Bad tire wear...help

[Dropnaduece]

So I have been doing some winter camping and it has been so fun. I decide to book a few more weekends at a ski resort near me. So I have been wrapping all my pipes, ensuring good heat blowing on my tanks, and filling gaps under the main bed and lower bunk to keep the cold out. When under my trailer I noticed the inside wall of my rear driver side tire BALD! I have only had this trailer just under 2 years now.

So I evaluated the others tires and nothing the other 3 look new. It’s just the rear driver side tire. I thought first it could be an axle or some adjustment needed. Then it occurred to me 90% of the time when I back into a campsite I will back in by cutting the trailer towards the drivers side and every time I park at home I have to nearly jackknife it into my driveway in the same direction. A while back I noticed black tire marks on my concrete driveway but never crossed my mind that the tire is nearly gone now.

Have others had this problem?

Am right about the backing up the trailer cause I can hear the tires grinding on the concrete?

Do people rotate tires like a car in a trailer?

Are the tires just crap and if I had better ones this would t happen?

Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! I have attached 2 pictures of one good tire and the one and only bald tire. Thanks

[Ela1948]

How many miles have you towed in the last two years?? If not many miles were driven, it’s a good chance you have a bent axle. I had a similar issue on our fifth wheel. We had the axle replaced under warranty. There will be minor variations in tire ware due to fact that two axles are in close proximity to each other. What you are showing wouldn’t be a defective tire issue. A trip to a qualified trailer repair shop might be in order.

[NY Buckeyes]

I had exactly the same issue (same tire and all) on our 2015 26BHS with less than 5k miles. Went to a local alignment shop and discovered a bent axle. They bent the axle back and I had them put on 4 new Goodyear Endurance tires. So far all looks good but that's only after 1.5k miles.

[DonaandDon]

When backing on concrete slabs, conducting a hard turn on a hot summer day, I have scraped the tire. I don't think there's a way around that, and of course when a pattern is established it will continue to the threads.

[Dropnaduece]

I have about 2800-3000 miles on the trailer. It still under the 2 year warranty till April, so it looks like I will be calling the service department. I just hate to have to deal with taking it in and not seeing the trailer for weeks if not months.

Thanks for replies. Since it does have an even wear around the entire tire it must be some sort of axle problem.

Happy New Year!!

[Dropnaduece]

I called the service department and I will be dropping my trailer off for evaluation and repair this weekend. They said I most likely have a bent axle so I don’t have the camber I need to keep the tire sitting flat on the ground.

I read a bunch about trailer axles and found that most companies use the bare minimum axle rating for the weight of the trailer. Not that I ever overload the trailer but it would be nice to have a 3500# axle vs the 3000# one. It would give it a longer life to all the components involved.

[bdreinv]

If we were guessing bad alignment from factory.Most folks do not drive enough miles under warranty to notice tire wear.I have two bad axles on my 16 Eagle warranty replacement.Note Lippert will credit you 65 per tire. But you gotta request that.Attached is Lipperts procedure to replace axles. Thanks

[RVhiker]

While not discounting the idea of a bent axle, there is another explanation for excessive wear on only one side of a tire. A broken belt can make the tread no longer "flat" and result in excessive wear on one side as that side bulges out more than the rest of the tread.

This defect can be seen if you sight along the tread of the tire in the direction of the radius of the tread of tire, i.e., at 90 degrees from the direction of the axle. Rolling the loose wheel on a flat surface while looking at the tread can also show this defect.

[Dropnaduece]

Originally Posted by bdreinv

If we were guessing bad alignment from factory.Most folks do not drive enough miles under warranty to notice tire wear.I have two bad axles on my 16 Eagle warranty replacement.Note Lippert will credit you 65 per tire. But you gotta request that.Attached is Lipperts procedure to replace axles. Thanks

Thank you for the additional information. I will update once I know what they find. I need all the info I can get so It doesn't end up being just a tire change without actually fixing the problem or something crazy like that. My goal was to use the trailer as much as I could during the 2 years to make sure I have enough use to find any problems that would normally occur after the warranty runs out. Having 2 years is great but they bank on you will not use the trailer enough to find any problems. I would hate to buy a trailer with only a 1 year warranty.

Thanks

[Dropnaduece]

Well I have found out the have a bent axle. I have only used the trailer for less than 2 years so they are thinking I must of bought the trailer in this condition. I have never over loaded it nor have I hit anything like a curb real hard. I’m really glad I caught it just before my warranty ran out. Jayco is going to replace the axle and give me a credit of only $65 per tire to buy 2 new tires. A little cheap I say because it costs a $100 a tire for basic ones installed of course.

Don’t k is what to do for the tires. 3 of them are still in good condition with normal wear of almost 2 years. They said I can swap the spare tire and use the bald one as a spare if anything should happen. Or I can buy 4 new tires. Which will put me out of pocket $3-400.

I have heard on here that the Rainier Tires such so I may change them all out. Does anyone have any recommendations? I have a quote for some Carlisle tires and I have read some good reviews but I have heard Maxxis is good but I read a lot of bad reviews as well. It’s confusing because I have found nothing out there with consistent good reviews other than the Carlisle.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[tcanthonyii]

As you found out that's clearly a bent axle. Nothing else causes that. If they didn't repair it an alignment is right around 100 bucks an axle. Had to do it to my popup and our boy scout trailer. No bigs.

For tires, if it was me I'd throw on the pare, buy a new tire and call it good. Couple thousand miles isn't a big deal on the tire. Run em till their dead. No sense in wasting money otherwise. Hell up to me I'd rather have 2 newer and 2 older tires on it that way I"m stuck replacing all 4 at the same time each time. That's how my new trailer is and I'll leave it that way.

[Dropnaduece]

That sounds like a good plan. Didn’t think of it that way. It will be nice to only have to replace 2 tires at a time. Thanks!

[kalon123]

Looking for replacement tires for my 2015 Jayco Whitehawk travel trailer. I would like to purchase a higher rated tire that the factory installed. They are ST205/75R14C. Any suggests would be appreciated. Thanks

[curver900]

Originally Posted by kalon123

Looking for replacement tires for my 2015 Jayco Whitehawk travel trailer. I would like to purchase a higher rated tire that the factory installed. They are ST205/75R14C. Any suggests would be appreciated. Thanks

go with a Good Year Endurance D rated tire..I think they come in that size

[StormPOD]

Jayco and LCI took care of us with our bent axels. They replaced the axles and tires under warranty. I had my reimbursement for the tires 2 weeks after submission.

[bdreinv]

Don't know if you found tires are not. Discount Tire had several with high load ratings and some with a speed rating also. We bought Hartland ST load rated 123 speed rated at 87 MPH, $115.00. Thanks

[JHerzog]

Originally Posted by curver900

go with a Good Year Endurance D rated tire..I think they come in that size

X2 very happy with mine - same size

[Tom51]

Same kind of issues all around here. 3 of 4 tires with bad wear, so I went to Goodyear Endurance Load Range D. I now have 2 spares in the original Ranier spare and the one good tire that was left. The trailer goes in for alignment next week.

[Tom51]

BTW, does anybody know my wheel size and bolt pattern off the top of your head? I need to get one for my 2nd spare. Tire is a 205/75/14.

[Scott_Trailer_Newbe]

Glad everyone realizes cranking even a jack knife turn, where you see tire marks, does not cause this. It’s a misaligned axel, or a bent axle. Those sharp turns might show the tire left some rubber as it should, but it won’t cause any tire wear seen to the naked eye.