Inside tire wear problems

winty03

Cadet
Joined
Jun 24, 2012
Messages
18
Recently I have noticed that I having a tire wear issue. What I have is a 22ft premiere pontoon triple toon with Yamaha 150 outboard. It's on a tandem bunk trailer. Bought the boat new in 2013 with the "upgraded" trailer. Boat is empty, boat specs says 2050lbs. Outboard says 480lbs. Trailer says MAX weight 4K. I have the same inside wear on ALL 4 tires. Where do I go to figure this out? Is there a trailer alignment issue? Weight issue? Suspension issue? Weight specs SEEM to be ok, but don't have actual weight off a scale.
 

MH Hawker

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
5,516
it sounds like its alignment


i would take a tape measure and measure from where the ball inserts in the tongue
to the front tires, should be the same with in 1/8 of a inch
 

ahicks

Captain
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Sep 16, 2013
Messages
3,957
My bet is you have torsion tube type axles under your trailer, and wide low profile tires, so the boat rides as low as possible. If so, and you have a few thousand miles on the tires (3-4000?), what you have going on is completely normal. Pop up camper guys have been suffering with the same issue for years....
 

EchoNovember

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 25, 2017
Messages
315
It sounds like alignment to me, but ahicks seems to know more about this than I do. On a car I'd have the alignment checked. I would initially assume the same on a trailer, but it looks like that may be wrong.
 

Starcraft5834

Lieutenant Commander
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Jun 2, 2013
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1,677
trailer wheel alignment? didnt know they were alignable..... i guess bending the spindles back down a few degrees is in order.... only other cause for this is if new axle is installed upside down.... all axles have a pre-set camber...flex....then load goes on it bends straight.... if upside down.. that flex is exaggerated. which can cause inside tire wear.... how do I know this? because I did it...:rolleyes:
 

Rick Stephens

Admiral
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Aug 13, 2013
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6,118
Costs nothing but a little time to check alignment, then you know where you stand.

Jack everything up, so all 4 tires are off the ground. The take a can of light colored spray paint and spin each tire, spray a narrow strip all the way around the middle of the tread on each tire. Take a flat blade screwdriver and a block of wood to hold it against each tire and spin the tire and scratch a fine line in the paint with the narrow edge of the screwdriver all the way around the tire. Repeat on each tire.

Get an assistant and a tape measure. Have the assistant hold the tape fairly high up the front, then the back of each tire and burn one inch. Be accurate and measure width front and back - line to line - front axle tires, then do the back axle tires. The resulting measurements be reasonably close to square for each axle (don't care if the measurements are a little different between front and rear axles. only thing that matters here is the measurement across front and back on one axle at a time). At most you want about an 1/8 inch of toe in, meaning 1/8 inch less across the front of the tires compared to the back of those tires.

Second thing to check is center of spindle to center of spindle, left side and right side. Just hold a tape up to the center of the bearing cap and measure to the other one on the left side, repeat on the right side. These numbers should match pretty much exactly and tell you if the axle mounts were welded square to the frame.

It really doesn't matter to tire wear if the axles are straight to the hitch or not. That measurement is only relevant to whether the trailer is pulling straight behind or a teensy bit crooked. What matters is the tires are straight to each other. Anything off in the mounting or possibly bent axles, causes your tires to scrub the asphalt and wearing off rubber like an pencil erasure. If the toe in or out is excessive you will always have excessive tire wear until you remedy the problem. Measuring the toe in tells you what the reality is so you can choose how to proceed.

The above procedure checks toe in, not camber. Camber is set by how the axles are manufactured (or by damage from overloading or rough use) and is very hard to fix without a hydraulic press and some experience, or by swapping out the axles. Camber is also less important on a trailer as long as it is within reasonable. It is possible your axles were made with a lot of negative camber that is stressing the inside of the tires. If so, you either live with it or most likely change the axles. Swapping axles can be cheaper than changing the camber on them, depending on axle type and capacity, which determines cost to swap versus repair.
 
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ahicks

Captain
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Sep 16, 2013
Messages
3,957
Knowing what type axles (torsion tube vs. conventional springs) our OP has is a big deal towards helping him. There are procedures that work well with conventional sprung axles that aren't worth a handfull of beans when it comes to torsion tube type axles. The torsion tube type spindles are mounted in rubber. If you remove the load from them, the alignment is going to change from what you'll have when loaded.....
 

Starcraft5834

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Messages
1,677
"Swapping axles can be cheaper than changing the camber on them, depending on axle type and capacity, which determines cost to swap versus repair."

as Rick said.... that may be exactly the best solution.............. sometimes axle spindles just get bent............... or age and load take it's toll bouncing down the roadways
 

frobotz

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Mar 8, 2016
Messages
105
Bent axle. Just went thru this on a friends boat.. I took the axle and verified it had a negative bow in it. I cut the axle , put a positive arch back in it. Welded everything up > Now its tracking straight.
 
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