not really noticable when looking at the wheels or standing behind the trailer but is pretty scary looking when towing it.

 

[Bifflefan]

Re: Excessive camber on trailer tires

It may be possible to install it upside down.
Also it may be that the alxe is toe'd out a bit causing the bottom of the tire to pull outwards when towing it.
If you back up a bit does it seem to go away or no? If yes its toe'd out.
Also I could be that the axle has been over loaded, or is holding its limit of weight for many years and is getting weak.

I have a friend with a single axle trailer that carries a boat that is right at the max limit of the trailer. He will have problems in the future.

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Excessive camber on trailer tires

Use a hand held mirror and look at the axle between the u-bolts opposite side of springs.
If axle is up side down you should see evidence of the springs having been on that side previously.
However, most axles have a single 3/8" or so hole in the axle that the spring pack center bolt head goes into to locate the axle properly.
Would be real ackward to install an axle upside down over a spring pack center bolt head.

 

[dlngr]

Re: Excessive camber on trailer tires

I have a mirror on the passenger side of my Mack that makes every vehicle coming up behind me look like the L.F. wheel is tucked way in at the top.
When the car behind gets to a certain distance,or to a certain area of my mirror,the wheels look fine.
Set a level against the outside of his trailer wheels,see how bad they are actually tipped in.

 

['96 Charger]

Re: Excessive camber on trailer tires

Any sign of diagonal wipe or wear on the edges of the tires?

 

[cribber]

Re: Excessive camber on trailer tires

I'd use a plumb line to see if the tire truly has excessive negative camber. Also if the axle is bowed downward I'd suspect it has been overloaded. Pics would go a long way in helping to determine if there is an issue.

 

[skyking897]

Re: Excessive camber on trailer tires

Thanks to all for your input. As I said, it's my buddy's trailer and as far as he knows its been that way since he bought the boat and trailer 4 years ago. I did convince him to put a level against the side of the tires and see how much they are tipped in... almost 1.5". The way the fenders are mounted you don't really notice it when it's just sitting there. But guess what, after some interogation (read as several beers) he says when he had the new springs put in he had the axle flipped (from under the spings to on top) to lower the boat for easier loading and when I looked again there is only a spring perch on one side of the axle so they had to roll it when the moved it. Mystery solved.