Trailer tires

[Skoontz]

We have a bunch of trailers. Miller flat deck (low boy type), enclosed Wells Cargo, and some off brand utility trailers.

Seems every one that uses those torsion axle pieces of junk, ( all the spring axle trailers do not get this wear) ends up wearing tires like in these pictures. Now, the people at Dexter (the axel manufacturer) have never seen anything like this....Did I check my air pressure, did I this did I that.... Frankly, I've heard the same lines of dance around the issue from Kawasaki, John Deere, Briggs and Stratton, and Scag power equipment. The internet stops that stuff cold, so, i asking you guys...What do you think is causing this?

The rear axles of all our torsion axle tandem trailers get the same wear, sometimes with less than 10000 miles, they are on local routes

[Mark75H]

I have never seen that pattern on a properly inflated tire, only under inflated. Possibly over loaded for inflation.

[Skoontz]

It darn near looks like a car that is toed in doesn't it Sam?

I'm running 35lbs or air. The total load on the trailer and I'm talking boat trailer are a couple hundred pounds of motors, another hundred pounds of propps, tools, and gear, another 100 pounds of boat and some miscellanious stuff. Max lood on the trailer is 2000 lbs. The only thing on this one i can say can get goofy is the trailer angle. Sometimes, the ball is a couple inches higher than what would make the frame parralel to the road, so te rake would be higher at the tongue.

But then add the tandem trailers, correct load, running 45 lbs of air on different tires....Same wear pattern happens on the rear axles in a very short amount of milage.

[Mark75H]

No, it doesn't look like a toe problem. Toe wears only on one side. I see symmetrical wear, typical of over loading or under inflating. Are you certain the tires are really rated for the weight they are carrying?

[Roy Hodges]

You said it's LOCAL use . i think that means a lot of sharp turns that a highway rig would not necessarily get.Dual axles SKID tires in turns . That may be (or maybe not ) yer problemo ! ?

[Skoontz]

The boat trailer is going 200 miles plus for every race, and short run for practice. The bigger trailers are local, and do turn more. But, the same goes for the trailers suspended by springs. The spring trailers back wheels have flat even wear across them just as you expect when tight turns are made. The rear of the torsion axle trailers look just like the ones on this single axle rig.

I can see what Sam is saying, if the pressure was low, the edges would wear and the centers would wear less, kind of like here....But, that does not explain the cupping and the almost saw cut appearance of the rubber treads.

And why is this occuring with the torsion suspension and not the spring suspension?

I tried to theorize this to the people at Dexter in suggestiing that when the wheels hit bumps, they are not flexing in a straight line and comming back immediately to where they are supposed to be riding...The people at Dexter said no way. One guy even suggested the trailer brakes were bad....One problem with that...No brakes on the single axle trailer....